Dangerous Night in Baltimore, Towson Mall Killing Arrest

A surprisingly violent night considering the recent downturn in violence. 6 people were shot, including two fatally. One of the deceased has been identified as 31-year-old Corey Alexander, shot and killed in the 5700 block of Nasco Place.*


Four men have been arrested for the Towson Town Murder of 19-year-old Rodney Vest Pridget. Tyrone Chester Brown Jr., 19, Frank Theodore Williams, 31, Jermell Monte Brandon, 35, and William Ward III, 44. Brown Jr., (Pictured Right) is the accused gunman in the case.*

Have you seen this paunchy middle aged man? He's a suspected serial larcenist.

Surprisingly enough, the taxi driver arrested for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, 56-year-old Ted Bryant, is a previously convicted sex offender, with several violations for failure to register.

The man who reported his former girlfriend missing in the first place has been convicted of her murder. 31-year-old Tyrone Webb, Jr. was convicted by a City Jury after an earlier County Trial resulted in a hung jury.

Cat mutilator Ethan P. Weibman, 20, was given a 90 day sentence for killing two cats he had recently adopted.

The 600 block of Wildwood Parkway will officially be known as the Officer William H. Torbit Junior Way now.

Finlly, this weeks Murder Ink has some interesting stats on the January 2012 murders.

Six Years in the Making

Jury deliberations begin today* in the trial of alleged prison-guard killer Lee Stephens.

Federal murder conspiracy and racketeering indictments for four people connected to the 12/10 Leakin Park execution-style murder of Cherrie Gammon. Gammon was mother of two* and a white-drug addict who danced and sold drugs to support her habit and at some point presumably snitched* on mother "Money" and her son "Tay" and accomplices.

A surveillance video shows a police officer punching a suspect in the face while the suspect's hands were behind his head (see @:39)

Accused copyright infringer and Towson post-office-box renter Naveed Sheikh was nabbed at Dulles en route to Pakistan.

Sacré bleu! Two women, 73 and 64 were robbed outside of Petit Louis*, one the head of the board of directors for the Parks & People Foundation, the other a retired city school principal. Guess which one kept her purse?

Stolen Cop Cars, Bodies in the Harbor, and Much More...

A man was shot and killed by County police just inside the city line this morning after stealing a cop car, leading police on a chase, and threatening several officers.

Police found a mysterious body floating in the Inner Harbor Monday.

Peter Hermann has a follow up on the city workers busted for drinking and gambling. Spoiler alert, most of the cases fell apart.*

With a trial coming up soon for two officers, new details in the Majestic Towing case have come to light.*

Police are ISO a photogenic suspect caught on camera robbing a man. It's good to know that even with cameras are pointed directly at the ATM, that won't stop someone from robbing you.

The man shot to death Sunday has been id'd as 19-year-old Shayvon Booker.

45 years for Isiah Crowder, 21, who was convicted of shooting his life-long friend Isiah Gordon back in August of 2010.

Two shootings Sunday, including one in the 4700 block of Alhambra Ave, and the other in the 2800 block of Hillen Rd.

Keep on the lookout for hazel-eyed Aaron Parker, who walked away from his halfway house and never came back.

A series of sexual crimes in Catonsville have police on edge. First a woman was abducted and raped a woman walking along North Bend Rd. The second incident was a case of creepy gas station attendant Muhammad Zaman, 45, getting a little too intimate with a woman pumping gas.

Three robbers entered a Owings Mills jewelry store looking for cash, had to settle for diamonds instead. Chawn Rodney Harris, 38, Keenan James Thomas, 20, and Corey Jamal Jennings, 19, have been busted for the bungled heist.

Baltimore heroin dealer Donald Wright, age 42, has been sent away for the next 12 years.

Baltimore's own homegrown terrorist Antonio Martinez, 22, has plead guilty to charges related to his attempt to blow up an armed forces recruitment center. Martinez is expected to be given a 25-year term when sentenced.

A Cecil County tractor heist went bad, leaving one dead and three on the lam.

I realize this news is almost a year old, but I don't recall ever seeing it reported anywhere. Famed "Stop Snitching" host Ronnie "Skinny Suge" Thomas got 12 years in state prison to be served consecutively with his 19 year federal sentence. Goes to show that as serious a committing a murder is, the only way to really get in the BPD's doghouse is to be featured on Anderson Cooper rapping about said murders.

Bail for sale

Page Croyder: how a man can commit murder, walk free, and leave his mother on the hook for $13,645.

Drones over Baltimore!

You're not paranoid if they're really out to get you! -- more than one reader has reported seeing what sounds like "Raven" law-enforcement drones flying over Baltimore's East-side neighborhoods, 95 and the Harbor area, hovering around houses and also trailing specific cars.
.. anyone else see these??

Canton robberies...

One victim speaks, police say don't worry

Scheming, looting, feeling frisky

The Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of Van Smith and the City Paper, deeming the reporting on the Redwood Trust double murder "fair and accurate".

And the CP's story on the sentencing of JR Blackwell also nicely pulls together the tales of the Blackwell's businesses, real estate, shootouts, kidnappings and money-laundering enterprises.

Oh, this is bad. The (former, I hope) VP of Harbor Financial, Ralph Edward Thomas, Jr., was indicted on mail fraud after bilking a cerebral palsy victim and and elderly woman suffering from dementia.

Down on the shore, a Baltimorean assaulted a guy with some Liquid-Plumr over a $10 bet.

Another residency scandal: the deputy mayor Kaliope Parthemos lives in the county. Also, she is apparently being stalked by someone with a magic marker*. And she's hawt!

Three years in prison for Larry Alston, a freaky-looking dog abuser.

There's a find: a 1971 newspaper clip in which Frank Conaway Sr. advocates stop-n-frisk. I suspect he's changed his mind since.

Page Croyder: O'Malley puts politics before leadership. Well, duh. And taste was not the same as appetite when the gov breakfasted with same-sex marriage supporters today. In other politicky news, Fenton reports that Ehrlich used campaign funds to pay for Shurick's defense. I'm sure his donors are thrilled about that.

WJZ has a neck-up pic of the pantsless priest.

And the tomb-looting case against Robert E. Hecht Jr. is over in Italy, as the statue of limitations ran out. Hecht is a descendant of the department-store Hechts, and sold some of his "finds" to the Walters in the 50s.

Thought to ponder...

From this week's NYker: there are more Americans in jail now than Stalin ever held in a gulag, more black men in jail than were slaves in 1850.

The sad, the bad and the stupid

Steven "J.R." Blackwell was sentenced to 20 years in the federal pen; his dad is already there.* Like Al Capone, twas the tax evasion that led to his undoing.

Thirteen years for "Big Man" Fauntleroy for selling the crack at the Gilmor homes.

And a decade in the federal pen for hairron dealing for Lamont Causion, 40 (no nickname given).

Oh, Baltimore Guide Police Blotter. "Someone broke into a parked car, stole the radio and set the car on fire." Also stolen: junk food and Ravens playoff tickets. In the Southeast, a woman "took exception" to being called a "dirty bitch," and a man stabbed at a bar left a blood trail.

The Supreme Court is backing privacy rights? It's true, police can't stick warrantless GPSes on car underparts any more.

Today in Annie McCann updates, Vaccaro's waitress says she served Annie McCann* a cappuccino and a cannoli, Anthony Guglielmi told Peter Hermann, then recanted, that the McCann's had a sketch of the waitress* generated with the help of a psychic. What a sad picture that is (left)-- the Sabrina Harman un-Duchenne.

To what do we owe last year's reduction in crime? One theory: Federal grants that helped the state & locals arrest violent offenders with outstanding warrants*.

Well there's an unexpected twist: a guy arrested for the 2000 murder of Heidi Bernadzikowski, 24, was *not* the one who took out a $700,000 life insurance policy* on her.

In Glen Burnie, a man was arrested after pulling a gun on a door-to-door salesman. Shoulda pulled a gun on that barber!

Animal-abuser registry: good idea?

The WaPo reveals that the Ehrlich campaign paid Paul E. Schurick's legal fees. And *irony alert*-- Ehrlich is set to write a column for the Sun.

Pervy corner: a priest with no pants, a Wicomico teacher accused of repeatedly boning a student in a classroom.

8

A man shot in the head in a barbershop on West Baltimore Street.

And one more added to last year's toll: a guy who set himself on fire, killing his mother.

Ten years for Kadeem R. Santiful, implicated in the Skateworks rape.

Have you seen..

This guy who exposed his sin bits then tried to rape a woman in Guilford Gateway Park? That's the face of a short African-American man, They say.

Now where did I put those?

Annie McCann's parents claims that OCME threw away her organs after her autopsy. The parents are also planning legal action against the state.

7

An unidentified man was found shot in the head and dead near a playground in the 4300 block of Cedar Garden Road.

The parents of Annie McCann, the 16-year-old Virginia girl mysteriously found dead in 2008 may have a "significant new investigative lead."*

A man and a woman were shot Tuesday in separate incidents.

Just two years for Gale Terera Roland, 53, who shook another woman's baby to death.

5 years in the Federal slammer for Kimberly McIntosh, a less then likely BGF leader. City Paper has more info on the single mom turned gang chieftain.

Third generation criminal Dion "Dummy" Fauntleroy Jr, age 28, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for leading the Gilmore Homes drug conspiracy.

In a nearly a months period the Baltimore County Regional Warrant Apprehension Task Force snagged up 382 wanted criminals.

Matthew L. Wood, 30, is in hot water after striking a state trooper with his car.

10 well earned years in Federal lockup for sex offender Windsor Warner Kessler III, 25. Interestingly enough, according to online court records it appears his namesake, Kessler Jr. or possibly even Kessler Sr. was a police officer for several years. I could be wrong, but I'm under the impression Windsor Kessler is not a common name.

Finally Baltimore career criminal Matthew Craighead, 28, has been exiled for the next 15 years after trying to shoot several people outside the Velvet Rope Night Club.

Dragged away

Life for three guérilleros noirs "Petey," "Snags" and "Jim Dog," implicated in the kidnapping, robbery, and murder of Qonta Waddell. You may remember this story, Waddell was kidnapped, kicking, screaming and hogtied, hanging on his mother's leg*.

Two shootings, on Gorsuch Avenue and Terra Firma Road, respectively

The CP's Ink recounts last week's murder of James Hunter.

Six Occupy Baltimore protestors were arrested on MLKJr. day (by State Troopers, oddly) in front of the juvenile jail, and most concerning, media were not allowed to watch and threatened with arrest. In other Occupy news, the Sun obtained emails of one-percenters grousing to city officials about having to see McKeldin Square from their office windows (and uploaded the emails to a document cloud).

And in case you missed it, after Jack Young criticized the Grand Prix, SRB revoked his Ravens skybox tickets*. (Re. the Grand Prix-- don't cities usually have insurance to prevent against loss from events like that?)

A couple of armed robberies in the Patch blotter of the Northern, and someone reportedly tried the door handle of SRB's car. Two years ago, someone broke into her husband's car and stole a satellite system. I hope the police also told him that irksome canard about how it's his own fault for having anything valuable in the car in the first place.

Got honey nut? Michael K. Williams (aka Omar) is appearing in a Marylanders for Marriage Equality ad. And a county lawmaker is trying to pass a gender-identity anti-discrimination bill. Opponents say the bill is just going to encourage sexual predators to cross-dress so they can use women's bathrooms.

Arc of Justice Long, Bending

Death penalty opponents are rallying in Annapolis today.

Occupy Baltimore is rallying at the proposed site of the new juvenile justice center.

CC president Jack wants to rein in spending on police training programs.

A Dundalk man got stabbed in the head when he tried to break up a catfight.

The roof of civil rights landmark Read's Drug Store has collapsed.

Ship employee (one site says a "pool boy") is accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl on the Enchantment of the Seas.

The Sun's Yvonne Wenger revisits patricides past in a not-very-enlightening article. Wonder what Nicholas Browning looks like/is doing these days.

"Jews can get away with anything in this city"

A man was shot at the B-More Chicken and Seafood carryout

The man who got away after one Manuel Imel attacked police as they arrested him was re-arrested.

The family of the first man murdered this year, 62-year-old Bruce Royster, has asked for the public's help to solve his killing. Royster was an accountant.

The woman accused of having her estranged husband Lee Martin killed has entered an Alford plea*

The teenager who was accused of killing a teacher at Cheltenham pleaded guilty*

Yes, I'm sure you're probably sick of the Conaway chronicles. BUT... Meister reports that Belinda is still taking that tax credit on her Randallstown home. And check out the comment David Anthony Wiggins left on his blog.. oh my. "I stand behind my statement that Jews can get away with anything in this city. I also stand behind my statement that Frank should have popped your ass. ... Gregg Bernstein, a Jew, is violating the Civil Rights of the People to equal access to the courts and denying the Right of the People to appear before the Foreman of the Grand Jury, and he is being protected on a federal level by Rod Rosenstein, a Jew, in his criminality."

"If you wave at someone in Baltmore, they might shoot you"

Former city homicide detective Kelvin Sewell talks about the difference between policing in Baltimore and Pocomoke City in USA Today. He's also the author of Why Do We Kill?

Stop Shooting. Start Living.

SRB has a thing for attracting baffling slogans. First there was "only a punk would hurt a dog," which left you wondering which kind of punk... like a punk rocker, or an Ashton Kutcher target, or a pirate peg boy? Then there was "I was drunk. Was it my fault?" an anti-rape campaign that sounds like a pro-drunk-driving campaign. Now comes "STOP SHOOTING. START LIVING." which sounds an awful lot like a certain European Sony campaign. Can one not have a rich, satisfying life and a little shooting, too? But anyway, the point is, Operation Safe Streets is back, in which convicts are paid to broker peace and help connect at-risk youth with services. The initiative has been controversial in the past, because, well, the city is paying convicts, and results are hard to quantify. In 2009 a Safe Streets worker was wounded at a memorial BBQ while hanging out with the notorious Blackwell brothers, Bodie Barksdale's nephew was a Safe Streets outreach worker (for better or worse), and last year, SRB yanked funding for the program after suspicions surfaced of possible ties to the Black Guerrilla Family, though no one from Safe Streets was ever charged. But if you're an established 501(c)(3) interested in running your own Safe Streets program in your neighborhood, there's a $375,000 grant on offer. But therein lies the rub... if you're an established 501(c)(3), how would you know all those criminals?

Flying bullets, Yorkie

Two shootings in Cherry Hill*

A woman was shot through her patio door in the Harford-Echodale-Perring Parkway neighborhood

Trial scheduled to start today for Lee Edward Stephens, one of two prisoners charged with stabbing David McGuinn to death in 2006.

Lead investigator in the Mary Hare murder was arrested three years ago* for not following his sargeant's order, reports Fenton

The Ink has last week's five murders

Immigration lawyer David Agatstein pled guilty to helping immigrants commit marriage fraud

Occupiers succeed in saving woman from eviction, for now

Counterfeit bill passed at the Charles Village Pub

A drive-by purse snatching in the Northern

A mugging with a piece of wood, a machete attack, an engine block stolen out of a parked Chevy and threatening gestures with a spacke knife in the Baltimore Guide blotter

Indictments for "D", "Peaches" (real first name = Tyeast), William Alvin Darden and Keith Eugene Daughtry for a scheme to transfer almost $1.4 million out of the Baltimore Housing Authority's bank account.

A man went to jail in the county after he threw his pet yorkie off of his balcony

A century in jail for 28-year-old Jason Scott of Upper Marlboro, a former postal worker* linked to more than 50 burglaries, nine home-invasion robberies, carjacking, production of child pornography, gun theft, and gun-related charges. He's also charged with the killing of a mother and daughter in Largo. "He told investigators that he was inspired by the movie 'Bullet,' starring Mickey Rourke and Tupac Shakur."