Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Tis the Season to be Robby



I missed you, blog! Damn you actual work for coming in the way of my lurid rubbernecking!

Last Saturday morning a man with no ID was found dead near Brooklyn, shot in the back.* He's since been identified as Thomas E. Burrell, 36.

So after 137 days Tyrone West's autopsy is complete,* but the results are secret, which is apparently not that rare of a thing when an investigation is ongoing. Still, West's family is megapissed and a City Council hearing is scheduled next Wednesday.

You'd think a dance club by the bus station with a free open bar for the ladies would be replete with ladies and gentlemen of refined social graces, but no, at Voltage NightClub Sunday night/Monday morning during a party hosted by Young Gunner, Dimp and Mo Stacks, an unID'd guy was shot in the back.*

You may recall one of the suspects in the latest round of arrested jail BGFs was a member of the National Guard, recently shipped of to Afghanistan. Now the feds are working on bringing Derrick "homeboy" Jones' azz back.* He's accused of helping to smuggle in cell phones.

"98 Rock, Stash Sued By Couple Injured in Crash." Stash, sure, but the station? Damn you Daily Record paywall!

Batts was on 92Q this morning.

Police are ISO this Cherry Hill robbery suspect. Also, that's a really nice drawing.

A 3rd defendant, Laura Karr, has pleaded guilty to her role in the kidnapping and shooting of a 15-year-old in HoCo. Karr and her boyfriend Donald Peoples Jr. mistook the kid for someone who ripped them off on the purchase of a $200 bag of weed. Another defendant, Chiquita Sketers, pleaded guilty and got 25 years.

Brew: the City may have to pay back $7 million of missing Federal bucks earmarked for the homeless

An assault, robbery and abduction in sleepy old Taneytown.

The Baltimore Guide reports lots of street robberies in the Fell's Point area

Fenton's got yer robbery reTweets. The BPD's Tweeting robberies now? Somebody's going to get carpal tunnel:
  1. ROBBERY: Dec. 1, 12 p.m. 3100 Frederick Ave. Pizza place robbed by suspect with handgun; took money and cigarettes
  2. ROBBERY: Today, 2:30 PM. 2700 Maryland Ave. (Charles Village). Auto parts store employee robbed at gunpoint of bank deposits, money
  3. ROBBERY: Today, 5:10 a.m. 1900 Greenmount Ave. (Barclay) 39-year-old waiting at bus stop robbed at gunpoint of money
  4. HOME INVASION: Dec. 1, 9:40 pm, 4500 block Anntana Ave (Frankford); man, woman robbed of money by suspect with hammer, two others w guns
  5. ROBBERY: Dec 1, 8:30 PM. 3200 Polar (Lakeland). 27 yr old approached on foot, asked if he had cell phone, wallet; took backpack instead
  6. ROBBERY: DEC. 1, 5500 Chinquapin Parkway (Woodbourne Heights) Cab driver robbed, assaulted by customers. One suspect taken into custody
  7. ROBBERY: Dec. 1, 6:30 PM, 1015 Orleans St. Man robbed at gunpoint at BP Gas station; money and property taken
  8. ROBBERY: Dec. 1, 5:30 PM, Hamburg at Russel (Near M&T Stadium); 3 suspects tried to rob a 49 y/o man
  9. ROBBERY: Dec. 1, 5:10 PM 1200 W. 36th St.(HAMPDEN) 21 y/o victim reported being robbed of a cell phone while making a drug sale

Art Imitates Life Imitates Art

... Wrote this post last week but never posted it. Der!

November 14 murder victim Eddie Blick Jr. was featured in the Al Jazeera's "Educating Black Boys" documentary.

Nathan Barksdale
Nathan Barksdale has been arrested on various heroin-dealing and gun-related charges*. Barksdale has claimed to be the inspiration for David Simon's character Avon Barksdale on "The Wire" (though Simon denies it, and Van Smith proves that the nickname "Bodie" was a latter-day addition to his moniker). Barksdale also claimed to be out of "the game" (of course) and is reportedly now in a wheelchair after having his leg amputated below the knee.* And in typical Baltimore fashion he's  related to Dante Barksdale, coordinator of Operation Safe Streets.


Too-cool-for-you Remington bar W.C. Harlan was robbed at gunpoint by a guy in a wig.

Evan Curbeam's family say that his death was accidental.

15 years for Darryl Robinson, 49, who allegedly managed an open-air drug market in Poplar Grove.

185 months for Rico Bias, alleged getaway driver for commercial robbers.


Not much time to post lately, but you can read links and gab with other busybodies at our Facebook page. No spammers pls

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Evan Curbeam's Body Found

DC National Guard confirmed that the body found in the water near Fells Point was missing airman Evan Curbeam.

A Hopkins doctor has been arrested, suspended from her job and charged with helping her roommate sell pain pills* on the Silk Road web site.

Four students were stabbed on the Circulator.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Uh Oh- Medical Examiner Called to
Fells Point Dive Scene

Homicide #215, unidentified man in the 700 block of Linnard Street
Evan Curbeam

Hearty dive teams searched the water near Fells Point for missing Evan Curbeam.



The BPD overspent its budget by $3.8 million* last quarter




Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Missing men

Jack Young got his damn underwear* in a twist, and it was awesome. He took Batts to task* for the $285k consultant report, which he called "fluff" and "fast-talking," wondered aloud why it couldn't have been done in-house, and why the police department (with the third-highest per capita police/citizen rate in the country) can't cover shifts without overtime. Fenton says that the report (which is redacted, what?) shows that out of 3,000 officers only 950 are assigned patrol. So what do the rest do? And Batt's response to the tongue-lashing? WYPR reports that he left the hearing without comment.

The Deuce's Christian Shaffer reports that the homicide clearance rate is now 54 percent and non-fatal shooting clearance rate is 52 percent, which is allegedly an improvement over last year.

Evan Curbeam, 29, right, has been missing since he left the Bond Street Social bar last Friday night, call the county police if you see him or have information.

Homicide #213 was Demetrius Beatty, shot in the head in West Baltimore, 214 was Earl Moulden, assaulted in August.

Kyle "Cappo" Stevens, 23, got 32 years in prison for the murder of Keith "Keithy" Ray in September of 2007. Ray was found under some logs in Wyman Park in January 2006. Stevens also admitted to killing James "Ronnie Mo" Wright in 2006, when he was 16.

Thirty years for Dameon Shaw, grocery/convenience store robber.

A federal jury found in favor of a county officer who killed a Middle River man by Tasering him 10 times.

A drug bust netted three alligators.* Where are these drug dealers even getting all these alligators? What does animal control do with them?

In Anne Arundel County James Koltko was arrested for using a sledgehammer to break into cars.

Not Maryland, but totally baffled by this story about Bode Miller's (formerly) pregnant girlfriend, who lost custody of her baby because she "appropriated the child while in utero" while pregnant. What?

Friday, November 22, 2013

Poor writing, weak testifying

A barricade situation at E. Lombard and S. Eaton is backing up traffic-- sounds like the barriccaders are the guys who held up Hopkins Federal on Pratt Street.

So after pressure from the city council, the BPD has made with the Plan, which sounds basically like the same as the old plan (guns! Violent offenders! No redistricting!) but now with a hat tip to "gangs." The Brew deftly notes that the real reveal is in the back pages of the 200-page document, "a disturbing portrait of a dysfunctional department," including 40 percent of shifts staffed by $$ overtime, the much-touted Violent Repeat Offenders program laid waste by apathy and too many offenders and too few priorities, one-fourth of cases dismissed because officer simply don't show up to court, too few detectives, "poor" report writing and "weak" testifying.

Fenton says police say suspects have been arrested* in the "Alameda Corridor" robberies.

In the latest chapter of the BGF Jail Scandal, 14 corrections officers (including one now serving in Afghanistan), a kitchen worker, two inmates and two outside suppliers have been indicted for racketeering.* However, notes Van Smith, no supervisor has yet been charged, in spite of many affidavits asserting that higher-ups not only knew what was going on but profited from bribes. This makes 39 people indicted so far, with 10 guilty pleas entered.

A 14-year-old has been arrested* for the rape of the 11-year-old girl on Pratt Street November 3rd.

Police are ISO this guy who committed a robbery inside Mondawmin mall November 11th.


Justin Fenton is set be on Midday with Rodericks at 12:20 today, talking the Plan and Stop n Frisk.

Chris Montcalmo
Media blabber: a source tipped us off that the guy behind the Baltimore News Journal is one Chris Montcalmo, who outed himself when he mistakenly hit "reply all" to a police press release. He's apparently an expert in search engine optimization, bridal bouquets and baby sleep patterns and lives in Perry Hall. Why the secrecy, I wonder?

Thursday, November 21, 2013

14 More City Jail Officers Charged!

Whoo doggies!

Prosectors say the Silk Road guy contracted for not just one but six murders.*

Inmate busted trying to smuggle pot, tobacco and rolling papers into jail via rope.*

Seventeen people were arrested* for their alleged involvement with a cocaine and heroin ring run out of the Gilmor Homes, the BPD Tweeted pictures of Batts himself supervising.

Police are ISO this guy who went on a robbery spree last Thursday that included the Bmore Smoke Shop, a Pizza Boli's and Jerry's Carryout on North Avenue, where he walked out with the cash register but not the cash drawer. D'oh!

One technique recommended by high school guidance counselors for dealing with people who are giving you crap ("you're fat! Your clothes are ugly!") is to agree with the person. "You're right, I'm fat and dress bad, what else have you got?" Batts must have been in that class, because rather than defending the BPD's record of poorly documented stops-and-frisks he's decided to agree with the ACLU.* In fact, he's been agreeing with them all along, says he, and "long-needed reforms are being instituted" to improve documentation. Mkay.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall--


Not so ritzy-- a man was robbed of his phone on the promenade* in front of the swanky skyline-hogging residences.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Factually challenged

Only in Baltimore: "police say they stopped residents 123,000 times last year* but found only nine handguns." WHat?? Also, Batts spoke at some panel in NYC and did some fact rewrites. "Stop and frisk was taking place until I came into the picture.. but now my murder rate is going up. ... that puts me in a political hotbed."Dude, no. FB III stopped stop and frisk, and he brought the murder rate down. Batts is bringing back illegal stops,* and now the rate is up. No. Confidence. Zero!

Game change? Plucky gubernatorial hopeful Heather Mizeur has declared her support for legalizing and taxing marijuana, with the proceeds to go to paying for pre-K, a notion approved by 92% of people browsing WJZ's web site during the work day. You'll recall rival Anthony Brown also wants pre-K, but with no plan to pay for it. Of course as governor Mizeur wouldn't be able to draft or pass any legislation, and as long as lapdog of the bail bonds industry Joe Vallario Jr. has the power to smother bills in committee it ain't happening. Still, with numbers like that, this proposal very well might make Mizeur an actual contender.

"Blood spattered on carpets and walls. An actual ring where dogs were being fought. Dogs chained to the walls." Five people arrested, 15 dogs seized at a suspected dogfighting venue on West Lafayette Avenue.

The Wells Fargo bank on York Road in Lutherville was robbed.



































Monday, November 18, 2013

¿dónde está el plan?

A bloody weekend:* a murder yesterday in the 1300 block of Longwood (who Cham ID's as Kennard Buckner, a forklift operator) ; Devon Bultler, 26, was killed near Ramsay and South Calhoun Streets and an unidentified 47-year-old man was also shot in the torso during the same incident, the current toll is 210. 

The man shot in the 900 block of Watson Street (near the shot tower) was ID'd as Raymond Gordon, 31.*

With the homicide rate spiking, and seven months after the BPD paid some Massachusetts consulting firm $285k to come up with a plan in 90 days to "revamp" the department, Jack Young is all like, hey Batts, Where's the plan?* And Batts is all like, stop pressuring me! And Young is like, you'd best get in here and answer some questions, and Batts is like, look, it's Baltimore, everything moves slow, and the Sun is like, Batts has a Master's degree, can't he think up a plan on his own? And then Robert Cherry is all like, Hey! Look! The police union has a plan! It's based on our real-real Baltimore policing experience and you all can have it for free! and everyone is like, lalalalala, we can't hyearrr you!

Have you seen this guy who robbed the Subway sandwich shop* in the 4600 block of W. Northern Parkway?
http://priceisrightlosinghorn.com/
Vroom vroom, bitchez! The city's speed cameras have officially been "mothballed,"* with the city attempting to cut ties with the contractor Brekford. No comment from Brekford though their stock is like [sad tuba sound effect].

A "non-affiliate" was robbed of a messenger bag near JHU.

No way, two more Towson University students were robbed, this time on the 1300 block of Hillsway court and at gunpoint. I thought they caught those dudes, but apparently not, or there's more now.

Speaking of the county, fuck you Scott Jacobson. I'm glad the iPad you bought in a gas station parking lot was fake. Because if it was real, then it would be stolen from some poor slob. Dear reader, if some twat approaches you in a parking lot with some too-cheap something, call the fucking police! It bears repeating, if you have stuff like iPads, laptops, etc, get yourself a cheap little carbide etching pen, skritch your name or phone number or your house sigil on it. That won't keep it from getting stolen, but at least it will slow down Dicky McParkinglot and will help you identify it if it is recovered.

And a feel-good crime story: a Homeland woman's bikes getting stolen helped her find her missing African spur tortoise, Tortley. Tortley is now snuggled in warm hay, "alert and surprised."
I don't get it.

Wired: how operation "Marco Polo" took down the Silk Road (Marco Polo? Get it? Get it?)

Speaking of the Silk Road, here's a mildly interesting story that explains why opium smoking went out of style and heroin moved in.

Something I just heard about for the first time from an infographic next to New York Magazine's abortion cover story: the allegation that sometime between 2012 and now Maryland passed a law that limits insurance coverage for abortions. An August 2013 chart from the National Women's Law Center seems to show this is not the case and even the right-to-lifers, generally on top of this stuff like Chris Christie on a ham sandwich, don't seem to know anything about it. So an NYMag mistake, or is there something to this? Also in NYMag: Sheila Dixon, "Rap-Sheet Mayor."

Also in "women's law"-- the story of a PA judge who ordered a mom to stop breastfeeding so her ex-husband could have overnights with the baby leads to the tidbit that only Maine has a law that compels family court judges to take breastfeeding status into account when determining custody. 

Saturday, November 16, 2013

208

Three shot, one fatally* in Pen Lucy yesterday afternoon, reports Fenton, the deceased was ID'd as Dander Jackson. Yes, Dander. And the man killed on Laurens St. was ID'd as Eddie Clifton Blick Jr., 20.

One person shot to death a little after midnight in the 900 block of Watson Street in the southeast, homicide #208.

A 90-mph chase of a stolen truck on the east side ended with a crash at McElderry and N. Linwood. But police don't do high-speed chases! you say? Okay then.

Three guilty pleas in the Robert G. Moore case.* You may recall that this was the guy who (allegedly) the deaths of (at least) seven people, threatened prosecutors and declared himself a "sovereign." The judge says it was the longest case he'd even presided over.

Even the city council is getting the agita over the inordinate delays* with the Tyrone West autopsy.
Obey your nerdly master.
(Lloyd Fox, Sun)

Not crime, but for some lite comedic relief see the picture on the cover of the Sun today* of Jeff Moring, the guy the Brown campaign has hired to follow Doug Gansler around waiting for him to say something stupid. Laugh not, muggle! that stare warded off many a swirlie in junior high. That stare saved his virginity. That stare knows what you did last summer.

Friday, November 15, 2013

The Shooters Wore White

A man shot multiple times on Laurens Street has died. Cham found a photo (of the victim while he was alive).

Police released a video and Tweeted a chilling photo of the suspect who killed David Porter, 42, in a barbershop at 4419 block of Frankford Avenue. Related? (or not?) Jayne Miller reported that many of the BGF co-defendants are over the age of 40, even though higher-ups in the gang are in their 20s, because of the Guerillas' apparent belief that older guys are less likely to attract the attention of detectives.

Sullen teen rapist
Police are ISO a teenage boy who raped an 11-year-old girl (yeah, 11, that's not a typo) in the 1900 block of Pratt Street on Sunday the 3rd, they have released a sketch and say the suspect is a black teen, about 13-16 years old with orange headphones.

Also caught on camera: a portly-yet-lithe shooter in a beret (?) in the 1100 block of Pennsylvania Avenue. Given his stance (and a lack of reports) I assume he didn't actually hit anyone.

Damon Williams, Adrian Walden and Solomon Dunn: three guys arrested in Towson for that string of robberies after they knocked over the 7-11 on Sherwood Road -- BoCo police say they could be connected to as many as a dozen.* (Non-Sun link)
Deltona Harrison

Cham found a photo of murder victim Delonta Harrison. The Internet says he's throwing the sign for the Latin Kings, but I'm not entirely sure the Internet knows what it's talking about.

The city jail is making a big PR push to prove it's less of a corrupt craphole these days.

Hannukah is coming! How about a gang sign USB drive or jewelry made out of a melted-down Newark handgun for under the menorah this year?


Mugshots du jour:





Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Out of Control

Because the holidays are approaching? Instability in the ranks of the BGF? The barometric pressure? Whatever the reason, Delonta Harrison, 19, was killed early this morning in the NW* on Arbutus Ave., yesterday's victim on Edgecombe Circle Drive was ID'D as Brian Curtis Sims Jr., 28. Fenton tweets that the Arbutus Ave. murder with the 9th in 10 days.

The Ink details last week's eight murders: The Berrain brothers, Kurt and Karl; Kenneth Ray Stowers, Tyree Taylor; Katria Drummond; Ricky Thomas; Tracy Love; David Henry Parker.

"It's coming in through staff's body orifices." Former guard at the detention center Shavella Miles dished the dirt to WJZ's Vic Carter. And the CP has some deets on lesser-known federal BGF cases.
The Brew's events page includes this Jennifer Bishop photo.
That is all.

What?! The Baltimore Guide claims that there were no robberies reported in the Southest between Nov. 3-9.

Norma Jean's Gentleman's Club has lost the lawsuit brought by a dancer who said the club was illegally calling her a "contractor," and not an employee, and now a second employee has filed a suit alleging she was fired for agreeing to testify on behalf of the first employee.

In Gambrills, a drug bust at St. Mary's Lane daycare.*

Drivers in Canton and Towson were scammed by a fake dent-and-scratch repair guy.

Del. Heather Mizeur has named the Rev. Delman Coates, a Baptist paster, as her running mate.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Toddlers Toting Guns Now

Last night a man was shot twice in the 200 block of Collins Ave* (but he's still alive);  a man shot in the arm in the 2200 block of Parkton Street in Yale Heights; a man shot in the leg in the 4200 block of Fairhaven Avenue; a man shot in the thigh* in the 5100 block of Park Heights Ave. Friday night: a fatal shooting in the 4400 block of Frankford Avenue,* the victim was ID'd as David Porter, 42; a double shooting on Athol Avenue, a man shot on W. Preston Street. Yet no shootings on Saturday or Sunday night? Odd, if true.

Eleven raids, er, executed search warrants, on the East Side near 1600 E. Lanvale. Justin George reports that about 150 officers were ISO 20 people*: three shooting suspects and two homicide suspects, the rest being drug dealers, I guess. So how did it go? "Police arrested at least one suspect."

Robert Long
Last weekend the Sun ran Ian Duncan's interview with Demetrius Smith*. Smith was the guy who was wrongfully convicted of killing Robert Long in 2008. Smith was released in May, and Jose Morales was convicted of soliciting the murder. Duncan's account hangs the wrongful conviction on two lying witnesses, but as Ed Ericson Jr.'s article in the CP detailed last month, there was a whole lot more to it than that.

Huh? Whut? Erica Green reports that last year city schools suspended 33 3- and -4-year-olds from pre-K. "Most of the students were suspended for physical attacks on teachers or students, though a handful were suspended for offenses such as sexual activity, possession of a firearm or other guns, inciting a public disturbance, and vandalism.*" What??? Possession of a firearm?  Sexual activity? At 3? How is this even possible?  ... in other education news, an audit found that the state neglected to distribute $17.2 million in financial aid to college students.* Could have given it out, didn't.

Dan Rodericks revisits Smith v. MD,* a 1976-1978 purse-snatching case that was eventually to provide justification in the secret FISC court for the NSA's mass spying programs.

Oh geeze, so for years this guy Colin Flaherty has been writing me, Salon, and apparently any and every functioning e-mail address he could get his mitts on to promote his book "White Girl Bleed a Lot," a screed that has as its hypothesis that there are roving mobs of black people are going around attacking white people on the regular, with claims are based on a cherry-picked collection of  YouTube clips and anecdotes (because the press is "ignoring, condoning and denying" this secret rapacious pandemic, of course). Pretty nutty. But guess who's taking it seriously? The Washington Times, for one, and now the American Family Association's One News Now, which is apparently doubling down on its race-baiting strategy.

Oh, and 800,000 gallons of raw sewage flowed into the Gunpowder Falls. Eww!