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.