September 16

A man was beaten to death at around 3 p.m. in front of the Hampden Family Center on 36th street. Rumor on the street is that one old man accused another old man of molesting his granddaughter, then proceeded to beat the geezer to death with a cane. I was interviewed by Keith Daniels. He didn't like my answers much.

Rod: "As a citizen, what do you think when something like this happens?"
"Well, gentrification, schmentrification, you can put in some boutiques but Hampden is still Hampden."
RD: "Let me ask this another way... as a human being, what's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear about something like this?"
Me: "As a homeowner, I hope my property values aren't affected. And if it's true he was a child molester, it's kind of hard to feel bad for him."
RD: (getting frustrated) "But as a human being how does this loss of human life make you feel?"
Me: "Well, *sigh* (finally deciding to give the guy what he wants to hear).. the amount of passion and anger it takes work up the strength to physically beat someone to death is difficult to fathom, and it's shocking that something like this would happen in broad daylight right in front of the family center where children are getting help with their homework."
That seemed to satisfy him. And now I know why none of the "concerned neighbors" on the local news are ever quoted as things like "that bitch had it coming!"

On that note, in Essex an 18-year-old as arrested for the Labor Day shooting death of Charles Clark, 20.



Freaky looking sex offender Joshua Keller, above, tried to abduct a 7-year-old at Glendale Elementary in Glen Burnie.

The trial of Linda Trinh's accused murderer has been postponed.

An article about the jurors in the Espinoza/Canela murder trial.

In PG county, Jerome Anthony Proctor was shot to death.

More on the man and woman stabbed in Liberty Heights.

September 15

Steven Richie Craft, 39, of Loch Hill Road, is scheduled for arraignment 9:30 a.m. tomorrow before the Honorable Lynn Stewart on Calvert Street in connection to the attempted first-degree murder of Baltimore City Police Officer Edward Mendez.
Craft was indicted by the Baltimore City Grand Jury on August 11 for attempted first-degree murder, first-degree and second-degree assault, and car theft. Court documents allege that on July 16, Officer Mendez Edwards approached the stolen 2005 Toyota Camry at a gas station when Craft put the vehicle in reverse and at a high rate of speed struck Officer Mendez, sending the officer into the air. The officer was transported to Shock Trauma due to head, back, and shoulder injuries. Craft was arrested on July 17. Craft is being held at the Detention Center on a no bail status.

State pension system defrauder Nathan Chapman is in trouble with the feds again, this time for not paying the agreed-upon settlement.

Study: drug use among Maryland inmates is up 20 percent.

A Cecil County judge has granted a change of venue for John Dougherty, who is accused of starving the mother of his children to death.

A Severna Park man, Harvey Brown, was convicted of raping a 24-year-old Bowie woman on the Baltimore-and-Annapolis trail.

David Martin, 29, was shot while driving a van in Columbia.

Is Moshe Khaver, 19-year-old son of a prominent Park Heights rabbi turned Cherry Hill drug dealer, getting preferential treatment in jail?

A lot of stolen stuff and a carjacking in the Messenger crime log (fyi Roland View Avenue is between TV hill and Park Heights Ave).

An editorial by Dan Rodericks about the high cost of Maryland's drug laws.

Not a crime, but too weird not to mention: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt made a special trip to Charm City just to visit the National Aquarium, of all places.

September 14

The Ink reports five murders this week, bringing the toll to 191.

WTF?! dept: Baltimore Police arrest about 200 people a day, 32 percent of them without charges. Last year about 100,000 people were processed through central booking. How could that even be possible? The city population is only 620,000!

A man and a woman were stabbed this morning on Liberty Heights Avenue.

And in Edgewater Jose Amaya was arrested for stabbing his live-in "girlfriend" to death.

A hit-and-run driver rear-ended a man and his girfriend who were riding a Harley on an exit ramp on 695. Police are looking for an amoral asshole driving a late-model Chrysler with front-end damage.

Cradlerock school in Columbia was robbed of computers at gunpoint.

A story about the challenges of the city's needle exchange program.

In Howard County, police arrested 52 people on various drug charges following an eight-month investigation flamboyantly dubbed "Operation Mesmerize."

Seven members of The Pioneer City Boys, an AA County gang, were indicted for conspiring to sell crack.

Police cameras caught some guys in the act of trying to sell a stolen handicapped tag.

In spite of an attempt to use a bankruptcy loophole to weasel out of proceedings, the Erotica strip club (formerly known as "Chubbies") on Eastern Avenue was fined $3,000 and must suspend operations for 30 days for various violations.

September 13

A Baltimore County jury today found Javon Clark guilty of attempted armed robbery, but not guilty of murder.

A crashed car and a woman with a slit throat are a mystery in Northeast Baltimore. Also, Rrtired Baltimore Archbishop William D. Borders was accused yesterday in two lawsuits of covering up charges of sexual abuse against a priest.

Police in PG county are looking for a serial stick-up robber.

An attempted murder arrest, robberies and an explosive device tossed on a porch in the blotter.

Three school campuses in Randallstown were on lockdown today as police searched for murder suspect Lance Aaron Backus.

A perv was arrested for soliciting an undercover agent in Frederick.

September 12

The murder and attempted murder trial Emanuel Young, 24, is scheduled for 9:30 tomorrow morning before Judge Edward R. K. Hargadon. Young is charged in three separate shooting incidents - five people were shot, one fatally. The Baltimore City Grand Jury indicted Young July 21, 2003 for the April 13, 2003 first-degree murder of Marcus Gordon, 20, in the 3000 block of Oakley Avenue. Two other men were wounded. Young was also indicted for the attempted murder of a 40-year old man who was shot June 11, 2003 in the 2300 block of West Fayette Street, as well as the attempted murder of a 21-year old female who was shot June 13, 2003 in the 2900 block of Oakley Avenue. Young is being held at the Baltimore City Detention Center on a no bail status.

Richard A. Damon, Jr., 35, pled guilty today before his murder trial was scheduled to begin of two counts of second-degree murder for the murders of Theresa Moore, 51, and Michael Mick, 40. Under the terms of the plea agreement announced today in open court, Damon will receive two 20-year prison terms, concurrent, when Judge John M. Glynn sentences him October 25. On January 20, 2005, Theresa Moore and Michael Mick were shot and killed inside of their home in the 800 block of Bradford Street by Co-Defendant Antoine Adams while he and Damon were participating in a robbery at that address. A city jury convicted Adams last month of two counts of first-degree murder and he will also be sentenced October 25, 2005.

Robbery after robbery in the blotter.

More on the Odenton Fire Hall shooting spree.

Serial arsonist Thomas Sweatt got life plus 136 years for setting fires that killed two old ladies.

As others get rich off of the tee shirts, Stop Snitchin filmmaker Akiba Matthews goes on trial today for cocaine and heroin possession. UPDATE: The trial has been postponed until October 26 before Judge John C. Themelis. The defendant hired a new attorney.

In Frostburg, six field hockey players have pled guilty to hazing and were fined and put on probation. New team members were forced to drink to the point of alcohol poisioning and sit in their own vomit and urine. Go team!

September 11

Two Baltimore judges in separate rulings in the past two weeks have said they don't believe the police officers who investigated gun cases, prompting prosecutors to dismiss charges. Meanwhile, unprosecuted "Quality of Life" crimes are pissing people off.

Two men were stabbed Friday at the Baltimore City Detention Center.

A gunman shot three people outside the Odenton fire hall.

Attorneys say the Javon Clark trial may end tomorrow.

Three women and one man were arrested for prostitution and maintaining a brothel at the Presence of Mind massage parlor in Ellicott City.

An 18-year-old wanted in New York for killing her 6-month-old baby was arrested in Baltimore working at a doughnut shop on Falls Road.

A Massachusetts paper covers a cold case in Bel Air, the murder of Tina Louise Leone in 2003.

Three young men were arrested for selling marijuana on Falls Road in Hampden.

Robbery, vandalism and assault in the Carroll County blotter.