Friday, June 8, 2012

Apparently a Mob Mentality Works Out Pretty Well....

Pat McDonough must be seething... Gregg Bernstein announced his office will not be taking action against the youths who participated in a flash mob turned beatdown at the 7-11 on Light Street.* 

The participants in the fatal police-involved shooting from last week have been identified. The deceased is 44-year-old Stuart Fitzgerald. The officer has been identified as Karen Crisafulli. Fitzgerald was killed while attempting a daytime burglary in the 400 block of South Chester St.

Three murders and four arrests. The BPD is slowly but surely inching the clearance rate back to an acceptable number:
  • Arrested for the stabbing death of Ettice Jones was 46-year-old Kevin Whittington, a man with a multitude of prior convictions including several for drug dealing.
  • Charged with shooting 19-year-old Lacy Lamb through a basement window was 19-year-old Sean Randall.
  • Finally, the brother and sister duo responsible for the death of Antoneo Mattison have been id'd as Emanuel Fowlke, age 35, and Temeka Clark, age 26.

Have you seen this fella? He's wanted for a string of pharmacy robberies and the police are eager to snatch him up. 

A whopping 105 years in the clink for 21-year-old carjacker Terrell Scott. Scott, along with 20-year-old Abram Hall, jacked a civilian, beat him ferociously, stripped him, and then shot him in the chest. Luckily the victim (who for some reason was identified in the press release) managed to survive.

Several shootings earlier this week put three in the hospital. The first occurred late Monday, where a man was popped in the 1900 block of East Lafayette Ave. An early morning Tuesday shooting in the 200 block of Carey St left a man and a woman with gunshot wounds.

While guns are going off in the city, it seems everyone is getting knifed in the county. Three 16-year-olds were stabbed in separate incidents. The first stabbing was that of a Milford Mill Academy student playing hooky, stabbed in an apparent robbery. The second incident occurred Monday night, where a kid got cut up near a Middle River 7-11. Finally, a girl in Halethorpe got stabbed by her own brother while walking to a store. The brother, id'd as Austin Taylor Davis, faces first degree assault charges.

Speaking of County stabbings, the guy who stabbed his so-called girlfriend in the middle of the street before getting into a head on collision whilst fleeing the scene has been identified as Reginald Lee Fields, 29. Fields faces attempted murder charges whenever he's released from the hospital.

Life in prison for Susan Datta, convicted of providing the gun used in the murder-for-hire killing of Towson Hess station owner William R. Porter back in 2010.

A Towson attorney and his two sons were killed in a car accident while vacationing in England.

So apparently the city can effectively tell you to "suck it" when they owe you money, even if it's their mediocre infrastructure that broke your stuff... interesting.

So much for being lucky... the 7-11 famous for selling the winning Mega Millions ticket earlier this year has been stuck up again.

Two interesting stories I've come across: a fairly run-of-the-mill video from Fox regarding the Bath Salts craze that has people scared to no end, the other is a older Patch article regarding the various forms of burglary.

Some Recent Case Updates:

Remember Omar Little? No, I don't mean one of the single greatest fictional characters of all time, I'm talking about Omar Little Jr. (Pictured Right) He got busted on gun charges at the beginning of the year. It seems Bernstein is getting cases through the court system pretty quickly, because Little pleaded guilty and got five years, all but six months suspended.

This hasn't been posted on any news sites from what I can tell, but Vincent Forney, who was arrested after stabbing a man to death while visiting a lady friend back in August of 2011, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

This is a bit random, but I find it interesting. Very nearly 20 years ago there was a very violent neighborhood rivalry between The Old York Road boys and the McCabe Avenue crew. Despite being just a few streets from one another they spent most of their time trying to kill one another. When asked about the groups, a detective from back in the day said "They're like the Hatfields and the McCoys. It's never taken much to precipitate a shooting."
It's amazing how the style of crime has barely changed in 20 years, it's still just crews shooting it out with crews. I bring this up because a former member of one of the crews, Ronald Brady, now 38, was just sent to prison for the next 12 years for gun possession. A classic example of the "Bad Guys With Guns" mantra. Brady was one of several young men scooped up on murder charges related to the feud, and according to online court records, he served nearly all of his 20-year prison term for murder.

I took a moment to look up some of the other men arrested 20 years ago for their roles in the York Boys-McCabe Crew beef.  Marvin Day Rivers beat his murder charge, and eventually left the game by the year 2000. Now 43-year-old Eric Brown's current status is unknown, but he also beat his murder charge. Now 40-year-old Reginald King is still serving out a Life sentence in Jessup for crimes committed during the rivalry. Finally, now 36-year-old Gilbert C. McCory beat his murder charge as well, but didn't stay out of trouble for long, having been stabbed in a pancake house in 2000, and having finished a federal prison term three years ago**


Thursday, June 7, 2012

Tribune slithering out of bankruptcy

The RealDeal
GERALD SCARFE
NYker
A mere 3 1/2 years, $1.3 billion in claims and $410 million in lawyer's fees later, short-fingered vulgarian Sam Zell is preparing to steer his crotch rocket away from a Delaware court with a bankruptcy plan... only to likely be forced to return in the future should right-to-sue claims against Morgan Stanley & Co. from disgruntled bondholders stand up.

No speeding

Baltimore widow Linda Johnson is suing the State and County police for "allegedly killing her husband"-- one thing is not in dispute, Carl Johnson was alive before he was Tased by police, but afterwards was not...

Guillermo L. Lopez-Molina, 41, is no Snoop, but he nailed a man he was having a dispute with while framing a house on Sweet Leaf Lane in Edgewater with three-inch framing nails..

From the Brew: Thomas Threatt, whose April arrest by Baltimore police was caught on videotape (see the :40 mark) appeared in Baltimore City District Court today, where a judge granted his request for a jury trial. ...he was given a June 26 trial date in Baltimore City Circuit Court ... A YouTube video of the Mar. 29 demonstration near Johns Hopkins Hospital in East Baltimore shows Threatt prone on the street, with officers kneeling on his back and neck and other officers repeatedly spraying Mace, point-blank, in his face. 

Voo jah day, county Senator Jim Brochin wants state police posted to the Harbor. He says he wants his constituents to go down to the city (better there than to his district's malls and streets, right?)

Mt Washington Starbucks employees were locked in the can during a closing-time robbery Monday May 28.

If you learn nothing else from this blog, learn that if you park in the Charles Village/Waverly/Guilford/Tuscany area enough times, you will get a broken car window. Sometimes even if your car is as clean as a rental and unlocked. But if you have a GPS, purse or phone in your car, pretty much expect it. Most stations have glass vacuums, there are also mobile glass repair services like Safelite that come out and fix the window at your job or house. Call your insurance co right away, find out if it's covered by your deductible, blah blah... make sure you get a report number form the police for your insurance company...

Traffic of pain pills to Wheeling, West Virginia got bottlenecked when 29 conspirators git federally indicted. 

Speed cameras: on one hand they've slowed down average traffic speeds in school zones, and we enjoy the schadenfreudeliciousness of seeing a-hole drivers get a flash in the plate. But Word on The Street is the city only gets $8 of every $32 ticket, and if that's true, that's an effing load, man. Revenue from the tickets was written into the city budget before the camera contract was even approved. In MoCo the county gets $16.25. If the city gets less than half they are sucka-asses.

Aw old-person Bmore culture moment.. when I was 27, pregnant and working at MICA I got to drive David Byrne around the city in my filthy Honda (that got broken into 13 times  in Charles Village). Nice to hear he is still interested in issues of urban living, promoting biking, etc.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

how u doin

Remember the sad story of Johma Blackwell, an 18-year-old Coppin State student and young mom stabbed to death (32 times!) in Remington? One Syron Abdullah has pleaded guilty to her murder. He apparently started up chats with young women on a certain social media site with a "how u doin." Reports the Patch, "He would then attempt get their personal information, such as address and phone number, so he could rob them." A kid left with no mother for some video games.. fckawful. Who is raising this little girl?

And an Owings Millsian, Joseph Anthony Kallash, age 31,  was sentenced to 15 years for producing pornography with a 15-year-old girl he met on Facebook (whilst Kallash was pretending to be a teenager). The pervy scumbucket was busted after he expressed interest in the victim's younger sister, prompting her to report him. ... for Chrissakes, don't 'friend' or chat with anyone you haven't met in person, people! (Unless you've guest-blogged on their web site...)


"Career criminal" John Thomas (yes, John Thomas) got 15 years in the Federal pokey for gun possession.

A "strong odor" coming from a room at the Holiday Inn Express led to the busts of two Oklahomans, a North Carolinian, a Michigander and a Pennsylvanian in HoCo-- geniuses were (allegedly) cooking up meth.  Said a police spokesperson, "Apparently meth is their drug of choice and when they couldn't find it here in Howard County, they decided to make some themselves in their hotel room."  Hilariously, one of the suspects-- the one with the mega-overbite-- talked to a WBAL reporter. Students of body language will enjoy all of his classic liar's pantomimes-- covering his mouth, shifty eyes and postures ("I only know what I seen on movies..." "apparently it was a foul odor...")-- as compared to his demeanor when he's telling the truth ("I seen some cop cars drive by...")


In HarfCo, an 11-year-old was accidentally shot to death by his brother with a gun the boys found in a neighbor's shed. Man, the therapy that 8-year-old is gonna need...!

Wangs and thangs: Pasadenian CEO of "Wings to Go" indicted for embezzling $885k to pay for phone sex and hookers. At least it was for a good cause...

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Ignominious milestone


Seven people have been murdered in the city since Friday.Image_2



Tweeted Fenton, "it should be noted that [Michael J.] Sullivan, the 92nd murder victim,is the first white male."
Sullivan, 55, was the owner of Sully's Seafood & Subs on Belair road. He was found shot to death at work, but police say that robbery may not have been the motive-- items of value were left behind.*

Monday, June 4, 2012

Dragon's Den Busted

By the DEA for selling "bath salts" labeled as “Speedy Gonzalez,” “Incredible Hulk,” “Taz,” and “Bugs Bunny.” Also found, "more than 100 containers—jars, packets, boxes, and the like—labeled with names such as “Dragon’s Breath,” “Bayou Blaster,” “Get Twisted,” “Zombie Matter,” and “Super Villain.”
WTH are bath salts, anyway? Explains the C to the P:
"popularly they are known as MDPV, 4-MEC, and MDMC (also called methylone). (For the hard-core chemists out there, who probably already know this, they are related to cathinones, alkaloids found in the khat plant.)... One of them, methylone, was patented in 1996 as an antidepressant."

Sunday, June 3, 2012

89, 90, 91

This year's 91st killing is that of 64-year-old Edmond Dabney, shot in the head during a robbery gone awry in the 4600 block of Pimlico Ave. Dabney was walking with a female friend at 4am when he was murdered by an unknown assailant.

A killer brother-and-sister duo are behind bars. A fight between the unidentified female and 42-year-old Antonio Mattison led to the unidentified brother stabbing Mr. Mattison to death inside a boarding house in the 1200 block of Lafayette Ave. Mattison, the 90th victim of the year, has one prior arrest for armed robbery, a charge he beat earlier this year.

The man in drag shot dead after an argument at the Exxon on the corner of E. Fayette and N. Caroline St. has been identified as 18-year-old Desean Bowman.*

Seems a day doesn't go by lately without a police officer sent to the clink. This time it's 37-year-old Edgewood resident Samuel Ocasio. Ocasio received an 18-month Federal bid after copping to his role in the vast "Majestic Towing" scandal. 

Two men were shot in separate incidents overnight*. In the first shooting, which occurred in the 1800 block of W. Lexington St., a 33-year-old got a slug in his dome, as well as his upper back. In the second incident, a 41-year-old got shot at around 4 am in the 2100 block of N. Monroe St.

Five years for Sharee Thomas, the head of the "Diamond Divas" prostitution ring operating in Baltimore. The 35-year-old now-registered sex offender used underage prostitutes and advertised her pimping business online.

Daddy issues at their finest... Michael Darnell Palmer, 22, is accused of stabbing his pops after an argument over taking out the trash went a bit to far.

Impressively un-intimidating looking 18-year-old Bruno Pozzo (Pictured Right), is accused of robbing a a Pikesville pizza man with a pellet gun. Also arrested were 18-year-old Brandon Hudson Rohrback, 16-year-old Billy Antonio Evans, and an unidentified minor.

Somebody robbed the Parkville BK located in the 8300 block of Harford Rd. The lack of an arrest has certain residents "flame-broiling mad." (HAHA, just... awful)

Lennell Ellis, 32, accused of murdering another man and setting his body ablaze in a love triangle gone bad has turned himself into authorities.
(Do love triangles ever end... well?)