Friday, October 5, 2012

Two dancers, three dead ladies and a gun-hoarding miscreant

cherrie gammonFinally, almost two years later, the Cherrie Gammon story* can be told. Or vaguely surmised. The 25-year-old mom of two, Block dancer and heroin addict turned dealer and informant, right, owed horse money to one Monica "Money" McCants, a woman who was running a $14k a week heroin ring out of the Club Pussycat with her son and some others. McCants suspected that the dancer/dealer/mom was "snitching" to police (and court records showed that indeed she was*), yet despite her fears "Money" gave her son "Tay" "obscenity-laced commands" on an (intercepted) phone call to recoup her horse cash from Gammon by any means necessary. Gammon wound up dead from five wounds from the gun of one Hassan "Rowland" Muhammad near Leakin Park with the help and/or in the presence of a guy court documents nicknamed "Miami." Junior drug-gang members Tyrone Johniken, 30, and Gary Cromartie, 23, also face drug dealing and murder conspiracy charges.
      ...sOooo is one of those guys "Miami"? Or was "Miami" an undercover officer or some other kind of informant who was with Gammon but didn't/couldn't stop her execution? Note quote from Fenton's story in 1/11:* "Witnesses told police that she was selling heroin and crack cocaine for Donte "Tay" Baker, Muhammed, who is known as "Rowland," and a man nicknamed "Miami" ... The witnesses said the men took her from her home in the early morning hours of Dec. 12 and drove her to the area where she was shot and killed."
      Monica Money Mom McCants is expected to be in prison until she's @52-57, Tyrone and Gary are still yet to be tried. Related story: P. Hermann on Block dancer Takira "Candy" Leray Johnson-Bey,* stabbed outside of Norma Jean's Gentleman's Club in 2008


Suspicious: Reality star Antoine Ashley, aka "Sahara Davenport" from the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race (aka Whitney Houston in the Snatch Game and the live-in companion of runner-up Manila Luzon) sashayed away at the age of 27 (or 33) from heart failure at Johns Hopkins Hospital Monday. ... what was NY resident Ashley doing in Baltimore city? Sounds shady, lady... The funeral will reportedly be held October 12 or 13 at Snowden Funeral Home(301) 762-2500 - 246 North Washington Street, Rockville, MD 20850. 

Six years after the SW Flex Squad treated newspaper-serial readers to month-long marathons of corruption charges starring Jemini Jones and Vicki Mengel,* it appears the SW Flex Squad is still in business (and not even rebranded). The squad arrested convicted armed robber in Pigtown with a shit-ton of guns, one made-for-TV miscreant Wayne Petty (right). For all of you eager would-be gun consumers I will recount the guns: Seized Weapons: Ruger 22/45 .22 Caliber handgun; Ruger Blackhawk .45 Caliber handgun; Ruger Single-Six .22 Caliber handgun; Ruger Vaquer .44 Caliber handgun; Remington 870 Express Magnum 12 Gauge shotgun; Ruger Blackhawk .357 Caliber handgun;  Ruger 10/22 .22 Caliber rifle; Winchester 1300 12 Gauge shotgun; Winchester 30-30 rifle; Thompson Center Arms .50 Caliber rifle; Connecticut Valley Arms .50 Caliber rifle; Thompson Center Arms .50 Caliber rifle; Braztech 410GA Shotgun;Remington 7600 30-06 shotgun; New England Firearms 12 Gauge shotgun; Ithica Featherlight 12 Gauge shotgun. And what will become of all those fine guns, I wonder...? Tune in next year for the chilling conclusion, or not...


Baltimore Co. police confirm that woman whose body was found in Leakin Park was that of 62 y/o who walked away from assisted living facility... County authorities say they don't suspect foul play.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

168 & 169, another police-involved shooting, Anthony Anderson's killer revealed


... Todd A. Strohman and two other officers — Gregg Boyd, a 16-year veteran, and Michael Vodarick, a seven-year veteran were named. Strohman had previously been shot during a gun battle on N. Calvert street. "In an unusual move that has rankled some veteran prosecutors and police, the Police Department hand-delivered the autopsy results to the Anderson family on Tuesday, which veteran investigators say is uncommon because of concerns that the dissemination of key facts could compromise the case."

  • ... 
  •  Two men were shot to death and a third was seriously injured in three separate shootings that all occurred within an hour Wednesday night in three of the city's west side neighborhoods.*
    A 19-year-old man was found at 9 p.m. in the 200 block of North Fulton Avenue in the Franklin Square neighborhood. He had been shot in the chest and died at 9:54 p.m. at University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Officers, responding to reports of gunfire in Harlem Park shortly before 10 p.m., found an unidentified man lying on the ground in the 1800 block West Lanvale Street. He died of multiple gunshot wounds at 11:31 p.m. at Shock Trauma."
    Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Sylvester Cox sentenced Davon McCoy and Frank Richardson to 35 and 25 years, respectively, for carjacking a woman in 2011 and leading authorities on a six-mile pursuit that was captured from the air by Foxtrot and the news media.

    Tuesday, October 2, 2012

    Anthony Anderson = homicided

    The Med Examiner has ruled Anthony Anderson's death a homicide from blunt-force injury and primarily a pulmonary contusion (bruised lung), fractured ribs, hemorrhaged tissues, a torn spleen and blood from those injuries filling his guts (hemoperitoneum) -- not an overdose or by choking on .
    swallowed drugs as the BPD initially reported, though police do say "morphine" was in his system 
    (yes, not "opiates," "morphine" in particular. Is the toxicology report finished? If so, where is it?)   Here's the autopsy report released by the family & uploaded by Fenton, and the Fenton story... you may recall that our new presumptive police chief resigned in Oakland after a court found that his department had failed to implement court-ordered policies to control police abuses, that citizens who complained about it faced "cavalier rejection" of their complaints, and that "the agency misused an early-warning system that flags officers who frequently use force or generate citizen complaints." Baltimore, of course, doesn't even have a public system by which to track or address such complaints to begin with, unless you count our citizen review board that's sworn to secrecy and has zero power, or the invisible-to-us internal police "administrative reviews" that the department openly admits take "months or years*" to complete.  

    Sooo, why did Oakland get to have federal court oversight and Baltimore never has? We had the "Flex Squad" in the SW planting drugs and framing people,* just like Oakland's "Riders." We've had officers shot in chaotic no-clear-lines-of command incidents,* just like Oakland. So why did the Oakland PD get total federal oversight and Baltimore has never gotten more than a federal visit or two?
    In other news, plans for the new youth jail soldier on.* (remind me, is it federal or local money building this jail?)

    And thank you Kevin Rector, finally*-- after a slew of confusing rape/ abuction stories a little clarity: three sex assault/ kidnapping/ robbery victims, two perps -- Kenyon Waller and William Campbell -- who're both now in jail. The first incident of a teen kidnapped at gunpoint off the street then robbed and sexually assaulted was Sept. 25, but as far as I can tell only the Catonsville Patch reported it. Wonder why. I'd throw in a dab of snark here about how if it had happened to a blonde girl in Towson you wouldn't have been able to eat your Cheerios without hearing Don Scott recount every filthy little detail, but my outrage fatigue is acting up.

    Fifteen years for Timothy Dennison, 22, who bought "sham cocaine" from an ICE Homeland Security Investigations agent (whatever happened to the DEA?)

    A scathing report from the Senate found that the Department of Homeland Security has spent about a billion dollars to spy on citizens, while thwarting not a single terrorist attack. Next (or probably already) from Homeland Security: automatically tracking everyone's car's movements using license-plate scanning technology. Grouses a proprietor of a for-profit license tracking service, "I take absolute exception to any government telling me that I can't go into public and take video ... that's taking my freedoms away." 

    The ghettobirds thrum songs of love

    The sedan driver shot to death on Reedbird Ave in Cherry Hill was ID'd as Queren L. Thomas,* right, 18-year-old Kentrell Brown has been charged.

    A student was stabbed in Hertiage High, no Lady Gaga Twitter campaign planned, no promises of security upgrades from school officials.

    Two people have been arrested for kidnapping related to incidents of two separate incidents of women being abducted near Edmonson Ave. and Ingleside in Catonsville. And this morning a woman was forced into a vehicle at Greenspring and Dru Hill Aves, and it sounds like a fourth incident happened yesterday as a woman was waiting for a bus-- she was raped and dropped off somewhere, the story is unclear as to where (and were the two people arrested before or after the one or two incidents yesterday?). In any case case, dear BPD, women getting picked off the streets and stuffed into cars at gunpoint is something I'd rather like to hear about sooner than a full week after it happens, thanks. And why is WBAL the only one on this story? You'd think the local news would be all over that.

    A mysteriously dead body was found on a porch in SW

    A 55-year-old alleged burglar in Roland Park Fell off a porch and died

    A firefighter in Landsdowne was charged with sexually abusing two teen boys

    A Californian meth supplier got 15 years for shipping his product to his friend Mark Anthony Anglo in Waldorf

    Guilty pleas in PA from three suspects charged with buying the Kate Moss from Baltimore's Damion Floyd, including a mom of three and her brother

    A man was sprayed with pepper spray in the 5400 block of York Road (where a woman was carjacked not too long ago)

    Four people, including a mother an her adult son, were charged with breaking into a vacant home

    Mug shots of Eric Ford Sr (who shot his son and his mother) and other rogues in the Patch's rouge's gallery

    Pikesville's Knish Shop was burgled

    Murder magnet TeeBee's Lounge kept their liquor license and was fined $2,000 at their Liquor Board hearing yesterday

    The family that robs together, sobs together-- Fenton Tweets "2nd suspect in Fort Ave McDonald's robbery - where employees forced in freezer - charged: Sharief Bostic,22. Prev charged susp Darryl Bostic" More from the Sun*

    Monday, October 1, 2012

    'In Defense of Flogging'

    Forty years for Terrence Kelley, who tried to kill his babymom's new man

    A man, 28, was shot to death yesterday in the 600 block of Belnord Ave after an argument with two men in a grey station wagon with tinted windows

    A decade after the D.C. sniper shootings, Lee Boyd Malvo gave a contrite interview to the WaPo.

    Nana Mensah
    The 19-year-old murder victim was identified as Nana Mensah of Randallstown (left, from FB), she graduated from Randallstown high last year and worked at Shoe City.

    Some Fenton Tweets, blogged for posterity:
    Court records show police made arrest in the killing of woman last wk in Cherry Hill, yet police tell me they dont have victim's name. Sigh. ...Volunteers cleaning Leakin Park find decomposing body; identity, cause of death pending autopsy ... Murder last night in McElderry Park, 600 N Belnord. No details yet. ... Fort Avenue McDonald's employees forced into walk-in freezer during armed robbery Ssaturday ...

    There was a shooting Friday night at Security Square Mall, a teenager, Rickey Freeman, age 17, was arrested and charged as an adult

    Oh fer the love of taxpayer dollars: the Sun's Scott Calvert asked the BPD for the agenda and minutes of CitiStat meetings, and was basically told by the city's lawyers to take a long pee up a short rope (see right) then go file a lawsuit. This is why big corporate newspapers are good: they can sue agencies that need some suin'. Though now we're doubly screwed b/c the Sun's short-fingered vulgarian overlord is too broke/gives not enough craps to spend money on such things, and it shows: city agencies seem to be getting more shamelessly opaque by the minute (see BDC's closed-door "public" meetings, the City Center project, Rico J. Singeton's vanishing emails...).

    Some good news from Slummy Slumwatch: a new law goes into effect today that lets neighborhood/community associations sue owners of derelict properties.

    Bwah! Christopher Perry, age 50, was convicted of Social Security and Medicare fraud for receiving disability benefits ...  while he was employed by the Social Security Administration. Zing!

    In Owings Mills, a (human) burglar pooped on the porch. (“Feces on the front porch?” said Lt. Stephen Doarnberger, assistant commander of the Baltimore County Police’s Franklin Precinct. “That’s new.”)

    The Harford Dagger's crime blotter is just adorable ("A caller from the 2900 block of Nova Scotia Road reported nine cows in the caller’s front lawn Thursday.")

    Glad to see former Baltimore officer and author of Cop in the Hood author Peter Moskos has a new book out (yes, it came out last year, but just noticed) the title = "In Defense of Flogging"

    Yech, the vote suppression people have set to work here in MD, claiming a whole bunch of registered voters are actually dead people. You may recall similar efforts in NC, Wisconsin, Ohio, etc. where a fake-nonprofit (linked to "True the Vote," sponsored by the Koch Bros) claimed 27,500 people should have been dropped from the rolls. After taking up many, many hours of the state election board's time, not a single case of voting fraud was uncovered (NC had exactly one case of voter impersonation in the past 12 years).