Fred and George, Jill and Jose

Life in prison for Jose Morales.*

A man with a gun tried to rape a 13-year-old in the 2700 block of East Madison Street after midnight.*

Jill Carter plans to introduce legislation to overhaul the laws that govern police internal investigations.

We know the cause and manner of death for all 218 homicides this year, many of which are still under investigation...
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) December 9, 2013

But in the West case the response is that it's not appropriate to release it until the investigation is "complete"..
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) December 9, 2013

No indication that West's case will be ruled a homicide; in fact I've heard it was ruled otherwise. But it's def being handled differently
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) December 9, 2013

The WaPo reported on the sneaky "malware" means the Feds use to spy on people, such as embedding a virus-like program in somebody's email that allows spying through a laptop camera without making the 'record' light come on.

Fred and George

A 7-11 clerk was shot in the County, in the 8600 block of Pleasant Plains Road.

A man was robbed and stabbed in Dundalk.

In AAC, Fred and George were arrested for selling drugs to an undercover officer.

Felicia "Snoop" Pearson is all alone eating a rack of ribs and drinking a Mai Tai, so I guess she's not in jail any more.

There's some shirts

Jose Morales was found guilty of soliciting Robert Long's murder by a federal jury, a murder Demetrius Smith* was doing time for. ... But what happened to Stanley Needleman?

MTA Police are looking for three fashion-foward guys who committed armed robbery of a passenger on the number 40 bus.

Police Tweeted a shooting in the 2400 block of East Monument Street.

Anthony Towels/Towles has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of his 16-month-old granddaughter Sabryia, even though her death was ruled accidental-- he left her in his car last summer and she died.

Anthony Batts was on the Marc Steiner show yesterday evening, you can listen to the podcast if you're into that kind of thing.

Christopher Troy Goode aka Public Enemy #1 has been captured.

Dude's mellow was harshed in Glen Burnie when a bowl, weed and pot brownies were seized.
(What is the Baltimore News Journal? Who's behind it? Anyone know?)

Media blabber: local neurosurgeon Ben "Bestiality" Carson has debuted as a Fox News commentator.

Protest in front of City Hall.. Family members of Tyrone West calling for results of investigation into his death pic.twitter.com/DySIxeJv7X
— Christian Schaffer (@chrisfromabc2) October 9, 2013

Laugh so you don't cry dept: A company called Dynis LLC is poised to get a city contract for new "Smart Meters," even though their bid is $101 million more than a competitor's. Why, you ask? Is it the vast techincal superiority of their meters? Or is it perhaps because the CEO of Dynis was Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's top contributor in 2011? Strokes beard.

Housing inspectors have reportedly made a game of who can issue the most citations, with the "sharks" at the top and the "crabs" at the bottom.

Confidence level = zero

Down in Greenbelt the Jose Morales case has gone to the jury.* Last week prosecutors tied him to three murders and an attempted murder-for-hire -- Robert Long's, plus three men who were in the federal penitentiary, Clyde "Junior" Lucas, who was with Long when he died, Mark Bartlett, a thief, addict and drug dealer who was the "star witness" who originally helped put Demetrius Smith in jail for Long's murder, and Terry Sadler, who is alive and also the mother of one of Morales' children. (I guess Stanley Needleman never testified?)

Four people arrested and three indicted on charges related to bribing postal workers at the Waverly and Pikesville post offices. Richard Wright, 37, and Kimberly Parnell, 43, are the respective post office managers, making Shane Anderson, 37, and Ladena Sketers-Anderson, 46, are the presumptive alleged bribers. Fenton says the managers are accused of taking kickbacks for no-show jobs from landscaping and janitorial companies.* Wright allegedly texted, "'Yo bra u need to text or call me because I need to get my loot!' ... referring to a $2,000 cut from $3,750 paid for contract work."

Kenneth Bernard Corporal was arrested for stabbing bouncers at the Comedy Factory.*

The Baltimore Police Department posted to Facebook,

"The Baltimore Police Department will make no changes to its policy regarding the information it currently disseminates on Twitter. We will continue to use Twitter to inform the community on all non fatal shootings, all homicides, crime prevention tips, public safety issues, noteworthy arrests and community events. Our goal has always been to provide the most accurate information possible. The community deserves nothing less. In order to meet that goal as crimes happen we will endeavor to add more context to events when they occur."

I gotta say, too little too late-- at this point I've completely lost confidence in Batts to lead. Homicides are up, transparency is down, dude seems completely clueless as to the law when it comes to Terry stops,* you had Gugliemi saying "we're pretty satisfied where the city is headed, violence-wise" after one of the most violent weekends in history, then the new guy saying they're not going to tweet "criminal on criminal crime." The spokesmen's words are their own, but apparently the Batts administration culture promotes that dismissive attitude: with Gugliemi's remarks, Batts never denounced them, he just "temporarily reassigned" Gugliemi to another post and remarked that the "messaging" and been "terrible."*
     And as a cynical Baltimorean, know how easy and tempting it is to slide into the "let the criminals kill each other off and have God sort 'em out" attitude. But there are problems with this line of thinking. First being collateral damage: kids and "actual citizens" literally getting caught in the crossfire. Second, people lose confidence that the police can protect them, and start taking care of threatening individuals themselves, already a huge problem in this city, the average homicide victim has 8.5 arrests.* When there's been a shooting on the block yet nothing is said, it reinforces this perception and conveys the message that shootings are so routine they aren't even noteworthy any more and the police don't care, reinforcing the cycle of violence. 
     Then there's the ethics of the "criminals aren't citizens" attitude. Just because you've bought some pot in the park doesn't mean you deserve the death penalty, or even a bullet in the knee. And finally, because America. Do we believe in the rule of law, or do we believe in the rule of the jungle?
     So yeah, no confidence. Time for this guy to go.

Calling on the Corpse Phone

"I just picked it up off a dead guy." Murder victim Robert Long's missing cellphone is one of many mysteries in the bizarre and chilling case against Jose Morales, drug dealer, arsonist, scaffolding thief, accused witness-murderer, and probable confidential police informant, who was shielded from prosecution either intentionally or via mind-boggling police incompetence.

Katrell Smith

Murder suspect Robert G. Moore is extra special: he's accused of threatening the lives of two female prosecutors,* telling one he was going to send an associate after her while she was in the hospital delivering her baby.

The Ink has last week's four murders, since then the toll has climbed to 178.

BPD arrested Katrell Smith, jug-eared assailant, now they need help linking him to other violent crimes, so call Metro Crime Stoppers if you saw him being criminally violent with someone, I guess. Wonder if this is the same guy, he sounds about articulate enough.

Dennis Freeman

Monday's murder in Violetville was reportedly allegedly committed by one Dennis Freeman, who killed his estranged wife's girlfriend's new boyfriend, husband, Stephan Burley.* Freeman had previously faced drug-distribution charges, Burley had domestic-violence charges of his own (which were dropped). Cham informs me that Freeman is wearing a Tyvek® suit given to arrestees whose clothes are soiled with, say, the blood of someone they'd stabbed to death, and not a hoodie from Rei Kawakubo for Comme Des Garcons' 2012 spring collection.

Police confirm last night's shooting victim on Tivoly Ave was Andre Miller, 31, of E. 29th St. I retweeted his pic/RIP messages last night
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) October 1, 2013

Three rough-looking women, Alexis Chandler, 19, Ashley Fitz, 22 and Czekiah Fludd, 24, were arrested in the county and charged with robbing a bank in Essex.

Because of the Republican government shutdown, the fates of countless perverts, scam artists and gun-toting drug dealers will go unknown and unmocked by me. Sigh! According to the Department of Justice contingency plan, federal criminal cases are business as usual, federal civil cases are to be postponed until the fudgetards in the House pass a budget, unless the cases involve "the safety of human life or the protection of property." Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests are also not being processed as usual. Oh, and thanks to the sequester, the FBI can't pay informants or put gas in investigator's cars.

Federal judge to gun lovers: delay denied

Timothy Moats was arrested by #BPDSES in the 4900 Block of Erdman Ave. for a handgun violation #ASaferBaltimore pic.twitter.com/7yTtp27xSa
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) October 2, 2013

Charles White was arrested by #BPDSD in the 300 Block of Washburn Rd. for a handgun violation #ASaferBaltimore pic.twitter.com/p9bPfGwL0V
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) October 1, 2013

Jeffrey Warren was arrested by #BPDWD in the 1100 Block of W. Baltimore St. for a handgun violation #ASaferBaltimore pic.twitter.com/LeFwjOpceX
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) October 1, 2013

Open minded

Jose Morales, via the CP

Trial is scheduled to begin tomorrow for Jose Morales for the murder of Robert Long.* Morales is accused of hiring a Dead Man Inc. hit man to kill Long after allegedly finding out from his and Long's lawyer, Stanley Needleman, that Long planned to testify against him in a stolen-scaffolding case. Morales is currently serving a 262-month sentence in federal prison on charges that he tried to bring cocaine to Baltimore on a chartered jet. Demetrius Smith was previously charged for Long's murder, charges were dropped, but Smith is still in jail serving time for a different murder. Needleman is disbarred, serving a year for tax evasion and may testify against his former client.

The death of a five-month-old baby girl, Ilzaryah Morrison, in the 1600 block of N. Broadway September 2, was determined on Friday to have been a homicide.* No suspects, no details yet.

Willie Mayes, 59, charged with beating 52-year-old Donald Robinson,* said he pulverized Robinson after his daughter accused Robinson of rape. The daughter, Latiqwa Mayes, 19, is also charged, as are two of her teenaged friends. Mayes' story checks out: Robinson had been charged with a sex offense in 2003.

So apparently David's on Falls Road, formerly a crappy luncheon, is now a crappy sports bar, one where a gun was allegedly drawn on one employee by another.* One David Morgan, Jr., on Saturday night/Sunday morning.

Get used to armed a-holes-- Marylanders have reportedly been "flocking" to buy guns at the rate of 1,000 a day over the past two weeks.*

Ida Mae Snipe, bathroom pickpocket, identity thief and bank fraudster whose accomplice begged stall neighbors* to spare a square while she pinched their purses was sentenced to more than 21 years in prison.*

Professional football player Jacoby Jones was reportedly hit in the head with a $600 magnum bottle of Ace of Spades champagne by a professional escort named Sweet Pea, who has a "38 waste" and is "open minded," which apparently means pay up or I will open your mind and waste it with a 38-pound bottle. No charges were filed.