Ihtisham Butt.

The Brew reveals that outgoing finance director Edward Gallagher left the city an unholy accounting mess full of major errors that have already cost the city $1.4 million in auditing fees and could endanger the city's bond rating and ability to borrow money to fix our decaying sewage system. The finer points of Gallagher's legacy include $9.7 million in water-billing errors, miscalculated depreciation costs and an utter lack of internal audits.

Page Croyder reports a major "melt down" at the Public Defender's office, she says "at leave five" "white older men" were "tossed out into the street"and countless other employees were demoted with "no warning, no indication of poor performance, no request to change what they were doing, nothing," Elijah Cummings' brother Bob's job survived the purges, natch.

"A Baltimore City Circuit Court jury convicted Ihtisham Butt, 32, yesterday for sexually abusing the 14-year-old daughter of his former girlfriend."

Have you seen this robber who stuck up the 7-11 at Harford and S. Wolfe Sts?

Twitterations:

Brandon M. Scott ‏@CouncilmanBMS

The Latest City-Wide Comstat Crime Data Is Available herehttp:// tinyurl.com/9sc4gqm  via @openbaltimore @baltimorepolice

Justin Fenton ‏@justin_fenton

Dozens of crimes that occur in Baltimore schools go unreported as part of zero-tolerance rollback,reports @foxbaltimorehttp://foxbaltimore.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wbff_dozens-city-school-crimes-not-reported-police-16022.shtml …

Justin Fenton ‏@justin_fenton

Anthony Batts was confirmed last night as Baltimore's 37th police commissioner; Jim Kraft abstained and didnt say why http://bsun.md/Ri7PMD *

Michael A. Scarcella ‏@MikeScarcella

The government's legal fee tab in a #FOIA case in San Francisco: nearly $480K. http://www.rcfp.org/browse-media-law-resources/news/journalist-awarded-more-400000-foia-case-against-fbi … #FBI

Justin Fenton ‏@justin_fenton

Police identify weekend shooting victim (2500 E Hoffman) as 19 y/o Darius Taybron. Suspect was on a bike. Police need tips: 410-396-2100.

I ain't one to judge, but ...

Good for the Deuce-- a month after Anthony Anderson's homicide by cop, they're still covering the story, noting no charges have yet been filed.

A man was shot at 1:44 a.m. in Woodlawn, he's "clinging to life"

Older burglar Kevin Younger, 50, was arrested for stealing from the Utrecht art supply store* more than a year ago after his fingerprint was found on a newsbox outside.

Loni Haggins (Examiner/FB)

Look, I ain't one to judge, but what could a 30-year-old woman possibly see in a 17-year-old boy? Former cheerleading coach Loni Haggins of Bowie may spend up to a year in the pen to contemplate that question after pleading guilty to the attempted sex abuse of a 17-year-old boy-- attempted abuse that left her insperminated with her now one-month-old child. So given that this kid is technically a victim of rape, will he have to pay child support?

So someone splain Question K to me more plz. Everyone who is in now gets an extra year added on to their term?.. and there might be an Anthony Brown/StephRB ticket in 2014? Ennteresting. Who else thinks that DieBold is going to steal the election in Ohio and Florida for R-Money?

Speaking of ballot questions, this is the last day to opine on the concealed-carry question that's supposed to come before the 4th circuit starting tomorrow, so vote _^ if yr gonna, varmints. Just think, by Christmas we could have heat-packing husbands canoodling in the streets! 

Schmuck of the year.

It's a black fly in your Chardonnay, it's realizing you shouldn't have had someone killed 10 minutes too late. Scared stupid that his million-dollar stolen-check scheme would implode, one Tavon Davis hired a man to kill co-conspirator Isaiah Calloway ... then realized too late that the sentences for murder tend to be higher than sentences for fraud. 

Watch out for that tree

Another teen fatally shot, a 19-year-old at E. Hoffman and N. Milfton* (Milton?). Broadwater notes his is the city's 175th homicide according to him, it's the 177th according to our blog t(r)oll (was someone removed?). A 60-year-old man was shot to death in the 3100 block of Garrison Blvd.
 The bifurcating of victim ages is sad/interesting: six victims under 20 in the past month, and five over the age of 40, and five female victims since 9/18. There have been three child homicide victims so far this year, Maya Carr, (5), Olivia Palmer (6 months) and Desmare Braxton, 1.

"Bitch if I lose my house job or wife, you will lose your life!"  Fenton follows up on the use of "special police"-- aka security guards who look like police, act like police, but don't have police training or accountability*. Not just Tenable Protection but 30 more "extralegal" agencies ranging from the venerable campus cops of MICA and JHU to gawd-knows-who. ... what could possibly go wrong?

Police pursuit of an alleged gun-toting drug dealer ended with a suspect dead after his car hit another car, six Dunbar High football players and then a tree. 

Pedophiles, peepers and prisoners

Another new drug for my files: BZP-- as in, a Bronx drug dealer was stopped going 38 MPH Southbound on I-95 and was found to have heroin, MDMA and BZP, and was sentenced to 8 years in the Federal slammer.

Three businesses robbed in the Southeast; two on Eastern and one on Pulaski.

After 143 years, Baltimore's Prisoners Aid has imploded under mysterious circumstances

Good boys go to heaven, bad boys go to Howard County or join the Boy Scouts. So I assume the Baltimore hospital offers 'pedophilia treatment' on the Boy Scout link is Hopkins? Oh my, looks like it is/was, under no one less than John Money, the doctor who tried to turn a boy into a girl. Wonder if they still offer/design/research treatments for pedophiles?

So, a shooting victim walks into a hospital, and the doctor says...

The Office of the State's Attorney for Baltimore City has charged Baltimore City police officers Sgt. Marinos N. Gialamas and Officer Anthony Williams Thursday with second-degree assault for allegedly assailing a man in police custody on Oct. 27, 2011, the SAO also charged Gialamas, 40, with three counts of misconduct and Williams, 37, with a single count of obstructing and hindering an investigation. ... Officials said Gialamas and Williams allegedly assaulted the man in an East Baltimore home after he attempted to flee from officers who observed him engaged in suspected drug activity. 

24 hours of Fenton Twitterations

Justin FentonTerrell Allen, the other half of the Blackwell-Allen feud that police say sparked wave of retaliatory shootings, is in court for VOR today

The family of Pikesville murder victim Ernest Bo Gales, 21, who was killed a yr ago today, is offering $10k for tips in the case

From yesterday: Officers charged with assaulting drug suspect who ran into home of off-duty officer's girlfriend http://bsun.md/UedTtm *

Got an email frm victim of armed robbery near O'Donnell Square. She's pretty shaken but wants it to be a lesson for others to be alert

Second-degree assault charges come nearly a full year after incident occurred in East Baltimore. Announced just before courts closed. ... According to records, the incident started with a drug arrest initiated in the same block that Anthony Anderson died during a drug arrest

and hey, look who's aTweeting now:

BaltStAttorney ‏@BaltStAttorney

Police Sergeant and Officer Charged with Second-Degree Assault for Allegedly Assailing a Suspect in Custody: http://bit.ly/R6WQqB 

Justin Fenton ‏@justin_fenton

Federal court docket: Trial of Stinky, Junior, Moe, Youngin and Chico continues

Police see pattern in Canton robberies; woman robbed of wedding ring in MtVernon; food delivery guy carjacked in W Balt

Confirmation Confirmed

Dropped by the Batts confirmation at City Hall last night.* Came in late because every fckn parking machine around the city hall square was broken. Ended up arriving at the ochre-n-buttercream sanctum of room 4 w/parking unpaid and a 1/2 hour late, just missing Robert Cherry's testimony- - Cherry's a (former? current?) homicide detective and head of the police union, with a curiously strong Boston accent. Asked, "so how'd it go, are you for him or against him?"
     "Eh, for him, we're going to give him a chance."
     "And then what?" I asked, which got an ambiguous chortle.
Then from behind the dias asked, "so here's the question on everyone's minds..." ooh, I thought, they're going to ask him if he ever hit his wife in the face with a mug, or about that veteran who got nailed with a canister at Occupy Oakland, or about the OPD receivership! Here we go!
    "... where are you going to live?"

Justin Fenton ‏@justin_fenton

Batts declines to say where he is living; "Im a resident of the city of Baltimore." "What district?" "One of the districts"

   Took a seat inside downstairs and rest of the hour I could stand continued in the mein of a hot buttered lovefest, with an endorsement from some slender white man from some neighborhood association giving an endorsement, then copious praise from councilpeople for respective officers and district commanders. Some male councilmember wryly noted that though Batts could now cash a paycheck he still has to make it through the hearing to assume the title, and one of our fine feisty sexagenarian black ladies from behind me was like, "oh, he gone cash that check all right, pffsshht!" (Muttery older black ladies are always the highlight of any civic event, IMO, and if you go to one you should sit near as many as possible.)
    I couldn't place his voice at first but when I closed my eyes he sounded just like Rod Rosenstein-- must be the Harvard in em.
    Young endorsed plainclothes officers reporting to districts (they don't now, I guess?) and Batts was all like, "people tell me I look like you, Jack!" and gave some kind of general noncommittal answer.
   Anyway after about an hour I was worried about a $32 ticket (didn't get one, even a block from the BPD HQ and with three cop cars parked by city hall) and had domestic duties, but Fenton reports that heat was taken:

"But there were tense moments as well: Four residents asked about or referred to reports from a publication in Long Beach alleging that Batts had been involved in domestic-violence incidents there years earlier. He has not been charged with a crime. Among those who raised the issue was Jean Allen, the president of the Edgewood Community Association, who said she had seen the accusations online. "Whether it's true or not, it's there," she said of the allegations being in the public realm. "We all want to know more about him."

Batts took questions only from council members, who did not raise the issue.
The Baltimore Sun has attempted to verify the report, reaching several people named in the article or by its author. None said they had direct knowledge or evidence. Though Batts declined to discuss the article in detail, he has called it 'humiliating' and said he had been cleared through multiple background checks."

So there you have it-- dissent quashed-- and darn me for not signing up to testify and asking him about Occupy, receivership, lobstergate and domestic-violence accusations my danged self. Sure he would have been confirmed anyway but if I had spoken up maybe he would have felt like he had to at least answer Jean Allen. I'm so over police/officials here feeling like they are answerable to no one, and they are, all because wusses like me don't seize the opportunity to demand answers, dammit. I have let you all down. But hey, Batts says he might make Comsat meetings public. Good idea-- more transparency and they could meld that with community meetings:

Justin Fenton ‏@justin_fenton

Left on cutting room floor: Batts said he's flirted with idea of making Comstat meetings public, taking it on the road ... Comstat meetings are the weekly stat-sharing among commanders; reputation as a beat-down session. It'd go 180 degrees if taken public. ...community meetings are commanders talking to residents. Comstat is commanders talking to commanders abt intel, strategy.

Self-help books, cigars and shrimp

?? A jury acquitted and dropped all charges against a man accused of beating a 73-year-old Hampden cab driver to death*-- in spite of the fact that the cab driver knew the man as his roommate's brother and identified him by name before he died. WTF, jury?

Ink details last week's seven murders

Batts reportedly requested a VINN diagram of Black Guerilla Family,* told Fenton in addition to their usual gangful activities the gang is also forcibly expanding and demanding that subsets pay tributes, leading to friction. The BGF is, of course the biggest crime franchise in town, running the city's best open-air drug markets, smuggling champagne, shrimp and cigars into prison, extorting prisoners for protection, laundering money, committing numerous horrific murders and publishing self-help-books.

Speaking of Batts, his City Council confirmation is tonight at 5; CD Witherspoon and Occupy is planning a protest to start at city hall at 4.

Crime is up nationally, says the FBI's UCR. But it's down in Baltimore city, right?

A month after it began, that Daniel McIntosh pot/money laundering/Nicka conspiracy trial is still going on in Greenbelt, sounds like.

Shadowy figures

Police released a photo of suspects fleeing the scene of the shooting death of Dr. Peter Marvit* on Chesterfield Ave in Belair-Edison. Police theorize that Marvit was robbed because thieves mistook him for a food-delivery person.

Kevin Rector ‏@RectorSun

Boy, 15, shot in leg near Johns Hopkins Hospital: http://bsun.md/P5XyGi *

Life w/o parole for William Ward III and Frank Williams,* convicted of murdering Rodney Pridget outside the Nordstrom Rack.

The funeral of 16 y/o vicim Ahjee Harrod is today at the Southern Baptist church at 1701 N. Chester 

Pimp Marco Sanchez got five years for importing 100 hos

In the Northern district someone was robbed of something called a "Wussi scooter"*

Ah Baltimore, where the comptroller is suing the mayor. 

This just in (again): the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with 2.2 million people currently @the belly of the beast. Prof. to Bloomberg: "The model is, if you built it, they will come."

Fenton profiles The Rev. CD Witherspoon,* local community activist/onetime city council candidate. Good for him, speaking up for change. But please, Rev, do not sully your rep by hanging out with J. Wyndal Gordon, the "Warrior Lawyer." You may recall Gordon was Frank Conaway's attorney who had some choice Jew-hating sentiments during the Adam Meister assalt/unlicensed concealed weapon kerfuffle*: "'When you have a situation where you have a Jewish victim and an African-American male, you have things happen differently than if it happened to be a regular case,' [Gordon] said. He suggested that 'perhaps because of their commonality in their religion ... ' " Cortly should find himself some nice liberal social-activist Jews to hang out with next, dontchathink?

Disparate youth

19-year-old Charles Fuller was shot to death near Patterson Park* (#175). The Baltimore Guide reports 14 incidents of street robbery including seven gun robberies in the Southeast since 9/30

Justin Fenton ‏@justin_fenton

Crime Beat blog weekend recap: 8 shot in Baltimore over the weekend, incl 18-yr-old girl and 2 outside Club Mirage http://bsun.md/SY4JuP *

Justin Fenton ‏@justin_fenton

Police have released security footage of two ppl running from the area of Belair-Edison where Peter Marvit was killed pic.twitter.com/A3LUvNGz

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3hJustin Fenton ‏@justin_fenton

Police believe the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Tashawna Jones in Harwood was a domestic incident http:// bsun.md/SY4JuP *

Also Fenton revisits Oliver a decade after the Dawson family * was burned up in their home for "snitching" on neighborhood drug dealers. .. speaking of Moltov cocktails, I wonder what became of Edna McAbier, who went into witness protection after thugs threw some down her chimney in Harwood?

A police car responding to a shooting on Jack St. struck and killed a pedestrian,* Leondionas Dias Perez, on E. Patapsco Ave

Dayone Jackson, 20, was charged with shooting the Cherry Hill pizza deliveryman*

"For shooting at three Baltimore City police officers and striking one, Gerry Gough, 24, pled guilty on Friday to attempted first-degree murder, two counts of attempted second-degree murder, and a handgun violation. The plea agreement calls for a sentence of life in prison with all but 40 years suspended, followed by three years of probation."

Counties:

Two (black) 18-year-olds were arrested for the murder of (white) MMA fighter Matthew Morrow at a party in Pasadena

38 y/o Jermaine Dalton was murdered in Baltimore County

Civics: 
The Brew with the Ivy bookshop reviews three Baltimore-related social-history and urban planning tomes.

Did you know the Perkins and Latrobe projects used to be "white" public housing? Interesting presentation from the ACLU on the history of Baltimore's segregated public housing and the issues facing Cherry Hill and Westport.

174= 18 y/o Tashawna Jones; 57 y/o Female Cab Driver Shot

"A 57-year-old female cabdriver was shot in the chest early Saturday,* in one of three separate shootings since Friday night, Baltimore police said....Police believe the driver, who is in serious condition, was robbed by two women and a man in the 3100 block of Swann Drive at 3:25 a.m. after she picked the suspects up at an unknown location."

You'll recall sedan driver Queren Thomas, 35, was murdered 9/26, Kentrell Brown, 18, was arrested for her murder. (I requested a copy of that indictment from Mark Cheshire next week, FYrI).

A pizza delivery driver was shot in Cherry Hill; the 26-year-old man was shot in the stomach at a house in the 2500 block of Terra Firma Road shortly after 2:15 p.m.

State Troopers with automatic tag readers descended on the Greenmount Avenue "Death Corridor." The Spectator reports boys in "Smokey the Bear" hats from La Plata, Cecil and Frederick counties displaced winos and drug dealers in short order and arrested at least one "habitual public drunk" - finally the state and federal help we've all been wondering when might arrive?

Justin Fenton

Last night's homicide victim frm 300 blk e 26th st [in Harwood] identified as Tashawna Jones. She turned 18 in July and was from W Balt

Like the police cant solve a case without witnesses, we cant write a good story about a victim without ppl willing to be interviewed

If you want to see more coverage of this case or others, pls, pls reach out and help us connect with relatives or other loved ones

Down in Pasadena, Martial-Artis fighter Matthew Morrow, 21, was shot to death at a house party.* 

Baltimore Police ‏@BaltimorePolice

SHOOTING ARREST - Dominic Johnson arrested for the non fatal shooting that occurred 3400 blk of Dudley Ave in NE Baltimore on Oct 7th.

A 12 y/o boy brought ammo to school in Reisterstown 

FB comment

Kara Mae on Baltimore Brew's 

Inside City Hall: Behind closed doors, BDC hammers out deals; 

The art of the exemption. Or how to keep news about a city development project out of the media.

‎"Asked why the BDC does not open up more of its meetings, Kimberly Clark replies, “There is a balancing act we have to perform.” She said that proprietary information from developers is reviewed during the closed sessions. If released, such information would spell doom to the developers at the hands of their competitors"

To me this statement openly admits why the BDC completely unnecessary... if there's already enough competition that they need to shield their corporate cronies from, then shouldn't that be good for the city? Guess we don't need to dish out tax breaks in this fiercely competitive market.

'Foxy Methoxy'

.. WTF is that? A new hallucinogen?? DiPT? Whut?? Are there any with-it people out there who have heard of this? In any case corrections officer Michael McCain has been indicted for possessing and intending to distribute said "Foxy," plus some good old-fashioned weed at Central Booking and Intake.

173

Merv Douglas murder aftermath
Photo @BaltoSpectator

O shiz, a Merv Douglas was shot to death on the west side of the 2300 block of N Charles while entering his own home last night (near where the Golden Temple used to be, now Wazobia).

| | | | | ‏@lafritsch

@justin_fenton from a friend near 23rd: small automatic weapons, semi-auto fire, 5 shots, followed by screaming, lots of police activity.

Ahjee Harrord/ @_xoxtee

The family of Ahjee Harrod deny that they were estranged from her, they admit she hadn't been living with family for the past month but say they talked to her on the phone often.* A "vigil will be held about 7 p.m. at the intersection of E. Eager and N. Bond streets ...  funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Southern Baptist Church, 1701 North Chester Street."  
Trending: #RIPAhjeeHarrod
Quality Cham comment: "The police claim Ahjee Harrod was "missing" and "known to police".  But they we find out Ms. Harrod was attending school regularly, the principal of her school knew who she was, Ms. Harrod was posting regularly on Facebook and she was living with a family member.  That doesn't sound like missing to me. The police want a reason to dismiss this homicide as a non-issue.  The family sees this event quite differently.  Since we have so many conflicting opinions about the timeline and what was going on, I'd like to see some facts and data.  Perhaps the family might consent to releasing any and all documents relating to Ms. Harrods supposed criminal history.  If she didn't have one I'd like to know about it.  I shudder to think that because juvenile records are sealed that the police are able to allude to a fantasy criminal history for any young person as a reason to justify and ignore a homicide case, as well as sully a dead child's reputation."

Are these the changes you'd been hoping to see? Shelly Glenn has been appointed as Chief of the Police Integrity Unit. Is this a new unit? Will she be prosecuting officers in a public court, or in some secret police court? .. Fenton tweeted that she handled prosecuting John Leopold in AA County. Maybe she'll get around to prosecuting old dirty-riding Carl Snowden.

‏@BaltimorePolice Effective today, PC Batts has reinstated appointed rank of Captain within BPD. Dep Majors will now be known as Captains pic.twitter.com/hb2VLOwI

'stripped searched in the streets'

Still no clues five weeks after the homicide of Larelle Amos, left.

The man killed on Dumbarton Ave in Pen Lucy was ID'd as Curtis Jones, 28.

Former state delegate Clarence Mitchell III has died at 72. He was/is the father of the CB4 radio host Clarence Mitchell IV, eldest son of Clarence Mitchell Jr. and Juanita Jackson Mitchell (the first black female lawyer in MD), nephew of congressman Parren Mitchell and cousin of Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr.

"Sister Convicted for Stealing Furniture from Man Who Housed Her; Brother Convicted for Trying to Kill Him"

Keith Parker, 40, got 67 months for his involvement in a scheme to steal people's mail, get their checks/credit card/bank account info and digitally rob them.

CVQ4's Steve Gerwitz on forthcoming trials of some village miscreants: Tikia Whitfield (trial starts tomorrow), June Stansbury (Oct 27) and Markell Jones (Dec 7)

The CV 7-11 was robbed of cash & cigarettes

A man was stabbed on Frisby Street and walked nine blocks to the Greenmount fire house for help.

The former CEO of Wings to Go, Mark Chandler Goodnow, will get to brood in a small cage for two years following a conviction for embezzling $885k of chicken scratch from his company to pay for phone sex and hookers.

It was a summertime thing, dealing cocaine and heroin in Westgate. But unlike the school children of Cherry Hill who'd spent their summer idylls lolling and dabbling in the gang's white wares, the Major Investigations Unit had been set hard at work on a mother of an A/V project, one that would, as the soft chill of fall set in, lead to the indictments of Teddic Anderson, Randy Ennis, Rashad Foots and Donnell Vannison, forever trading the balmy corner summers of their tender years with the pernicious clang of bars, and the stench of bologna sandwiches, flung feces and trash-bag wine.

An article from Mental Floss on the "Nutshell Studies" and Frances Glessner Lee, the "mother of crime scene investigations." (thnx CD)

Occupy Baltimore is gearing up to protest the confirmation of presumptive police commissioner Anthony Batts. And good on 'em-- his confirmation should not be a done-deal afterthought, especially given our Mayor's proven track record of hiring people without quality due diligence (eg Rico Singleton, county-dwelling deputy mayor Kaliope Parthemos) and the issues w/ Batts' tenures in Long Beach and Oakland. Not so sure about Occupy's claims of "the abysmal rate of police ... terror ... the reports of women being illegally stripped searched in the streets" though. Surely if police were committing terrorist attacks and women were being nakedized in the road we would have heard about it before now. In any case Occupy is meeting up at 4 on the 17th in front of city hall, confirmation hearings are at 5.

MD juice has a MD debate schedule; there will be a live debate on Question 7-- but it's all the way down in Chevy Chase. There'll also be a question 6 debate in Hagerstown next Wednesday, which will no doubt prove an interesting time.