Bloody home, party home, slummy home

Four men shot in separate incidents last night.*

Came home tonight to this. Firefighter washing away blood from homicide of ~20yo man at 1100 Whitelock pic.twitter.com/JdRFEYET41
— Carrie Wells (@cwellssun) September 2, 2013

The Spectator has more about the Whitelock shooting and photos, including one of the purported victim, Brandon Davis, left. He also notes that two brothers were stabbed on N. Streeper.

Here's an index to the Summer of the Gun series

The City Paper has more about Wall Hunters, in case you haven't heard enough already. But the national attention/shaming has apparently worked-- the city plans to spend $22 million to demolish vacants over the next 2 1/2 years,* in contrast to the $2.5 million a year it was reportedly spending previously.

A bust bust after ScapeScape at 2800 Sisson Street, the property owner was charged with disorderly conduct and keeping a disorderly house. The address is bordered by the 83 exit ramp, an abandoned office building and the city dump, so it's unlikely it was bothering the neighbors...

Ricardo Brooks was arrested by #BPDSWD in the 4500 Block of Mountview Rd. for a handgun violation #ASaferBaltimore pic.twitter.com/ii4ZMbEUiC
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) September 2, 2013

Keith Jones was arrested by #BPDND in the 3500 Block of Greenspring Ave. for a handgun violation #ASaferBaltimore pic.twitter.com/fLZWjVXprX
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) September 2, 2013

Tyrone McNair was arrested by #BPDSD in the 1200 Block of W. Lombard St. for a handgun violation #ASaferBaltimore pic.twitter.com/5fhCPsnx41
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) September 2, 2013

Tevin Williams was arrested by #BPDSED in the 300 Block of Dallas Court. for a handgun violation #ASaferBaltimore pic.twitter.com/FLNBo6dskp
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) September 2, 2013

R.I.P. North Baltimore Patch- employees were laid off via a mass conference call.

Quicksand

"I love my city but it's quicksand." Justin & Justin eulogize a violent summer in the city* by interviewing the souls left behind. Jack Young says it's drugs, Cornelius Owens says the shootings are all about "respect."

Don McCraw

Keep an eye out for Don McCraw, 13, missing since Friday.  Update: he has been found.

Heh. A homeowner in Edgewood trapped a burglar in his garage.

Think you know this town? ... see how many Baltimore neighborhoods you can find. (via Fenton)

Three Little Trees

Adan Espinoza Canela

The Espinoza/Canela case has been dragging on for nearly a decade, but is the end near? Adan Espinoza Canela has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder,* making him eligible for parole in 2019. We never really found out what happened to make him want to kill his three young cousins, but the prevailing theory is Adan's now-dead stepfather Victor Perez's spurned advances to Adan's mom ChaCha. To paraphrase my attempted summary in March, Adan "Canela is the son of Chacha and Victor, who is father of [former co-defendant] Policarpio. Adan's mom ChaCha was Victor Perez's prior babymom, and Victor and Guadaloupe [alleged mastermind] were the parents of Policarpio Espinoza Perez." Here's a chart.* Said Adan in court yesterday, "I thought that my family knew me, really that they would understand ... but I see that's not it. … They broke my heart."
Said the children's father, Policarpio's uncle, Mimi's husband, Ricardo, "They were three little trees that were growing. They were cut. They will never flower again."

Three people were shot yesterday*

Last year O'Malley's Executive Director of Crime Control told me there was no DNA backlog, now the state is claiming a backlog for 304 days in the city and 542 days in PGC.* But whatever, we'll take the money.

Robbery and burglary plaguing the southeast as per usual.

Ew, a city police officer, Frederick Allen, was indicted on charges related to sex abuse of a minor.*
In sexier news, the entire Towson University cheerleading team was suspended* for an entire year for hazing.. details please.

In goobernatorial news, Gansler wants to raise the minimum wage. In our poll (top right) enthusiasm for him is decidedly meh, with only 18% supporting. Where is our third party candidate?!

Black, silver and green at JHU

A man was stabbed to death at around 5 a.m. this morning in the 200 block of W. Lombard,* right downtown

It's that time of the year again-- move-in day yesterday at JHU and four female students were robbed* flagrantly on the east side of the 3500 block of N. Charles Street near Greenway at 11:41 p.m. by two pistol-wielding small black males with black bandanas with a silver gun who took the girls' stuff and drove off going the wrong way on Greenway in a small black car.
    You gotta love that the first thing JHU has to say about the incident is that it's Off-Campus, even though it was literally in their front yard. Don't worry, parents, of course the school paid 1/1,000th of a year's tuition to put a security camera there, because they care about the community! I'm sure they'll release pictures of the perps any minute. ... So is this a new bunch of roving robbing hooligans in North Baltimore, or are some of the five arrested the other week* out already? Hrm..

A man selling stuff on Craigslist was pistol-whipped and robbed across the street from the University of Baltimore on W. Biddle*

In the county an officer was killed whilst serving a warrant in Catonsville.*

Men in reflective vests claiming to be from BGE and asking to check an old lady's water stole her jewelry instead in Pikesville.

A woman from Annapolis was found dead from huffing paint in Florida

The Darker Side of York Road

Life sentence in federal prison for heroin dealer Roy Clay* who brought product from NY-- Interesting that it sounds like the DOJ's first interaction with Clay for this case was a tapped phone call in March 2009, no word on why the DEA felt it was justified to listen to his calls. More DEA/NSA sketching around? Also notable, agents watched and listened -- but did not intervene-- while Clay was the victim of a home invasion. And 10+ years each for cocaine and heroin dealers who brought product to Western MD from Houston and Atlanta, 10 years for a crack dealer, 14 years for a St. Mary's County cocaine ringleader.

A 16-year-old, Nazr Williams, was charged with murder as an adult last week for a fight turned deadly at W. Fayette and Howard.

Ink tallies victims 147-150, including Meghan Kerrigan, a 22-year-old Caucasian woman, and William Monroe, a 21-year-old Caucasian man, sitting with a baby, apparently shot to death by one Melville Mason, who graciously left the baby unharmed.

A five-year-old went missing on the way home from school in the 2500 block of Kirk Avenue. She was found, but one must ask, how is it that a school can just release a kindergartener into thin air and not to a parent or some other responsible party? If it's illegal to leave kids younger than 8 unattended why does that not apply to kids going home from school? Pedophile picnic!

Police are ISO robbery suspect at right, Aug 17, 500 E. Randall near Federal Hill (odd, there does not appear to be a business in that block)
 

Shooting: Adult male shot in 700 Block of Melo Ct. Dispatched 10:12PM. District Detectives Investigating #BPDED
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) August 28, 2013

Defense attorney Russell Neverdon confirms he's joining @MarilynMosbyEsq in the race for @BaltStAttorney http://t.co/Y3OMrKWJ4h
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) August 28, 2013

Not a crime but:
In last week's CP, Loyola senior Peter Hadjokas published no-holes-barred student drinking guide to the "darker side of York Road." Loyola is surely very proud.

Not Baltimore but:
In York, PA, drunk yelled "yeehaw," head-butted officer

Perverts and idiots

The owner of the Venus Pizzeria at 3717 Greenmount was robbed and shot last night.

Man shot @5 p.m. tonight in the 2200 block of Fulton

SRB called DeShawn Jones' killer an "idiot"

A 16-year-old who sexually abused a 7-year-old (while he was on probation) at the Carroll Cook Rec Center on East Eager Street walked away from his not-secured facility, was recaptured.

One Stacey Fields is suing the BPD for $450,000 for shooting her dog.

Easy money, real talk, no game

A man was shot in the leg in the 300 block of McMechen Street in Bolton Hill, walked himself to the hospital.

Shanika Harris, mother of 15-year-old shooting victim Deshuan "Lor D'Shaun" Jones, talked to WMAR, says Jones wasn't shooting dice but was sitting on steps nearby. No suspects have been identified in spite of scads of surveillance cameras nearby.

In jail, you can't change the privacy of your Facebook page. And so here's Yashim Vaughn, arrested for shooting Zeb Drinkwater on 40th and Roland. And don't miss his "wifey," Isabel Love.

Prison official John Galey, 69, has retired, simultaneously taking the fall for a nasty string of attacks on guards, corruption and accidental releases while also collecting a sweet pension.

In other privacy news, the UK Guardian reported Friday that they were partnering with the New York Times to publish the Snowden revelations-- irony alert, in spite of it all journalists still have better legal protection in the U.S. than in Britain. Also last week the creepy revelation that the British government is leaking on itself to The Independent in an attempt to make Snowden look like a security threat.

City Paper for sale.And the former owner of the Jewish Times is now selling smoothies.

Beemore is Who I Do it Fore

So sad! The 15-year-old victim shot in a dispute over a dice game at 1500 West Fayette was ID'd as Deshaun Jones, a talented youth working in the hardcore rap medium under the nom de rap Lor D'Shaun. He had released an album/mixtape, "Tales from a Young Nigga," and was in featured least nine videos, over the course of which he goes from small, rowdy and snaggletoothed to professional and polished. "Bmore is who I do it fo ... home of da waya, the Ravens and the Or-io-les."

"Scheduling conflicts,*" eh? In spite of last month's sunny predictions, with the Grand Prix a mere five days away, the mayor et al are already starting to massage the message to the masses to soften the news that this year's race will lose yet more money and probably will not be held here again, in spite of all those pit crews who've booked rooms in the harbor hotels of SRB's developer buddies. Hooter's waitresses might get better tips, but way more people will lose hours and days of work from businesses closed or crippled by road closures (starting Thursday!) and race traffic through the heart of downtown.
   And let's not forget, the race still has no title sponsor because the Worst Mayor in America asked for a million dollars and is apparently surprised that no corporations jumped right on that amazing opportunity. The Brew's take: "The Grand What?"

The good news: Harbor Point's Michael Beatty plans to "surpass city's goals for hiring minorities." The bad news: they're all going to be illegal immigrants brought over in banana crates from Honduras.

Overnight Non-Fatal Shooting: Walked-In 2401 W Belvedere Ave. Adult female shot in facial area. District Detectives Investigating #BPDND
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) August 26, 2013

Shooting: 4000 block Norfolk Ave. Man reported to be shot. Homicide detectives called to the scene. Dispatch time 4:02pm. #BPDNW
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) August 25, 2013

Shooting: 1200 block Whitelock Street. Man reported to be shot in the back. Western District detectives investigating. Dispatch time 1:53am.
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) August 24, 2013

Shooting; 3000 block Brendan Ave. Man reported to be shot. Homicide detectives called to the scene.
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) August 24, 2013

Shooting: 1400 block E Lanvale. Man reported to be shot in the back. Eastern District Detectives called to the scene. #BPDED
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) August 23, 2013

Overnight Non-Fatal Shooting: 200 block of Scott St. Adult male shot in the leg. Dispatched 4:52AM. District Detectives Investigating #BPDSD
— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) August 23, 2013

What did I miss?

Seven people shot in a "cluster," including a 15-year-old,* reportedly stemming from a disagreement over a dice game.

Antoine Jordan

I thought domestic violence was going down? Not any more. Some fucktard in Dundalk shot his daughter, wife and himself.* And (life with all but) 22 years for Dominic Matthews, who allegedly shot his girlfriend in the stomach after she refused to marry him.

A shooting at a Guilford Ave hookah lounge on Monday* and one arrest, a doleful Antoine Jordan.

So in the Rogers Forge shooting, one of the shooters was mad that the victim wouldn't let him use his washing machine. Now a second guy's been arrested* but no word on his motivation.

Dingleberry surprise Patrick McDonough (R-7th, HarfCo n BaltCo) wants to propose a "stand your ground" law* in Maryland. Meanwhile MD Republicans are a hot mess of infighting,* impotence,* boozehoundery* and illegal crabbing.* If ever a time and place was ripe for a Progressive third party it's wide open, y'all.

Lick n Hit

Oo, some deets about the car-stealing phone-robbing juveniles from Benn Ray via the Hampden Merchants meeting!
     One perp is named Demetrius Carter (DOB: 11/16/91)(Where is his mugshot? bring me his head!)
     The group was busted because for the first mugging a girl in the group stole her friend's car.
     However, the shooting of Zeb Drinkwater is not connected to this group but was a 6'2" black man robbing solo.
     And ps., yes, it's true, those stroller girls in Hampden are not strolling kids so kids can get fresh air and/or Vitamin D. Here's what the city oughter do, get them a methadone van and set it up there by the park.

ps fixing go downy euchin a while, see yousealls in a week or so

OoooooOoo Yeh

Police have in custody three juveniles they believe are responsible for the recent rash of phone-jackings and occasional shootings in the Northern, reports the Patch's Adam Bednar. But where are the mugshots? I need mugshots and nicknames, ppl! ... oh, right, they're juveniles. But the Deuce says one is being charged as an adult! So we get one mugshot! Bring me his head.

Tide Point

In other real estate news, Harbor Point developer Michael Beatty is buying his own city-issued bonds* at a discount, using the interest he's saving to pay for a construction loan. Points out Douglas Miles of BUILD Baltimore: "If [Beatty] can afford to buy $35 million worth of bonds, he could have afforded to invest in the project and reduce the TIF."
Update: Even Rodricks* is peeved about this. (But how is the bond scandal good public relations?)

... so what do you think about Hampden Merchants wanting the local methadone clinic to close*? Sounds like NIMBYism to me, especially considering most of the addicts are from Hampden. That clinic is probably the only thing keeping the merchants from being targeted more .. and the reason rents on the Avenue are still so cheap.

Make a little, break a little

An 86-year-old man was strangled to death* in his apartment at the Weinburg Place senior center by Pimlico, he's victim #145.

Michael Smoot, shot three different times in the 90's, was added to 2013's toll.

Yes, that was Cory Bowman who shot himself yesterday. The Sun reports that there have been eight domestic homicides this year.*  Indeed, why don't domestic abusers have ankle monitors (and/or shock collars)?

Two shootings in a year for officer Charles Mewshaw.*

It's been robbery-crazy in the Southeast part of town, even by the standards of the Southeast part of town. Also please help this guy find his bikes. ... a terrific map of all 2013 robberies by Cham.  I would not have expected Belair and Harford Roads to be such hotbeds.

A car that crashed into a house and a Catonsville robbery at gunpoint in the Patch's compilation of top news of the week.

Damon Pitts

Handgun violations bad, hairdo, A+, Damon Pitts. Other handgun violators include Tony Jackson, Keith Deminds Jr. (what's the C for?), Maurice Snowden (any relation to Carl?), Carvell Jones (any relation to CookiePuss?), James Powers, Chris Tomlin, Takuma Tate, Commie Williams (commie?)... wait, speaking of commies, is it really kosher to post photos of these guys when they haven't been convicted? Well, click according to thine own conscience...

WTF, why did George Walter Carlisle II call in a fake hostage situation?

D'oh! AAC purse snatcher snatches purse of woman he knows. Also in AAC, a little boy beaten up for his bike on Disney Road, the perps transmogrified into a donkey and a toad, respectively.

Chief judge of the Foreign Intellegence Surveillance Court: we don't police shit for shit. Obvz not, given the recent revelation that the NSA violated its own BS privacy rules at least 2,776 times.

'I'm going after you'

Maybe he was talking to the booger.

"You're done.. I'll make sure you're through... I'm going after you." 

BGF prison babydaddy? Jilted swain? Tony Soprano?
That would be Steve Kearney, former director of policy and communications for Martin O'Malley, now a shadowy henchman for the Harbor Point project, threatening Carl Stokes in front of two witnesses. Wow. And yes, it's *that* Steve Kearney of KO Public Affairs fame, who toiled in the shadows to bring us astroturf for assreamings such as speed cameras, State Center and casinos. Interesting how Steve's picture appears nowhere but for the Brew's photo of his flabby jowls whilst he apparently picks his nose and/or eats his boogers at the Harbor Point vote.

Two street robberies at 6 a.m.? Were the robbers up early to make it to Zumba class? The victims were victimized at Huntington and W. 30th and at Wyman Park Drive, respectively ("the robbers shoved or tripped him, knocking his glasses off") by three young black males in a silver four-door-car. There was also a robbery in the 3600 block of Greenway (Guilford) Monday. If connected to the other recent street robberies this would be the sixth and seventh robberies by the same group.  And here's #8-something from this morning (so they robbed a guy at 6 a.m. in a silver car, stole the Volvo and went back to robbing?):

Time: 8:47 AM

Summary: A JHU affiliate was walking east in the 200 block of Wyman Park Drive (North side of street) when approached by several juveniles. Two of the juveniles were walking ahead of the victim while a third grabbed the victim from behind and pulled the victim to the ground taking her purse. The suspects then took off running towards Remington Ave. Witnesses to the incident reported observing the suspects entering a vehicle that BPD indicated was reported stolen and used in a previous robbery in Baltimore. Victim had abrasions on her legs and was treated at the scene by Baltimore City medics. BPD and Campus Security canvassed the area for suspects/suspect vehicle with negative results.

Suspect Info:
Suspect #1- B/M, juvenile, wearing a polo shirt with blue/white/green stripes, no further description

Suspect #2– B/M, juvenile, wearing white jeans, no further description

Suspect #3 – B/M, juvenile, no further description

Suspect #4 – B/M, juvenile, no further description

Suspect’s Vehicle – Brown or Gold Volvo – Maryland Tag # 2BC2237

Also a robbery and a bloody assault of a 62-year-old woman in Little Italy yesterday in the wee hours. The victim of the 40th St. shooting has been ID'd as Zebadiah Drinkwater,* employee of Chesapeake Systems. A page has been set up to collect donations for his medical expenses. Get well soon!

Murder suspect Cory Bowman may have shot himself in the head in the Perkins Homes yesterday.* He's suspected of killing Victoria Glover in front of his own son. Glover had a protective order against him since he attacked her with a knife after she asked him to go to church with her in February.

And speaking of the Constellation Energy Group: "Strip club promotion causes scare* at downtown office tower" - dumbass titty club put sand in their party invitations. Scores should partner with the Liquid Lapdance people for giveaways (NSFW).

Foreclosures in the city have tripled since this time last year, reporteth Bloomberg. TIL MD has the second-highest foreclosure rate in the county, right after Florida. Dayum.

"Trial begins for Baltimore detective accused of lying about shooting himself*"

Devil Exchanges iPhone for Soul At Crossroads

A man shot in the upper torso in Roland Park (yes, technically 40th and Roland is Roland Park on the north side-- it's where four neighborhoods meet: Hoes Heights to the West, Keswick to the East and Hampden to the South). According to a police source the victim was robbed for his cell phone and either hesitated or resisted, so robbers shot him.

The morning/night before at 1:44 a.m. a man was shot to death in the 500 block of Tunbridge Road, on the mid-Govans side.

Leon Harvey

One Leon Harvey, 54, was arrested after being shot by police while robbing a house with his nephew in Woodlawn.

He's bayuck-- AFJMacArthur reports on a police-involved shooting in the 3400 block of Old Frederick Road in the Carroll neighborhood.

Police say the shooting of Victoria Vernetta Glover in front of her son in Parkville yesterday was not random, duh, and gabby neighbors/ journalists report that the victim was recently divorced and soon to be in court to seek some kind of child custody/support order or modification. So no shit, police now have some questions for now-ex husband Cory Shirell Bowman, 38.

A teenaged jogger was robbed at gunpoint of her iPod in Towson, and in Glen Burnie a man was robbed while pumping gas.

What the?! Baltimore City Housing Authority has paid $6.8 million in years-old judgements against it, which may affect the availablility of housing vouchers for 700 families.

Media blabber: don't miss NYT's story behind the story of Edward Snowden's whistleleaking.

Androids for inmates

Following CBS Evening News' story on Carol Ott and her Slumlord Watch last week, the Sun's Ian Duncan wrote about* Nether Baltimore's Wall Hunter project to paint murals on said slum properties. Today in the CP Ed Ericson Jr. stone-cold busts Ian Duncan, Justin George and Carrie Wells not doing their homework checking Rochkind's lawyer Danny Stenger's claim that Rochkind didn't control the property at 4727 Old York Road (... but if he did, added the lawyer, the Exodus-themed mural would be a "hate crime.") Looking forward to that correction. And y'know, really, the mural project is gifting these slum bums with valuable works of art. If Rochkind had any sense of money (or sweet irony) he'd remove the mural and donate it to a museum for a write-off ... or sell it to Bank of America or Wells Fargo to install in the lobby of their corporate HQ, hyuk.

Justin George tweeted that Jennifer Owens,* "corrections officer accused of smuggling drugs into Baltimore jail & having relations with BGF gang leader, pleads guilty ... To one count of racketeering conspiracy. Sentencing is in January." Notable "J.O." quote from the CP: “I understand you stressed out, cuz you locked up, ok, but I am too. You locked up, and I’m fucking pregnant again. Like really, who the fuck does that? Only my dumb ass do shit like that, for real. I can accept that I fucked up. I know I did, but I did that shit cuz I wanted to. I don’t regret it.”  That makes two BGF perps who have taken pleas so far, 23 to go.

A woman was shot to death in Parkville while putting her 3-year-old in the car.

#Baltimore County PD hauling away murder Vic car where they say she was killed loading her son in back seat pic.twitter.com/zNYzMlPv7S
— Brian Kuebler (@BrianfromABC2) August 13, 2013

Brekford's speed cameras are up, so why hasn't the city turned them on yet?* Waiting for Harbor Point rage to dissipate first?

Doug "Androids for inmates*" Gansler gets even less appealing, now claiming Anthony Brown is running on his African-Americanness. FWIW Brown's parents are Swiss and Jamaican.

MoCo PoPo ISO victims of pervy old music teacher, Silver Spring Elementary School teacher Lawrence Wesley Joynes, he's been charged with sexually abusing 14 girls so far.

Karla Porter's jury still deliberating guilty guilty guilty guilty guilty, of first-degree murder and = five other related counts.

Matthew VanDyke's Syria short copped some pixels on the Business Insider site

you assholes!

Harbor Point approved.*
Now including $95 million of federal highway funds.
$88 million enterprise tax credits (including $44 million tax reimbursements from the state)
$24 brownfield credits (even though the site was cleared for building in 1997)
$95 million federal highway funds for bridges and roads
$13 million utilities
$2 million Crossroads Academy $$
___
$266 million
+
$174 million interest on $107 million loan
___
$440 million
+ $200 million in lost in state education funding

$596 million cost to taxpayers.

Nothng better to do with that money

After nine days without a homicide, a fatal shooting at the NY Fried Chicken* and W. Baltimore and SCarey street was the 142nd homicide of 2013.

Gilman dog sculpture stolen. Also, Gilman 5th graders have so much money they have nothing better to do with it than buy a $550 cement greyhound.* Local rival gangs likely to blame include the Lakers, the Mawrtians, the Quakers and the Roland Park Smurfs.

Down in AAC, good guys chased down and tackled a guy who snatched a woman's purse from the JC Penney shoe department at the mall.

Well duh. A NY judge found that the city's stop-and-frisk policy violates rights.

Eric Holder suggests he may do away with mandatory sentences for nonviolent drug offenses.

Thanks for the tax dollars, bitchezz!!

Why the waffling on Harbor Point, Sun? Their own poll shows 73% of their readers are against the $393+ million project.
"Will Harbor Point be good for the city?" I guess if by "the city" you mean the 1% of assholes who don't mind paying to park for the privilege of shopping next to some office complex, maybe, but aren't they already served by Harbor East?
     "Somewhat secretive nature of the process"? Oh, so those secret closed-door meetings were only somewhat illegal? But "future such discussions will now be public." And why would one think that? Future developers now understand that there are no real consequences to breaking open meetings laws.
     Harbor Point is an in-your-face assraping of city taxpayers the likes of which this city has never seen before, and our children and children's children will be paying for it long after the project goes the way of West side redevelopment, the city-owned Hilton, the revival of SoWeBo, the Metro to nowhere, and well, every other city project since the Schaefer years. It's not their first time at the rodeo; the Sun's editors know even if 99.9% of citizens are against it the city council is going to pass their bill anyway.* So why so much milquetoast, Sun? Afraid Michael Beatty will use some of his billions to sue? Second reading of the bill is tonight, BYOPeanuts, or if you're trying to purge to lose weight The City That Breeds will be streaming it live.

Designate Evidence Afterwards/ Secret Obfuscation Department

Nicka

 Putney

D'Amico

Matt Nicka, of Nicka Conspiracy fame, was nabbed on Monday with his weird-looking girlfriend Gretchen Peterson whilst waiting for a ferry in Vancouver near his new home/meth lab in Coquitlam, British Columbia. Nicka was considered the leader/recruiter of the scheme, which involved trucks, trains, planes and a lot of local stash houses, and was found to have laundered some of his pot-sealing proceeds by buying sound equipment for Sonar, the "armpit of a venue" he silently co-owned with local restauranteur/money launderer Dan McIntosh from 2007- 2012.*
    The import business started in about 2001 and involved moving about $150-200 million bucks' worth of pot from Canada and Northern California to Baltimore and then elsewhere. Nicka and Peterson's arrest leaves only two of 20 alleged conspirators at large, David D'Amico and Jeffrey Putney. Putney had actually been arrested back in 2009 after a bust on Hickory Avenue in Hampen, said Van Smith, but MD just took his Toyota 4Runner and declined to prosecute, because in Baltimore that's how we do.
     And could the latest NSA/DEA/SOD revelations collapse the government's case? Dan McIntosh's sentencing is currently on hold waiting on a ruling because, reported Smith, Deborah Johnson, the U.S. attorney prosecuting the case against McIntosh and pilot Keegan Leahy, 'stated that the government knows 'for a fact that there’s been telephone communications' between defense attorneys and a Philadelphia lawyer named Michael Farrell. The statements suggest the government listened in on lawyers’ conversations about the case, and that’s a no-no that, if proven, may breach attorney-client privilege and poison the integrity of government’s entire case." Better hurry up and get to recreating that investigative trail, federales. Sentencing for McIntosh is scheduled for September 18.
    Other defendants involved in this vast soap opera: Jacob Jeremiah Harryman (real estate developer), Andrew Jin Park, Brandon Marrow, Anthony "Mr. Purple" Marcantoni (large-scale distributor, owner of martial arts studio), Michael Phillips, Ryan Foreman (Rolex watch delivery), Jeremy Landsman (Nicka and McIntosh's landlord), Andrew "Bird" Sharpeta, Sean "Chong" Costello, Daniel Fountain and Ian Travis Minshall (mid-level dealers), Adam Constantinides, Joseph "Goose" Spain (truck driver sentenced to one day), Michael Borakove and Kevin Brandes.

Antonio "Tank Top" Davis was convicted of being the ringleader of a fake robbery* proposed by undercover DEA agents. Sounds like the dictionary definition of "entrapment," though federal agents claim it wasn't because Davis had been involved in robberies before. And speaking of the DEA, Austin "Yellow" Roberts III got 19 years in the federal pen for taking Kate Moss to the shore. He was one of 71 defendants indicted in Wicomico Co. in January.
Related TIL: in California making a car trap is illegal.

Robert Jarrett Jr. used to love her, but he had to kill her. He knew he'd miss her, so he had to keep her. He buried her right in his backyard. Thirty years* seems insufficient.

Also in HoCo, a woman's breasts grabbed on a walking trail and cellphone thief Travon Millar hit his victim and a witness with his car.

The defense has rested in the Karla Porter trial. She admitted to police to hiring a hit man to kill her husband William, but took the stand to claim she was abused by him-- a claim that witnesses handily refuted.*

JM Giordano's Summer of the Gun series continues with hauntingly beautiful photos of the August all-male anti-gun-violence march.

Wat? Former MD Republican Party director of opposition research and assistant chief of staff for Bob Ehrlich, Robert Ballinger II, was arrested for impersonating a Secret Service agent to withdraw money from somebody's bank account.

Barf, barf, barf.

E.L. Reisinger III

W.H. Cole

 Branch

M. Beatty

A city council committee meeting of three councilmen-- Warren Branch (13th), William H. Cole IV*(11th) and Edward Reisinger*-- approved $107 the million in financing that will cost taxpayers $398 million, as requested by Harbor Point developer Michael Beatty and vigorously protested by every other person in town. Beatty also shot down the church members' $25 million request but promised to put $3 million towards affordable housing because it's "the right thing to do."
     Things apparently got loud, because  Road-Trippin Trikki Rikki Spector, city councilperson notorious for repping the 5th district, living in the 10th, and charging taxpayers for her gas, called public observers a "peanut gallery."
     Now that you mention it, Rikki, all of those greasy grifters really should be pelted with peanuts wherever they go. Also waiters should sneak pubes in their food, women (and/or men) should refuse to have sex with them and schoolchildren should compose mocking jumprope rhymes using their names.

Sleazy William Cole, sit on a pole!
Dirty Warren Branch, move to the bunny ranch!
Backdoor Michael Beatty! Go live in Haiti!
Edward Reisinger the 3rd ...

They should be menaced by paperboys until the day they die, old and alone, perhaps asphyxiated in a vault, fetalized on top of their ill-gotten gains. Their children, children and children's children should be condemned to reside in one of the slums next to the development until every taxpayer of Baltimore is repaid the $663,333 in goods and services that the project will cost us.

'I will not let you know when your time has run out'

Fenton chronicles the foretold death of Quintin Poindexter*

The Medical Examiner says that autopsy results on Tyrone West could take weeks,* West died last month during an attempted arrest by city police.

Tavon White pleaded guilty to racketeering and attempted murder*

Prison officials got a threatening letter from the inmate accused of stabbing a corrections officer at North Branch, but they didn't warn said officer.* The union says that there have been 15 assaults on officers in the past 30 days (!)

The bomb squad was called to Elijah Cummings' office over a mysterious putty-like substance, the stuff was found to be not explosive.

The Fells Point residents' association has decided they do not not oppose the $398 million Harbor Point project, and the Downtown Management Authority (DMA) has also come out as opposed, which the Brew calls "a blunt wake-up call" to the mayor and city Development Director Brenda McKenzie.

Directly following the "Night Out" against crime a man was shot in the 1400 block of Guilford Avenue. And in nearby Waverly, residents are trying to curtail the hours of longtime trouble spot Yau Bros.

A body was found outside of Hillcrest Elementary school in Catonsville July 30

Stand up straight! Suck in that gut! Look like you know where you're going! A Canadian study found that street robbers pick their victims based on the way they walk (thanks EM)

Oh shit they got Muffy

Street crime comes to Roland Park*! A jogger on Wyndhurst threatened with her own pepper spray, a 54-year-old threatened with a Taser® on Roland Avenue and a 40-something jogger in Wyman Park thrown to the ground by robbers in a dark-colored sedan and a stolen SUV.

Crazed and murderous ex-cop James Smith's cause of death in jail* = hanging.

Butterfaced homophobe Don Dwyer pleaded guilty (again) to boozy boating in hopes of avoiding jail time; as you may recall, despondent over the failure of his marriage and the House of Delegates' inability to ban gay marriage, he and his male friend got shitfaced while boating on the bay with three children, wrecked said boat and put the three children in the hospital. The specialer-than-you legislator was also cited for illegal crabbing last month. He plans to seek a fourth term.
Wonder how the 5-year-old with the fractured skull is doing?

aaaand Doug Gansler's gubernatorial campaign just screwed the pooch bareback* on a bed of rose petals with a side of fries.  So long, nice to know you. Well, not really. Didn't really know you. But it was nice to have an alternative to Anthony Brown for five minutes. So, well, anyway, bye.

Vegetables for the children!

Don't miss Carol Ott of Baltimore Slumlord Watch talking to CBS evening news. A poignant piece, but wish Jeff Pegues had reported anything about why there are so many vacants and what the city is(n't) doing about them.

Look who's taking too: city insiders are using clergymen as a front to get at a $25 million piece of the Harbor Point project. ... but it's for vegetables and Internet for the children! Think of the children! What kind of Nazi Teahadist could take a radish out of the hands of a preacher who is going to get a kickback to feed it to an innocent child? A racist one, probably.

Tavon White has entered a guilty plea. Speaking of children, wonder what will become of all of his?

A corrections officer was stabbed five times with a "makeshift weapon" at North Branch, an assault "attributed to gang activity"

The coke-dealing Byrd brothers got 10 years

Report of a shooting in area of 3900 blocks of Potee/S Hanover in Brooklyn.. #BPDSD
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) August 6, 2013

Recent homicide victims names: James Godsey, 21, killed Fri in 1600 blk Hartsdale Rd; Dwayne Powell, 22, killed Thurs in 6400 blk Harford Rd
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) August 6, 2013

In court this am where a BGF member who pled guilty to murder two weeks ago is asking to take it back, go to trial
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) August 6, 2013

Parallel Construction

Journalists can't protect their sources any more (now even TOR has been compromised), but the DEA's "SOD" [Special Operations Division] is apparently so good at protecting theirs that even judges and lawyers never know their sources existed. Vocab of the day: parallel construction: wherein investigators invent a cause for arrest where none previously existed in order to establish a legal reason to be investigating someone the NSA/DEA is already investigating. Example: "Agent Heywood Jablowme wanted to protect his informant Snitchy McPlea, and wasn't sure the warrantless GPS tracking, phone or email records he got from the DICE database would hold up, so he asked city police to pull over Pookie Green for a busted tail light when he knew Pookie was riding dirty to create a parallel construction for the bust and prosecution of the D-Bag drug crew."
Related: USA Today reported that the FBI let informants commit 5,658 crimes in 2011. 

All's well that ends.. horribly. Officer James Smith, who shot his fiancee Kendra Diggs in the back in front of police and medical crews* as she tried to escape him, has committed suicide in prison.*

Two men shot overnight in the Perkins Homes*

A city grand jury indicted James Berry III and three associates of the D-block drug crew for their roles in a revenge plot that killed seven* people

 Murderer

Scott Thompson, 47 (and not to be mistaken for the Canadian actor) was shot on Rosedale Street on Sunday and has died.*

On  March 3, 2013, the sketched  suspect  at  right  stabbed  and  murdered Twain  Robinson  in  the  3100  block of  Milford Avenue. 

Police arrested suspect Darryl Knight, who has his zip code (21234) tattooed on his face.

Jury selection began today for Karla Porter,* accused of arranging the murder of her husband William at a Towson gas station. Because of her alleged videotaped confession Porter likely would have faced the death penalty had the state not repealed it.*

Local gadfly Adam Meister escaped an attempted robbery last Friday night: 

"two black males around 16 to 18 years old approached me from the median on Eutaw as I approached Lafayette. One pulled out a gun which appeared to have a large barrel and pointed it at me as the other one said something to me that was very hard to understand because his English was so horrible ("give me...." is all I could make out). Upon seeing the weapon I instinctively turned my back to them and started sprinting north on Eutaw." 

Meiser escaped and the perps are still at large.

Remember the aspiring rapper with the weird-shaped head and tattooed eyebrows that spell "MAD MAN" whose wife stabbed a guy at the Fish Head Cantina in Halethorpe? Well,  Fish Head Cantina's been fined $2,000 for* its rowdy crowd.

The City That Breeds has a roundup of all the numbers in the Harbor Point development project/scandal. Note that Excelon is required to build in the city, so the employment numbers would be similar no matter where they built it.