115

Brandon Spruill, 23-year-old basketball player, shot to death during a robbery Monday* in the 2300 block of McKean Ave.

Good news, firearms fans, a federal judge has lifted his stay on our state's concealed carry laws, and at long last you could be packing heat in your pants in two weeks. So says our friend Buz, if you happen to be packing in a dark crowded theater when some homicidal maniac opens fire, aim for the flash. Or just do like this dad and drop your baby, abandon your wife and toddler and drive off.  My plan is to just wear this every time I leave the house. 

A year after the execution-style murders of 58-year-old Billy Ray Lovitt, 36-year-old daughter Tanyika Gibbs and her boyfriend, 27-year-old Michael Jones, no leads.

So, future robbery victims, I'd always assumed iPhones were un-stealable because of the 'find my iPhone' feature, but not so, as I learned from a friend who had her iPhone snatched out of her hand as she was walking and talking upon the streets of our fair city. Apparently all it takes to subvert all that trackin' technology is a tiny screwdriver and a $3 SIM card, readily found on the Internet. A fix: a Tungsten etching pen, available for $6 including shipping on eBay. Which means it probably also fell off a truck, but, well, anyway, with that you can skritch your land-line phone number or whatever on the back case, so that even if you don't get your phone back, at least you have the semi-comfort of knowing the fudgeface who robbed you won't be able to easily sell it on eBay.

British tourist comes to town to see the spots made famous by "The Wire," instead discovers AVAM's bumptious bottom-burp machine. (Via Fenton) Oh, those whingey Brits with the bollocks journalism.  Quips Scott Calvert, "Interesting to read that a dying Poe made it to the steps of Hopkins Hospital a good 40 years before it came into being."

Kids these days

A detective's smarts nab Corey McLary, a 16-year-old serial robber* (assume he's being charged as an adult, else his name would not be released).

The former CEO of Wings to Go pleaded guilty to embezzling $88k to use on hookers and phone sex.

According to the Daily Record, the Daily Record trivialized the accomplishments of female judges with the headline "Girl Power on the Bench" (er, ew) for a story about the rising number of female judges and has since apologized. Ah, takes us back to when editor Keith Gerard made the art department photoshop a picture of Hitler in front of the Alex. Brown building and was fired soonafter, those were the days..

Stash busted

98 Rock DJ Stephen "Stash" Smith arrested for DUI after a three-car accident in Edgewood Sunday night that sent a fellow motorist to the hospital, reports The Dagger's Aaron Cahall. Stash went to rehab for painkiller addiction in 2008.  ...If you enjoy to drink, do yourself a favor: breathalyzer keychain.

Creepy and creepier

Two female corpses were found over the weekend. The badly decomposed body of a 41-year-old woman was found at the Wyman House in the 100 block of West 29th street, and the man in the apartment with her body was taken into custody. And a 60-year-old woman found on West 20th street.

A 21-year-old man was shot in the face in Park Heights.

Hopkins hospital has begun contacting patients who may have been infected with Hepatitis C by creepy lab tech David Kwiatkowski. Says a statement from the hospital, "Johns Hopkins is in the process of contacting these patients and offering them free testing for hepatitis C." So generous!

In Remington a man was robbed at gunpoint of a leather bag, $50 and some empty prescription bottles

A man was arrested for stealing two beers from the Kent House on York Rd and is being held on $50,000 bond.

Burglars in Pikesville did $200 worth of damage to two pool chairs. Also, if your pool chairs cost $100 each, you're a wiener.

Fishy, fishy.. SRB's office won't turn over emails and other records from former IT Chief Rico Singleton*. According to allegations, Singleton's ethical lapses at his previous job in New York cost the city $1.5 million.

A reader from Colombia took issue with Al Jazeera's assertion that Baltimore is "more deadly than Bogotá," but actually Al Jazeera is correct, at least when it comes to official numbers. Bogotá's homicide rate is 21 per 100,000 people, Baltimore's is 34.8. Of course we don't have vigilante groups that round up poor people and kill them (and I seriously doubt the official rate includes these limpiezas).

'One does not bear arms against a rabbit.'

Worthwhile read from the NYker archives, a history of American gun laws

Another Barbershop Shooting

A 39-year-old man was shot at the Cutz for Kingz barbershop* in Belair-Parkside

Stabbings, threatened stabbings, a guy shot by a pool table and a guy shot near Joe's Tavern in the Baltimore Guide Southeast blotter, a woman punched on the Charm City Circulator in the South

WBAL: Because of conflicts of interest, City Council President Jack has only voted on 28% of business before the city council in the past five months. And the point of him is what, again? (And did we ever see those damned underpants*?)

After Colorado shooting, MD police are putting extra patrols near movie theaters.

Perps and crazies

What the heck? A guy on York Road woke up to find himself being stabbed.

This just in: having the same name and birthdate as Russian fugitive David Levin is a huge asspain. Here's more on "Russian Dave"'s  "super dollars," produced by the North Korean government both for profit and destabilize the U.S. economy (allegedly).

A fake cop arrested in the 'Deener

Forty-one months in prison for Keith Eugene Daughtry for his role in stealing more than $1.3 million  from the Baltimore Housing Authority

20 Years for Pervy Pastor

Convicted of sexual assault in April, Pastor Leon Jones, left, was sentenced to 20 years, with another 25 suspended, and if you want the dirty details of what he and his accomplice did to their teenage victim, here you go. According to his web site, Pastor Leon is the father of eight, and his church just hosted a "mother and daughter luncheon." Uhm...

Roberts: DNA Collection can Resume

Chief Justice Roberts has issued an order for warrant-less DNA collection from suspects to resume.

113, 114

WBAL reports that the two other victims of last night's three shootings have both died, victims were all male and found on Ravenwood Avenue, Laurens and McCulloh and the 2300 block of Eutaw Place, respectively.

The gas-station murder of cross-dressing Desean "Lola Bee" Bowman is raising awareness of homophobia in the black community, says WBALTV

Baltimore Police who worked night shifts are set to get $477 k in back pay from the board of estimates

Brew: Wells Fargo's ghetto-loan holders are waiting for their money

Another Roland Park Creeper

From the Roland Park listserv, two girls were followed on the Stony Run trail by a thin older white guy with grey hair in a polo shirt, possibly driving a "champagne" - colored four-door Toyota or Honda sedan, who was later spotted masturbating by the Roland Park pool's basketball hoop.

112

Two separate but likely related shootings in Baltimore's Brooklyn neighborhood put two men in the hospital and another in the morgue. In the first incident a 19-year-old male was shot and injured. Several hours later two men, 35 and 32 respectively, were shot. The 35-year-old received a gunshot wound to the head and died not long after. He is this year's 112 murder.

Two men are in custody after bar patrons detained a gunman following a brazen shooting. Alberto Ramos, 30, and Erasmo Sandobal, 32, (both pictured right) face attempted murder charges after shooting a 32-year-old man at the Rancho Blanco Bar located on 100 South Fagley St.

Can't just shoot a man... A man was forced by gunmen to strip before being shot in an ally off of the 4100 block of Newton Ave. early Saturday.

This week's Murder Ink has more details on the officer-involved killing of 20-year-old Devonte Bowman, as well as announcing the arrest of Kenneth Jackson, 23, for the July 5th murder of 27-year-old Andrew Davis.

New details regarding the County police-involved shooting of a sword wielding man have come to light, including the identification of the officer involved, and the reason for the warrant. Officer Carlos Artson, a 17-year vet who had shot and killed Dundalk native Cheryl Lynn Noel, 44, back in 2005, has been identified as the officer who fired the fatal shots. Ronald Melvin Cox Jr., was killed as police attempted to execute a search warrant related to the execution-style attempted murder of a 15-year-old in Howard County. Arrested for the above-mentioned attempted execution were Donald George Peoples Jr., 21, Laura Christian Karr, 24, and Chiquita Sketers, 21, all charged with several counts, including attempted first- degree murder.

Police are trying to identify the two men pictured right; both are wanted for their involvement in a July 3 robbery-shooting.  

City Paper has a very interesting story regarding Milton Tillman III's interests in acquiring the now-defunct Sonar music venue's liquor license. 

Oh, the memories. The infamous Maryland House of Correction in Jessup is, after 130 years, being torn down,  by current MD inmates, no less.

A man was stabbed during a late-night argument in the 3200 block of Greenmount Ave back on July 8. 

19-year-old Haudee Baygie was found dead in his Timonium home in the 200 block of Welford Road. No official cause of death has been given, and though Baygie was facing drug charges at the time of death, there's no stated indication of foul play.

 A guilty plea for renegade tax preparer Alexis Brett Travers, 37, found guilty of defrauding the government out of almost $225,000.

A conviction in the 2011 death of Willie Cedric Jackson puts Randallstown native Reginald Frederick, 22, in peril of spending the rest of his life behind bars. Still facing an October trial date for the drug-related murder is Sterling Lewis, age 22. 

A county crime round-up includes the body of Dundalkian Christopher Dietch, 51, being found behind a gas station, a late-night robbery outside White Marsh Mall, and the Bomb Squad being called to the Cockeysville Senior Center. 

You really have to question the Court of Appeals sometimes... Back in 2008 Tranell Dansbury was indicted for a 1997 rape he committed as a 15-year-old. By the time he faced his rape charges, Dansbury had a rap sheet that included a drug dealing arrest, a multitude of armed robbery charges, even a murder charge, as well as an attempted murder conviction. Eventually Dansbury was convicted of the '97 rape and given a 30-year term. Of course, he appealed it, and of course, it was reversed, so he was found not guilty and released. Then, after being a free man for less than a year, lo and behold he was arrested yet again, this time for armed robbery, and to add something to his criminal repertoire, carjacking.

Not BMore, but BadAzz

Scientist assaulted in a French McDonalds captures images of perps with his bionic eyepiece.

Bath salts present a challenge to drug-testing companies

Also, HoCo patrol captures 10 wannabe johns

Locally, 10 years in jail for Ronald Brady, who pointed a gun at a crowd outside of a bar last Christmas.

Remington burglar to resident, after pushing in his air conditioner to break in: "I have the wrong house." Also from the Patch, Tuscany/Canterbury burglar stole sympathy cards, Toyota.

Oh, cram it, Julius Henson's lawyer, your client won't be able to afford an appeal anyway considering he'll never work in this state again (one hopes). Just be glad your client got out early, k?

From ModifiedK9

Adorbz-- Baltimore City Officer Dan Waskiewicz adopted a pit bull. And if you once had a brown pit bull with a white neck patch who escaped from your yard and went missing, tuff tittays, you rotten dog owner. Hope Waskiewicz doesn't get a pile off poo from city command for talking to the 'press.'

Old, but just found it and worth a watch: Al Jazeera English did a "Frontline USA" episode on Baltimore, "the toughest and grittiest of U.S. cities ... gutted by circumstances beyond its control." Did you know our city is "more deadly than Bogotá"? There's also an episode on our drug addicts. And here's a show, not Russell Crowe's Fightin' Around the World, but one with some English soccer player named Vinnie Jones in some ITV4 show called "Toughest Cops of the USA," with an episode filmed in our fair city.

Have you Seen This Rabbi?

The "Skokie Sexual Abuse Examiner" blogs a warning to Baltimore residents to be wary should you see Rabbi Stanely Z. Levitt, who has a residence in Baltimore and will be soon standing trial for abusing young boys at a Jewish day school in Boston. While the rabbi hasn't been convicted of anything, if he lived next door I'd want to know about it...

A Good Scrubbing

Three were shot and one killed this morning in a drug-related home invasion on Lothian Rd in the NW, and Fenton published a photo of blood spatters. Said a resident, "This ain't no robbery. This was something else. This was personal."

Tuan Minh Pham, from JZ

An armed, dangerous suspect, Tuan Minh Pham, 35, is on the loose after ignoring a protective order, storming into the Richards Valley Road Nail & Hair Care Spa in Ellicott City and (allegedly) shooting his babymother of his two kids and her male friend. So if you see this wild-haired, wild-eyed 35-ish man of Vietnamese descent in a 1998 tan or gold four-door Honda Accord with the license plate number 2AK0291, call 911. Update: Derek Valcourt says his car has been found, but Pham still has not.

An Ottobar employee was beaten and robbed behind the venue at 10:45 p.m. two Fridays ago, as a burlesque show went on inside.

Hellz 2 the ys, "Baltimore’s finances need a good scrubbing."
Also from the Brew (but on the Brew blog, where there are exclamation points in subheads), Fern Shen takes a trip to Baltimore Data Day, wherein Baltimore Slumlord Watch elicited a rare gasp from NPR's Sheilah Kast describing how a box cutter figures in to her blogging routine.

Twenty years for 39-year-old heroin dealer Michael Felton, a member of the Gettis drug organization. Twenty-seven defendants have already pleaded guilty in the case, including "Cutty Rock" “Captain” and “Beloved.”

'booty therapist' Kim Smedley,
from NewsOne

Georgian buttocks-injector Kimberly Smedley, left, got three years in the federal slammer for injecting a Block stripper's dumb ass with a black-market brew of industrial-grade chemicals in a room at the Renaissance Hotel. The victim wound up at the hospital with silicone inside of her lungs. If hotel records are any indication, Smedley may have hundreds of victims and earned $1 mil or more from her traveling medicine show.

A week of hearings for the Bradley Manning case, though trial isn't scheduled to start til September.

I always feel like somebody's watching me...

Flaming drone near Salisbury, from CNN

Quality op/ed in today's NYT regarding "The End of Privacy," which ended sometime between 2001 and 2007 when the guvmint began collecting everyone's emails and watching us from the air.  $176 million for a drone-- imagine how many schools that could get up to code, or swimming pools and rec centers those dollars could fund, sheesh.

And, yet, the one instance where the violation of someone's privacy could seriously protect citizens' life and limbs from psycho killers, and also potentially exonerate people -- by which I mean the DNA swabbing of suspects-- the MD court won't allow that. Gives one no doubts about whose interests are really being served by MD's courts, no?

In other news of Baltimore denizens getting boned by The Man, go get those big banks, George Nilson.

Old Shootings, COMSTAT Stats, and a Bevy of Wanted Criminals

Eleven years after being shot, 43-year-old Vernonda Fenner has been added to this year's homicide tally. Fenner was shot in the stomach on May 18, 2001. Fenner never fully recovered from the wound and died on May 4th of this year.

The latest Murder Ink has updates on several recent city homicides, giving information on victims 104-109.

Christmas is here for Baltimore residents who are fascinated by both statistics and crime, as the BPD has released COMSTAT data for all to enjoy.

Police have released a composite sketch of a man (Pictured Right), wanted in an attempted rape in the 2500 block of Edgecombe Circle North.

A man shot in the leg Saturday night in the 500 block of W. Lanvale St. decided to wait two hours until he finally checked himself into the hospital.

Two suspects, Mikris Jamaal Jackson, 19 (Pictured right, below), and Lawrence Paul Mayo, 19 (Pictured Far Right), are being sought by County police for raping a 13-year-old girl in the woods near Chris Ct. in Randallstown.

Speaking of wanted men, police have released a sketch of a man wanted for shooting woman in the Brookeshire Hotel in the 100 block of East Lombard St. during a suspected robbery attempt.

Me-ow, the City Fraternal Order of Police took their claws out recently, describing the Police administration as being "outdated" and "ineffective", among other choice comments.

The internet can breath a collective sigh of relief, as case of the video-taped assault and robbery of an intoxicated man on St. Patrick's day has come closer to a conclusion. Aaron Parsons, 20, the man identified by several people as having thrown a punch during the incident received one year in jail. Two others, Deangelo Carter, 19, and Shayona Davis, 20, were both sentenced to probation. Shatia Baldwin, 21, awaits sentencing.

The three men charged in the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Sean Johnson have plead not guilty. 21-year-old Antwan Mosely, 17-year-old Derrick Brown, and 29-year-old Danyae Robinson are facing an August trial date for the mistaken-identity murder.

If criminals weren't aware they could sell any car to a scrap yard with no identification or papers showing ownership, they sure know now. 

The man shot this past weekend in the 4900 block of Gunther St. in Parkville has been identified as 31-year-old Derrick Gamble. Gamble had been arrested for Attempted Murder twice, having received a conviction related to the second Att. Murder charge. Gamble was also a convicted drug dealer.

50 years in prison for Robert T. Buck, 48, convicted of the 2010 murder of Dundalk resident Leslie Jo Rasmussen.

A round-up of crime in the County includes racist graffiti in Lutherville, yet another armed robbery at the supposedly lucky 7-11 on Liberty Rd., a Dundalk Dunkin Doughnuts gets knocked over, a rash of burglaries in the Owings Mills/Reisterstown area, and an uptick in armed robberies in Catosville.

Amid a scandal AAC police Chief James Teare has stepped down in disgrace to avoid any further criminal investigation.

Finally, 24 years in the Federal pen for heroin wholesaler Charles Leonard Galloway, 46. Galloway was convicted of dealing kilogram amounts of heroin while working with the Mexican Cartels. 

Ladywives and man husbands

Speaking of our fair state's fine Federalist heritage, I'm sure it comes as news to no one that there are officially at least 55,736 petitioning citizens opposed to what the WaPo calls  "the gay nuptials law." Uh, what is the law actually called, again? Ah yes, The Civil Marriage Protection Act. Thnx Wikipedias. And hold on now, are we for or against this bill? Because the language is mega confusing:

Altering a provision of law to establish that only a marriage between two individuals who are not otherwise prohibited from marrying is valid in this State; prohibiting an official of a religious order or body authorized to perform a marriage ceremony from being required to solemnize or officiate a particular marriage or religious rite of a marriage in violation of the constitutional right to free exercise of religion; etc.

No four-way will for you!

establish that only a marriage between two individuals who are not otherwise prohibited from marrying is valid ...? parse, plz: ... not otherwise prohibited by existing law-- so not currently married, siblings, underage, non-human or dead, okay, but then there's the word "only"...  take out the middle matter... only a marriage between two individuals is valid in this State. So in other words, no coming here to try to file jointly thrice with your burka wives, sheiks of Araby, and don't come here to divorce Kody and try to get alimony, Sister Wives #s two and three. And should Mitt Romney come out after the election a la Bill Hendrickson with a few extra wives up his sleeve, then try to force us all to get fundamentalist-Mormon-plural-spiritual-sealed-married, this will stop that business right at the border. So, to clarify, against the initiative that is against the bill, and for the bill, which is for civil marriage, which is pro couple marriage and against plural marriage. Good.

And also, rather quietly in Port v. Cowan in May, the Court of Appeals affirmed that MD will perform same-sex divorces, even if the petitioners married in other states. So it's nice that the right of children to have support of both parents is protected no matter what and ... hey, who assigns those case numbers? Ahem...?!

Burning Ring of Fire

"A Baltimore firefighter has been charged with running an online prostitution ring and an unlicensed after-hours club in a city warehouse, less than two years after he received probation in Baltimore County in a similar sex trafficking case. The prior arrest didn’t end the city employment of Jamar Marvin Simmons, 29, who continued to work as a firefighter/paramedic out of a firehouse in the Roland Park neighborhood." ~ Fenton 

Criminally Insane

Accused cannibal killer Alexander Kinyua has been indicted and moved to Clifton T. Perkins hospital for the criminally insane.

Michael Knight, from Inside Charm City

You may have seen Dean "Journey" Myrie on "America's Most Wanted," last June, and soon you'll be able to see him co-starring live at the Garmatz courthouse with his co-defendants from the Brown Organization including, "Doc, " (left) "Dollar Bill" and "The Russian." The defendants are from Jamaica, California and Florida and charged with pot dealing and racketeering, and also kidnapping, murdering and dismembering Michael Knight, 50, of Woodlawn. "Doc" Downer is also charged with firearms violations, and with illegally re-entering the United States after having been deported after a felony conviction.

Cell phone carriers reported a massive uptick of law enforcement requests for subscriber information to Congress.

And the local branch of the Federalist Society would like to invite you, yes you, to lunch and discussion with Heritage Foundation fellow Hans von Spakovsky, "The Unpersuasive Case Against Voter Identification," Thursday July 19 at noon at the offices of Miles & Stockbridge, 10 Light St. Spakovsky was a lawyer in Fulton County, GA, then for Bush during the 2000 Florida recount and was later appointed to the Justice Department, where he worked to pass a voter ID law that was later overturned by a Federal judge. The Heritage Foundation is perhaps best known for promoting the Gulf Wars, denying global warming, raging against Obamacare and for its prominent members, which include Joseph Coors, John Ashcroft and Rush Limbaugh. The lunch 'n' learn is free, but email Brian Fish at asabrianfish@earthlink.net if you plan to attend.

... speaking of people who might have a hard time finding an ID, the CP drops in on Baltimore's  decade-old shantytown.

A happier shelter is this home in the 800 block of Caroline Street*, formerly a vacant where a 13-year-old was raped, now being turned into $150k-180k 'workforce housing.'