Six suspected con artists have been arrested for their involvement in a counterfeit Metro fare card scheme. The suspects are accused of trading in counterfeit paper farecards to Metro farecare machines in order to receive legitimate ones, or adding the phony amounts to SmarTrip cards. The cards would then be resold, with the scammers earning at least $16,000. The six suspects were arrested in D.C. and Virgina stations including Judiciary Square, Union Station, Pentagon and......

At approximately 2 a.m. on Thursday, 18-year-old Derrick Green was found shot in the head in an alley behind the 1300 block of Vermont Ave., very close to Logan Circle. Green lived only about a block away, in the 1300 block of 14th Street NW. He was pronounced dead on the scene when police and EMS arrived. So far the police have no suspect or clue as to a motive in the case. NBC4 uses......

What we love about this one is imagining the police department meeting that led to this sting. Surely it went something like this: "Dude, I am so totally bored. I haven't arrested anyone in like, three days. Who can we arrest?" "Uhh. Well hey, you know who really likes doing drugs? Jam band fans!" "Perfect. This will be easier than busting a high school party for underage drinking. Let's roll."......

More details on last night's fatal shootings came out this afternoon. The first, which happened at about 10:30 p.m. at 9th Street and Barry Place NW, right next to the Howard University campus, appears to have been an attempted carjacking gone wrong. The victim was 47-year-old Barbara Carl, who was riding in the passenger seat of her fiance's BMW when a group of six men approached the car. When Carl's fiance tried to drive away,......

From the AP via WTOP, it seems a Montgomery County man has pleaded guilty to holding a Nigerian teenager as a slave for five years. George Udeozor, 52, smuggled a 14-year-old Nigerian girl to the U.S. and used the girl as an unpaid domestic servant and child care provider. Sounds like that new Montgomery County law requiring contracts for domestic workers couldn't have come at a better time.......

WTOP's Mark Segraves discovered that a veteran MPD officer is being investigated for fraud due to allegedly being paid $200,000 in improper overtime. The officer had to hand in her badge and gun and has been reassigned to desk duty during the investigation, but she's still on the payroll. The investigation into her time sheets has been handed over to the U.S. Attorney's office. This story reminds us that excessive overtime has long been a......

According to the Examiner, there's a been a recent surge in the number of rapes and attempted rapes in the District, and now police think several of them may be the work of the same man. It's frustrating that this is the first we've heard about an increase in rapes in the city this year. The latest incident was on Thursday at around 4 a.m. in the 3300 block of 18th Street NW, near Park......

Anacostia, Rhode Island Avenue, and Congress Heights all make the list of 10 Metro stations that will be receiving new surveillance cameras over the next six months, Metro Transit Police said yesterday. The Post reports today that the District is kicking in $225,000 towards the effort. Transit Police have recommended that Maryland and Virgina install additional cameras at stops in their jurisdictions as well, especially at stops at the ends of lines. The only Metro......

We mentioned it briefly at the end of the day yesterday and it's been reported several other places since then, but we wanted to share some more details on how our good friend Brian Beutler was shot early Wednesday morning in Adams Morgan. Brian, 25, is the Washington Correspondent for the Media Consortium, a network of progressive news organizations like Mother Jones and the American Prospect. He's being described as a "well known liberal blogger"......

There was something of a three-ring freak show over at the National Press Club yesterday, where convicted felon Larry Sinclair appeared at a press conference attended by a group of gawking international reporters. For those of you who don't follow crackpot theories about major national political figures, here's the basic story: Larry Sinclair, a professional weirdo who has been in the past successfully prosecuted for crimes involving lying, like forgery and bad checks, has......

Residents watch the police checkpoint in D.C.'s Trinidad neighborhood on Saturday, June 7, 2008. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) We balked at the initial news that the Metropolitan Police Department planned to throw up barriers and checkpoints in certain D.C. neighborhoods experiencing excessive violent crime. Later, when we learned the details of the first case, the week-long checkpoint that was established in Trinidad, the MPD's plan appeared to be both constitutionally dubious and potentially not......

A Metrobus driver and two other people were shot just before 1 p.m. today in the bus bay area outside the Anacostia Metro station. One of the shooting victims is described as being in critical condition -- NBC4 says he appeared to be about 18 years old and suffered a gunshot wound to the chest. The Metrobus driver sustained a non-life threatening injury due to a bullet grazing his head. The third victim also suffered......

PassiveAggressiveNotes.com spots this scooter in D.C.'s Mt. Pleasant neighborhood all decked out in angry, belittling and sometimes profane messages to a failed thief. Check out the full post for more photos, sent in by a resident who notes the irony of the neighborhood's name when matched with the sentiments expressed in the scooter notes. I can't help but be reminded looking at these photos why I eventually decided not to buy a scooter last......

In the face of so many other D.C. government corruption scandals, you'll be forgiven for having forgotten about former D.C. Department of Human Services employee Charles M. Brown, who was charged in 2006 for his involvement in a conspiracy with another employee to steal public assistance funds in 2004 and 2005. Interim Attorney General Peter Nickles today announced the conviction of Brown on 11 criminal charges, including identity theft, conspiracy, unlawful food stamp usage and......

Can you say Police State? The Examiner has the scoop on a controversial new program announced today that would create so-called "Neighborhood Safety Zones" which would serve to partially seal off certain parts of the city. D.C. Police would set-up checkpoints in targeted areas, demand to see ID and refuse admittance to people who don't live there, work there or have a “legitimate reason” to be there. Wow. Just, wow. Some of the words used......

Update: We've gotten information that Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) will be hosting Friday night potlucks in Potomac Gardens starting on May 30 to discuss issues related to neighborhood safety. He's indicated that he'll ask the police department's top brass to attend, as well as community leaders. As the District continues grappling with a stubborn and constantly shifting crime problem, residents in one Capitol Hill neighborhood are debating a controversial response -- marching on......

Earlier this week the Metropolitan Police Department announced its latest phone number that might help it solve crime: 1-888-919-CRIME is a toll free tip line that will be staffed by detectives around the clock. The new number should not be confused with 311 or 911, however, which are of course already fairly confusing. The MPD says this new number should be used to make anonymous tips to the police about homicides, gangs, guns, or other......

Federal prosecutors announced today that no charges will be filed against the two off-duty D.C. police officers who were involved in the fatal shooting of 14-year-old DeOnté Rawlings on Sept. 17, 2007. Officers James Haskel and Anthony Clay were riding in Haskel's SUV on the night of the killing, looking for a minibike stolen from Haskel's garage in Southeast. The officers, who were off-duty and not in uniform, said they found Rawlings on the bike,......

The local Tampa Bay FOX affiliate, FOX13, is reporting that Deborah Jeane Palfrey, known in the media as the D.C. Madam who was last month convicted of money laundering, using the mail for illegal purposes and racketeering, has been found dead in Tarpon Springs, FL, of an apparent suicide. Police were called to the scene of Palfrey's mother's home, and have confirmed that a body found there was Palfrey. She was 52. Palfrey was set......

ABC7 is reporting that two students were shot this afternoon at the Excel Institute in Northeast. There's not a lot of information yet about what happened, but the good news is that both students' wounds appear to be non-fatal, and the gunman was caught while fleeing the scene near 19th and C Streets NE. After the suspect entered the school and shot the two students, he carjacked a vehicle outside, then attempted to carjack two......

The Georgetown Hoya reported on an armed sexual assault in LXR Hall over the weekend that has the university community up in arms over lax security measures in the dorm. At 3:40 a.m. on Saturday morning, an assailant described as a black male between 17 and 20 years old allegedly attacked a female student, forcing her off a public balcony and into a common room, where he threatened her with a gun and sexually assaulted......

We mentioned it briefly at the end of the day yesterday, but more details are available about the charges against a Georgetown University student accused of committing a hate crime against another student in September, which were dropped by the U.S. Attorney's office due to a lack of evidence. The victim, who today remains unidentified in news reports, said he was followed September 9 by two men who yelled homophobic slurs at him; one of......

If the D.C. Madam is convicted and no one cares, does she make a sound? Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the so-called D.C. Madam who got every Washington watcher all hot and bothered last year over her impending trial and purported client list, and then proceeded to bore everyone to tears with how mundane the scandal turned out to be, was found guilty today on charges of racketeering, mail fraud and money laundering. Not that you probably......

The D.C.-based libertarian blogosphere is up in arms today over the Saturday night arrest of D.C. resident Brooke Oberwetter at the Jefferson Memorial. The story goes like this: a group of about 20 nerdy libertarian wonk types gathered at midnight on Saturday for a sort of flash mob at the memorial to celebrate the birthday of their favorite founding father. They gathered at the memorial, each with an iPod, to dance together while wearing......

The U.S. Park Police has released sketches of two suspects sought for the Feb. 8 sexual assault of a 28 year-old woman. Park police say the two men picked up the woman at about 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 8 near the intersection of East Capitol Street and Benning Road NE. The men took her to a park in the 100 block of Anacostia Ave. and sexually assaulted her. One suspect is described as a black......

The Post is reporting that an off-duty Metropolitan Police officer shot a man who was attempting to rob him at a gas station in Northeast early this morning. A police spokesperson told the paper the shooting took place at around 12:30 a.m. at 905 Brentwood Rd. NE, though it seems like the gas station in question actually has to be the Lowest Price Gas Station at 925 Brentwood Rd. NE, as no gas station appears......

In today's sad reminder that terrible people are out there walking among us, there is news today that an Alexandria charity, ALIVE (Alexandrians InVolved Ecumenically), has been the victim of a warehouse burglary, in which thieves made off with more than 1,000 pounds of food intended for the needy. ALIVE, which according to their website, "serves over 12,000 Alexandrians annually," works with community volunteers to provide Alexandria's less fortunate with a full spectrum of services,......

A reader brought to our attention this story from The Hilltop, Howard University's student newspaper, covering an apparent drive-by shooting in one of the campus parking lots last week. According to the article: At exactly 2 a.m. Wednesday morning in the West Towers parking lot, a drive by shooting occurred. Four gun shots, the sound of tires screeching and yelled explicits woke some students up abruptly. "All I heard was gunshots, so I walked to......

A user on the Washington, D.C. page of the USASexGuide's massage parlor online discussion forum was kind enough to link to a post of ours earlier this week, at which point we were alerted to the web site's existence. And boy oh boy, does it contain mounds of helpful/hilarious information about which Asian massage parlors in the District offer the best "full service" technicians. In other words, this is a chat room for men to......

Walter Dellinger has argued before the Supreme Court on many occasions. In fact, according to a Post profile of the lawyer and academic, he's been in front of the nine justices often this year -- three times in the last four weeks. And while yesterday's argument may have been one of the most historic, it probably wasn't the most fun. Dellinger, who argued for the District in yesterday's ground-breaking case on the Second Amendment, didn't......