Results tagged “arrest”

One of two suspects sought in the Nov. 7 killing of shopkeeper Rufina Hernandez has been arrested, D.C. police announced last night. Andres Lopez, 45, of no fixed address was taken into custody without incident on Thursday afternoon near 4th and Kennedy Streets NW, only about five blocks from La Casa de Morata liquor store. Hernandez was shot and killed that Saturday night during the course of a robbery. Two suspects are believed to have entered the store and demanded money, a request with which Hernandez complied, but one of the suspects shot her anyway. D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier declined to indicate whether Lopez is believed to be the shooter, but reiterated that the search for the second suspect continues. "We look forward to getting help from the community," Lanier said. "There is still work to do."

The fatal shooting of 9-year-old Oscar Fuentes inside his Columbia Heights apartment on Saturday night was not gang-related, according to D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier. Lanier, along with D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham, this morning announced the arrest of Josue Pena, 26, in the killing. Pena has been charged with first degree murder.

As we noted in the Morning Roundup, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and Police Chief Cathy Lanier are making their way to the 1400 block of Columbia Rd. NW right now in order to announce that an arrest has been made in the killing of 9-year-old Oscar Fuentes. The Post says the man who was arrested is Josue Pena, 26, who was taken into custody in Hyattsville just before 6 a.m. this morning. No more details on the arrest are available just yet, but check back in after the 10 a.m. press conference.

Nick Cho, former owner of Murky Coffee, has been charged with 82 counts of tax fraud, according to the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue. Cho formally turned himself in this morning after being charged by the Attorney General's office in connection with his failure to file monthly sales tax returns for his Capitol Hill coffeeshop during the period of December 20, 2004, to January 31, 2008, in addition to failing to file unincorporated franchise taxes for tax years 2006 and 2007.

The story of Pepin Tuma, the local lawyer who back in July was arrested by a D.C. police officer after singing the words "I hate the police" while walking down U Street, has made its way in front of the D.C. Council, leading to serious talk about revising the District's disorderly conduct laws. The Legal Times blog and Huffington Post both covered Friday's hearing, during which Tuma testified about his experience while flanked by pro bono counsel from his former firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. And it looks like Tuma's message got through to Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary chairman Phil Mendelson. From the BLT: 'During the hearing, Mendelson made it clear he thought it was time for changes in the law, pointing out that parts of it were more than a century old, and that it had been criticized by Gerald Ford’s President’s Commission On Crime in the District of Columbia.' Unsurprisingly, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier and D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles have expressed their opposition to changing the law, which currently allows officers latitude in making arrests for what they deem to be disorderly conduct. The officer in this case, however, is being investigated by both the police department's Internal Affairs Bureau and the independent Office of Police Complaints, according to Huffington Post.

More than two dozen people have been indicted in the rapidly expanding federal bribery investigation into the D.C. taxi industry, the Post's Del Quentin Wilber is reporting. That's a whole lotta people. So who, besides Ted Loza, are they? They're "cab drivers or others with financial ties to the industry," most of whom will probably be arrested today, according to anonymous sources. Keep your eye out for handcuffed cab drivers this afternoon!

Last week's arrest and indictment of Ted Loza, Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham's chief of staff, continues to put Graham in a rather unpleasant spotlight this morning. After WUSA9 first reported on Monday that the FBI investigation was also targeting the councilman, FOX-5 followed up last night with its own story, noting that Graham refused to go on the record all day on Monday in response to the allegations (earlier that morning when we saw him, Graham claimed he still hadn't read the story).

Freshly delivered to our inbox is a press release from the office of D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1). The title? "Councilmember Graham Postpones Hearing on Taxicabs." Yeah, good call.

At least two more suspects have now been arrested in the Aug. 18 slaying of a pizza restaurant owner in the Edgewood neighborhood, WTOP's Mark Segraves reports. One suspect, Shanika Robinson, had already been arrested in the killing of Pizza Mart co-owner Shahabuddin Rana a few weeks ago, but now her brother, Leon Robinson, has also been taken into custody and charged with first degree murder. Segraves also tells DCist that a third suspect, whose name we still don't know, has been arrested in the time since this initial report. Police allege that Rana was killed after a false marriage arrangement between Shanika Robinson and Rana's brother fell apart. Rana had been paying Robinson $500 a week to be married to his brother so that he could get a green card, according to police, but at some point Rana stopped the payments. Further complicating the sordid case is the death of Terrance Green, a D.C. police officer who committed suicide earlier this month after he was subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury in the case.

D.C. Police announced Thursday that they have made an arrest in the April 6 sexual assault of a female victim inside her home in the 1500 block of Marion Street NW. Police say physical evidence linked a suspect to the attack, and 25-year-old George Leroy Clowers of no fixed address has since been arrested and charged with first degree sexual abuse and burglary one. The crime was the sort that gives city-dwelling women everywhere nightmares: at around 3 a.m., the suspect broke into the victim's house in the Shaw neighborhood, sexually assaulted her and then stole some of her stuff before fleeing.

D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray just released his official statement regarding today's arrest of Jim Graham chief-of-staff Ted Loza on bribery charges: "Consistent with the standard practice in criminal investigations not to reveal in advance the issuance or execution of an arrest warrant or a search warrant, I was not made aware of the arrest of Mr. Loza nor the search of his office in the John A. Wilson Building before that happened. I will leave the criminal investigation in the hands of law enforcement authorities and let the justice process take its course. I plan to have a conversation with Councilmember Graham to determine if the investigation will have any bearing on the broad operations of the Council, and how this may affect the work of his office and the Committee on Public Works and Transportation, which Mr. Graham chairs."

Major, major news from D.C. Wire:

The chief-of-staff to D.C. Council Member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) was arrested Thursday morning by federal agents on bribery charges, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

Continue reading "Jim Graham's Chief of Staff Arrested on Bribery Charges"

D.C. police made an arrest today in the fatal shooting of 48-year-old Deborah Ann Brown. Brown died Saturday evening in the 2900 block of 14th Street NW, after being struck in what appears to have been gunfire aimed at someone else.

The Washington Post is reporting that approximately 85 pounds of marijuana and nearly $40,000 in cash have been seized from D.C. resident Winston Williams, 49. Williams was arrested on Aug. 5 after D.C. police discovered about 10 pounds of pot and the cash inside his home in 5500 block of 14th Street NW. A couple days later, they found 75 more pounds of the green stuff in storage units prosecutors say belong to Williams, in the 6400 block of 16th Street.

Truly charming news out of Hagerstown: the AP via WTOP reports that the Secret Service detained a Maryland man who showed up to one of Sen. Ben Cardin's health care reform town hall meetings with a sign reading, "Death to Obama." And wait, it gets even charming-er! The sign also reportedly read, "Death to Michelle and her two stupid kids." Thanks for classing up the joint, unidentified 51-year-old Maryland man. We're sure everyone appreciates your erudite contributions to the health care reform debate.

Do make sure to read this story from the Washington Blade's Lou Chibbaro, which chronicles the arrest last weekend of local attorney Pepin Tuma, 33. Tuma says he was arrested at 17th and U Streets NW on Saturday night by 2nd District Officer J. Culp, after Tuma loudly and “jokingly” said to a couple of his friends while walking by Culp, "I hate the police." Tuma further contends that during the arrest, which was for disorderly conduct, Culp at first did not inform him why he was being detained, and then later called Tuma a "faggot." The Internal Affairs Bureau is investigating.

Check out this paragraph buried at the bottom of a press release from WMATA today about how the transit agency is conducting a comprehensive review of its disciplinary procedures for employees.

In the most recent incident, a Metrobus operator refused to allow a customer to exit the bus after a verbal dispute. He was arrested by Metro Transit Police on Saturday, July 25, and charged with kidnapping. The bus operator is on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of an investigation. Metro officials will determine an appropriate level of discipline once the investigation is complete.

Alexandria Police Chief David P. Baker resigned this afternoon, everyone in town is reporting. Baker's decision comes amid growing criticism due to his arrest over the weekend on DUI charges, after causing a car accident in Arlington that injured at least one person. In a letter to his entire department, Baker, 58, called the resignation a "retirement."

According to CNN's politicalticker blog, President Obama will meet this week with Officer James Crowley and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. over a beer to discuss the false home invasion arrest fiasco in Boston from last week. The beers chosen by each man? Budweiser for Obama, Blue Moon for Crowley, and undetermined for Gates (Gates may not even drink beer, as it turns out). Maybe Bud is Obama’s beer of choice, but being the president, it's probably safe to say that he had to pick 1) an American beer and 2) something most people have tried. Remember what happened when he told Iowa voters what arugula cost at the store? Right.

You don't have to be a genius to have guessed that this might have been the case: Tim Craig reports in the Post that Donna Watts-Brighthaupt, the ex-girlfriend Marion Barry is accused of stalking, was hired by Barry as a contract member of his staff after they had struck up a romantic relationship. Barry has reportedly paid his former special lady friend at least $10,000 worth of taxpayer funds for her services as a consultant. You mean to say a politician whose time as mayor is as much known for his totally corrupt job patronage practices as it was for crack cocaine use is still hiring people as favors while serving as the Ward 8 D.C. Council member? Color us totally unsurprised.

We've joked in the past about how no jail can hold Marion "Mayor for Life" Barry, but so far this latest brush with the law for the current Ward 8 D.C. Council member really does appear unlikely to come to anything beyond more embarrassing headlines.

Marion Barry was arrested last night, after a woman flagged down a Park Police officer in Anacostia Park, claiming that the Ward 8 Councilman had been stalking her. The former Mayor was released after being processed at central lockup, but will need to make a court date at some point to face the charges.

So reports Mike DeBonis over at City Desk. D.C. Superior Court Judge Jennifer Anderson apparently decided that Brazil was the one who started the now infamous fight at the Jinx Proof tattoo parlor in Georgetown, and the verdict necessarily followed. The colorful former D.C. Council member was sentenced to 30 days (suspended, natch) and six months of unsupervised probation, plus a $100 fine. WaPo's Keith Alexander was also in the courtroom.

We've noted recently that the Metro system has seen a big spike in robberies over the last year, with the most cases reported in Metro's parking lots and garages, especially at stations at the end of the lines. So it's not surprising that Metro Transit Police proudly announced today that they apprehended two suspects observed breaking into cars at the Branch Avenue station yesterday morning. Two men, Lawrence White, 23, and Dante Robbins, 22, both of Oxon Hill, Md., have been charged with auto theft, theft from auto and destruction of property after they attempted to flee from Transit Police and crashed what turned out to be a stolen vehicle. They're also facing a charge of assault on a police officer after police say they tried to hit an officer with the vehicle.

The Examiner's Michael Neibauer brings bad news for fans of delicious, fried catfish. Christopher Dinwiddie, the owner of popular Edgewood carryout Catfish Fridays, was arrested today on charges of operating without a license and failing to pay more than $175,000 in sales taxes.

Remember Brooke Oberwetter, the D.C. woman who was arrested for dancing while listening to an iPod at the Jefferson Memorial? Oberwetter was one of a larger group of libertarian-leaning Washingtonians who gathered at the memorial to celebrate Jefferson's birthday by quietly dancing, and she ended up being the only one handcuffed and arrested after U.S. Park Police officers tried to break up the party. The whole episode was captured on videotape.

There was some good news out of Houston a few hours ago. Yesterday, we alerted you to the arrest of D.C.-based artist, and Three Stars alumna, Wayna's arrest at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Late this morning, a Houston judge, at the request of prosecuters, dismissed the charges against her. She was reportedly relieved and now headed to Miami for the Winter Music Conference, where she has several scheduled performances.

Three Stars alumna Wayna, fresh off her performance at SXSW in Austin and en route to Miami's Winter Music Conference, was arrested at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport Wednesday morning and charged with a 3rd degree felony weapons violation, according to her spokesperson. In the state of Texas, the charge comes with a potential penalty of 2 to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

The Post reported earlier that a second D.C. government employee has been arrested in the ongoing federal bribery and embezzlement case involving the D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer. Farruk Awan, 37, was arrested this morning on charges of conspiring to commit bribery and launder money. Awan is the third person to be arrested in the case, after OCTO employee Yusuf Acar and businessman Sushil Bansal. He's accused of receiving bribes from Bansal in exchange for approving Bansal's company's employees to work at the technology office, among other charges.

With a tip of the hat to D.C. Wire, here's a YouTube video featuring D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer employee Yusuf Acar, who was arrested this morning by federal agents, from a Citywide Job Fair last fall: