News

Arlington sees slightly elevated crime rates compared the region, per new report

By Jo DeVoe
Crime scene tape at shooting scene in Green Valley (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Arlington has a slightly higher than average crime rate compared to the region overall, according to a new report.

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments recently released its annual report, in which it compiled crime statistics reported out by local police departments, including Arlington County Police Department.

Overall, MWCOG found the D.C. area is seeing 18.3 crimes per 1,000 people involving rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft. This is higher than the 2021 rate of 16.8.

Arlington County’s rate increased from 15.9 to 19.7 and is now higher than the regional average, though the lowest in the region’s urban core, which also includes Alexandria and D.C. The former claims second-highest rate, at 20.8, and D.C. claims the highest crime rate, at 40.6.

Larger, more suburban counties tend to have lower crime rates, including Fairfax County, with a rate of 15.6 crimes per 1,000 people.

“This is something that you didn’t necessarily know the data point but you knew to be true: crime is increasing across the region and, right now, is at elevated levels that we haven’t seen in quite some time,” Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey said during a meeting on Tuesday.

Crime rate in the D.C. area (via MWCOG)

Among Northern Virginia jurisdictions, Arlington saw a 25% increase in offenses, the median rise in crime for its Virginian neighbors.

“We’re all struggling and we’re not struggling any more than anyone else,” Dorsey said.

Property crimes drive the trends regionally, according to 5-year trends in the MWCOG report. That appears to be reflected locally, with an uptick of reported motor vehicle thefts: 412 thefts in 2022, up from 313 in 2021.

Property crime trends in the D.C. area (via MWCOG)

Carjackings are this year’s headline-grabbing offense, regionally, one that Dorsey stressed is thorny to tackle.

“There is a lot of interagency cooperation on these issues, but they are also quite difficult for police to bring to a satisfactory conclusion in terms of arrests and prosecutions,” Dorsey said.

Earlier this month Arlington surpassed the total number of carjackings from 2022, according to ARLnow’s count. While the county is seeing more carjackings, they are still less common than in D.C. and Prince George’s County, according to heat maps by the Washington Post.

One crime for which Arlington is an outlier, according to Dorsey, is assaults.

“We experienced a ridiculously huge increase in aggravated assaults in the year and are definitely a regional outlier, and not in a good way, with a 43% increase,” Dorsey said.

ACPD says “aggravated assault” is a category that includes distinct 20 felonies and three misdemeanor charges, spanning a broad range of crimes, including:

  • throwing items at occupied vehicles
  • brandishing firearms or similar-looking objects
  • child abuse
  • malicious wounding

The fact that 23 different charges encompass “aggravated assault” makes it difficult for community members to understand what exactly is happening in their community, says Chuck Miere, a Virginia criminal justice reform lobbyist who dug into ACPD data earlier this year.

“There’s very little transparency as to what gets counted year to year as falling into any of these categories because there isn’t a single ‘aggravated assault’ charge in Virginia,” he tells ARLnow. “There are a bunch of assault charges that can be aggravated.”

(more…)

Picnic shelter, court and field at Lacey Woods Park set for $2M renovation project

By Jo DeVoe
1/5

The northern portion of Lacey Woods Park will be getting a facelift.

Arlington County will replace the lighted basketball court and multi-use field at the 14-acre park along N. George Mason Drive near Ballston, according to a project webpage.

The building housing both a picnic shelter and restrooms will be replaced with a new picnic shelter and structure for restrooms.

Arlington County is mulling two design concepts for this project. It is seeking public feedback on these concepts via an online survey open now through next Thursday, Oct. 26.

“Your feedback will help inform updates to the existing amenities, including a preferred layout for the restrooms and picnic shelter,” the survey says.

Two concepts for updates to Lacey Woods Park (via Arlington County)

In the first concept, the bathrooms and picnic shelter both border the new court and the restroom entrance is off to the side.

In the second concept, the bathroom entrance faces the court and the picnic shelter is behind the bathrooms.

Two concepts for updates to Lacey Woods Park (via Arlington County)

The county will also update site furnishings and make improvements for circulation and accessibility for people with disabilities. There will be landscaping, drainage and stormwater management upgrades.

This project is set to cost a little more than $2 million and was approved as part of the 2019-28 Capital Improvement Plan. Some $388,000 comes from short-term financing and another $1.6 million from bonds.

“Capital maintenance projects address facilities that have exceeded their lifespan and are in need of renovation,” the survey says. “Renovations to the existing playground and the addition of new amenities are not within the scope of this project.”

A picnic shelter in the southern half of the site was replaced in 2014.

The county is currently estimating that construction on this project would start in the second quarter of 2025 and wrap up in the last quarter of the year.

Virginia shoppers get a tax break on certain items this weekend

By James Jarvis
Point of sale payment at a store (Photo by Blake Wisz on Unsplash)

Don’t be surprised if your receipt lacks a sales tax charge this weekend.

Starting Friday at 12:01 a.m. and running until midnight on Sunday, a variety of products, from school supplies to refrigerators, will be exempt from taxation during a three-day tax holiday.

Virginia shoppers can take advantage of this tax break on certain items categorized into three groups

School supplies, clothing, and footwear

  • Qualified school supplies under $20
  • Qualified clothing and footwear under $100

Hurricane and emergency preparedness products

  • Batteries, flashlights, bottled water and other preparedness supplies under $60
  • Portable generators under $1,000
  • Gas-powered chainsaws under $350

Energy Star™ and WaterSense™ products

  • Qualifying Energy Star™ or WaterSense™ products under $2,500 purchased for noncommercial home or personal use

These eligible products can be purchased both in physical stores and online, as well as through mail or telephone orders.

The three-day “holiday” traditionally falls in August. However, this year, it was postponed due to a delay in state lawmakers approving a spending bill, which was ultimately passed in September.

“As Virginians continue to face inflation and high prices, Virginians will receive some needed tax relief this weekend,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a press release. “This sales tax holiday is an important measure to help Virginians keep more of their hard-earned money when purchasing essential school supplies, hurricane preparedness items, and clothing.”

Photo by Blake Wisz on Unsplash

NEW: Early morning barricade situation in Buckingham ends peacefully

By ARLnow.com
Police car at night (file photo courtesy Kevin Wolf)

A 43-year-old Arlington man is in jail after an overnight barricade situation in the Buckingham neighborhood.

The incident started around 12:30 a.m. with what was reported as a woman’s ex-boyfriend kicking down her door and confronting her and her current boyfriend with a knife.

The suspect then returned to his home nearby, leading to a barricade situation that eventually ended peacefully after negotiations with police, according to the Arlington County Police Department.

More, below, from a press release.

The Arlington County Police Department is announcing the arrest of a suspect following an early morning barricade in the Buckingham neighborhood. Jermaine Chambers, 43, of Arlington, VA is charged with Attempted Malicious Wounding, Burglary with Intent to Commit Assault and Assault & Battery (x2). He is being held without bond in the Arlington County Detention Facility.

At approximately 12:23 a.m. on October 19, police were dispatched to the 4200 block of 2nd Road N. for the report of a possible assault with a weapon. Upon arrival, it was determined the known male suspect forced entry into the victim’s residence, brandished a knife, threatened and physically assaulted the female and male victims before fleeing the residence on foot. The male victim was treated on scene by medics for injuries considered non-life threatening. The female victim did not require medical treatment.

Officers searched the area for the suspect with the assistance of Fairfax County Police Department’s helicopter and determined he had returned to his residence in the 200 block of N. Thomas Street. Officers established a perimeter, made telephone contact and initiated negotiations with the suspect who refused to exit his residence and remained barricaded inside. Members of the Department’s Emergency Response Team responded to the scene, continued negotiations with the suspect and eventually took him into custody without incident.

This remains an active criminal investigation and anyone with information related to this incident is asked to contact the Arlington County Police Department’s tip line at [email protected]. Information may also be provided anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
Ballston as dark clouds move into the area (Staff Photo by Jay Westcott)

Square Foot Cost Slips — “From Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, the average price per square foot for Arlington residential sales was $472. That’s down 1.9 percent from $481 during the same stretch in 2022. Throughout the metro area, Arlington was only surpassed in the ranking by the District of Columbia, whose average $527 cost per square foot was down 4.4 percent from a year before.” [Gazette Leader]

Cost of Local Homeownership — “The Q3 median cost of a single-family home was $739,900 in Arlington. To afford that, average wage earners would have to make at least $113,633 and be positioned to spend 46.2 percent of their annual pay on their mortgages. The report also shows a 7.8 percent year-over-year increase in median home sale prices in Arlington.” [Patch]

Plan’s Affordable Housing Questioned — “The draft plan Arlington County officials are reviewing includes recommendations for where, and how, to build affordable housing along Langston Boulevard, with a goal of making it happen by 2075. You read that right: 2075! Trekkies will note that the year 2075 is twelve years after Earth makes first contact with aliens from another world.” [Greater Greater Washington]

Halls Hill and Langston Blvd Plan — “Wilma Jones, President of the John M. Langston Citizens Association, sat down with Jo DeVoe to discuss Plan Langston Boulevard, community history, and historic preservation efforts in the Halls Hill neighborhood.” [Apple Podcasts]

Next Week: Drug Take-Back Day — “The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) fall National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day will take place on Saturday, October 28, 2023. This dedicated day is an opportune time for community members to take advantage of free, convenient and confidential medication disposal at one of Arlington County’s four permanent drug take-back boxes.” [ACPD]

Tourney Win for Softball Team — “With late-inning comebacks in semifinal and championship games, the Arlington Sage won the recent 14-and-under B Division of the Madison Small Memorial girls softball tournament in Sterling. The tourney was reduced to one day because of weather issues. The Sage finished 6-0 in their 15-team age division.” [Gazette Leader]

Funding for Local Health Startup — “An Arlington heart health startup has raised $8 million to bring its virtual home care to more value-based care provider groups and payers… Ventricle Health provides its members with access to a network of 2,000 cardiologists — members can book appointments to be seen virtually in as little as three days.” [Washington Business Journal]

It’s Thursday — Expect partly sunny skies with highs around 69 degrees and south winds ranging from 6 to 11 mph, gusting up to 18 mph. As for Thursday night, it will be cloudy with lows near 55 degrees accompanied by south winds blowing at 7 to 9 mph. [Weather.gov]

A program that diverted people from jail is fizzling without a coordinator

By Jo DeVoe
Jail entrance at the Arlington County Detention Facility (file photo)

A one-woman show ran one of the county programs that diverts people from jail.

Her departure this summer has left a hole in the county’s series of initiatives that keep defendants out of jail, reduce their time in the detention facility or improve their chances of not reoffending once they leave.

Bond Diversion works with criminal defendants who the Arlington Dept. of Human Services (DHS), attorneys and judges determined would fare better waiting for court appearances in stable housing and receiving community-based medical treatment. In many cases, participants had mental illnesses and committed minor misdemeanors.

DHS oversees the program as well as many of the services used by defendants who go through the program. The department is recruiting for a replacement but is up against a regional shortage of licensed behavioral health specialists, says DHS spokesman Kurt Larrick.

“[Bond Diversion] is basically on hold, though both the Forensic Diversion team and jail-based team are identifying opportunities to divert people and doing so when possible,” says Larrick, noting the position, which pays between $92,000 and $140,000, has been offered to two people who have declined.

Meanwhile, more people with mental illnesses are being booked in the Arlington County Detention Facility even as Arlington County is trying to disentangle law enforcement from mental health issues. Since 2020’s widespread calls for police reforms, the county has taken some steps to create community-based services that do not involve the criminal-legal system.

Arlington’s top prosecutor and chief public defender esteemed the last Bond Diversion coordinator for providing high-quality re-entry planning. They said these plans instilled confidence among prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges that defendants released from the jail would show up to court, stick with their treatment plans and not reoffend in the long term.

“[Bond Diversion] allowed us to have creative solutions that allowed us to not criminalize mentally ill people,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti. “It allowed us to spend our resources in areas where you really needed to prosecute.”

Without it, the jail — already under scrutiny for the deaths of inmates, some of whom were homeless and booked on trespassing charges — has become home to people with mental illnesses who are held without bond or on bonds they cannot afford to pay. Although the jail has clinicians to help these inmates, this trend worries Dehghani-Tafti.

“We are warehousing mentally ill people in our jail because we do not have a functioning Bond Diversion program,” she said.

When it worked well, the program was “really cutting-edge diversion,” Chief Public Defender Brad Haywood said.

Now, his office is shouldering a lot of the reentry planning previously overseen by the Bond Diversion coordinator. Two paralegals, who normally review body-camera footage and prepare legal filings, are instead helping the office’s mitigation specialist draft reentry plans.

“Even that’s not enough,” Haywood said. “My office is too taxed to do reentry planning and someone at DHS is better equipped to access services they provide.”

Bond Diversion: One of several jail ‘off-ramps’  

Arlington has several “off-ramps” through which the court-involved can be diverted from the detention facility.

Some off-ramps are put into motion the moment law enforcement could be involved or does get involved. The Crisis Intervention Team, for instance, trains law enforcement in better responses to people with mental illnesses and encourages them to work with DHS to find mental health professionals or other services in lieu of incarceration.

Police who do arrest people bring them to the jail where they go before magistrates who determines — as part of the Magistrate’s Post-Booking Project — if they should stay in jail or be released for behavioral health interventions.

Bond Diversion is the next step.

If someone is held without bond or on a bond they cannot pay, they are arraigned before a district court judge. If applicable, Haywood says, the public defender’s office will be appointed and shortly after, will request that the client be released until their court date. For some clients, his office might request a Bond Diversion plan.

Other times, the referral may come from the prosecutor. Or the judge may be sympathetic to releasing the defendant because the crime was minor, but may feel uncomfortable doing so without a housing and medication plan in place, Haywood said.

Throughout this process, members of the 14-person, jail-based forensic diversion team are screening the mental health of defendants to determine what kind of behavioral health interventions they should get — whether in the jail or upon their release.

(more…)

Penrose Square bikeshare station relocation causes stir

By James Jarvis
1/4

(Updated 9:55 a.m.) A Capital Bikeshare station in Penrose was relocated Wednesday to free up more street parking in response to concerns about safety and illegal parking.

But some residents are unhappy about it.

“We fail to see how relocating the Bikeshare station will help with the illegal parking at Penrose Square, as those problems existed well before the Bikeshare Station’s installation in 2022,” Chris Slatt, president of Sustainable Mobility for Arlington County, told ARLnow.

Slatt — who also serves on Arlington’s Transportation Commission — argues relocating the bikeshare station two blocks away along S. Wayne Street won’t solve the numerous traffic and safety-related issues that have plagued the square.

Instead, he says it will make “life more difficult for people choosing not to drive to the area, such as Bikeshare users.”

The planned relocation is meant to address “double-parking from pick-up/drop-off traffic at one of the Penrose Square retailers,” Arlington Dept. of Environmental Services spokesperson Claudia Pors wrote in an email.

“In the new configuration, the curbside lane next to the retailers will be turned into 15-minute pick-up/drop-off (PUDO) parking, and travel lanes will shift toward the west side,” she said.

The county did not specify which retailer it was referring to. However, Slatt and a nearby business owner previously noted that the illegal parking issue worsened after the Starbucks (2413 Columbia Pike) moved in eight years ago.

Pors said the plan is to move the bikeshare station back to Penrose Square in 2025 once Segment D of Columbia Pike Multimodal Improvements Project  — slated to start next week — is finished and the “station is determined safe to move to this final location.”

Pors said the S. Wayne Street location was chosen because of adequate sidewalk width, continuous sunlight — used to power the bikeshare station — and its proximity to public space.

The station’s new permanent location has not been confirmed, but Pors said the county is seriously considering “the grassy area in front of the wall at the south end of the plaza, near the Burrito Bros.”

Construction prevented the station being moved there now.

“Segment D construction will at times close sidewalk access in front of the plaza and narrow travel lanes on the Pike, which could add a pinch point or prevent people from accessing the Bikeshare station,” Pors said.

While Slatt says he generally supports moving short-term parking for vehicles to the other side of S. Barton Street, he disagrees it should come at the cost of the bikeshare station.

“This location was chosen in 2022 through a community conversation and online survey which indicated majority support for putting the station on Barton Street,” Slatt said, adding its proximity to the grocery store and park is more convenient than the new temporary location.

Slatt also voiced his frustration that residents were only told about the move last Wednesday, and there wasn’t enough time for the community “to comment, object, or suggest other solutions.”

Pors said the county typically does not “seek input on temporary relocations of Capital Bikeshare stations.” Moreover, she noted that relocating it to privately owned spots in the plaza would have been more time-consuming process, whereas moving the station to S. Wayne Street was more convenient because it’s a public space.

Penrose resident Christiann MacAuley — also opposed to the relocation of the bikeshare station — said she thinks there may have been “some miscommunication” between the county and residents.

“It’s surprising was that apparently ‘the community’ was consulted, but none of the transportation or bike people in the neighborhood seem to have heard anything about it,” she told ARLnow.

Either way, MacAuley said, “it’s hard to imagine how the new plan will fix any of our traffic problems here.”

Those problems, as documented by a local resident on social media, include drivers making illegal U-turns, double parking, and making other unsafe driving maneuvers while rushing to pick up their orders at Starbucks.

Slatt said Starbucks should put up signs encouraging customers to instead use the garage, which offers an hour of free parking. He also advocated for more parking enforcement in the area.

Police investigating hammer and knife attack in Lyon Village

By ARLnow.com
File photo

A man was seriously injured after a hammer and knife attack in the Lyon Village neighborhood yesterday.

The Tuesday evening incident happened on the 1700 block of N. Calvert Street, a few blocks from Lyon Village Park, and involved two men who knew each other, police said.

Officers were not made aware of the attack until later that night, after the victim was treated at Inova Fairfax Hospital, according to an Arlington County Police Department crime report.

More from ACPD:

MALICIOUS WOUNDING (late), 2023-10170254, 1700 block of N. Calvert Street. At approximately 9:22 p.m. on October 17, police were dispatched to INOVA Fairfax Hospital for the late report of an assault that occurred in Arlington County. The preliminary investigation indicates at approximately 4:50 p.m., the male victim and male suspect, who are known to each other, became engaged in a verbal dispute during which the suspect allegedly struck the victim with a hammer. A witness separated the victim and suspect and a short time later, the suspect reapproached the victim, brandished a knife and struck the victim, causing a laceration. The suspect left the scene and the victim self-reported to the hospital with serious, non-life threatening injuries. The investigation into the incident is ongoing.

County says it needs new policies to tackle rising office vacancy rates

By Jo DeVoe
A partially vacant office building in Courthouse in December 2022 (via Google Maps)

(Updated at 12 p.m. on 10/19/23) County leaders say Arlington is facing a grim future due to its rising office vacancy rate, which now stands at 21.5%.

Arlington is leading the region with its vacancy rate, which works out to 9 million square feet of empty space, according to Arlington Economic Development Director Ryan Touhill. He predicts the vacancy rate will continue climbing, as AED has determined about one-quarter of office buildings are at risk of sustained vacancies.

Compounding the vacancy issues, many leased buildings have space available for sublease and significantly lower rates of people going into the office, according to Arlington Economic Development Commission.

These conditions are set to have serious impacts on Arlington County’s future budgets, with County Board members and County Manager Mark Schwartz already predicting belt-tightening this budget cycle.

Last week, staff told the Arlington County Board about new strategies and policies they are considering to further combat this issue as part of the ongoing Commercial Market Resiliency Initiative. Yesterday (Tuesday), the county’s Economic Development Commission discussed its own recommendations for dealing with these vacancy rates.

That follows several zoning changes made in the last 12 months — on a compressed community engagement timeline — to get emerging businesses into older office buildings by allowing them to operate without seeking special permissions. This includes micro-fulfillment centers, urban farms, breweries, dog boarding facilities, pickleball courts and podcast studios.

Board Chair Christian Dorsey said Arlington is facing a different challenge than it has before.

“This is a little bit different than some of the elevated rates of vacancy that we’ve experienced in the past,” Dorsey said last week.

During the Base Realignment and Closure process, for instance, the office vacancy rate peaked at 20.1% in 2015 after major Department of Defense offices decamped from the county, per the Economic Development Commission.

Arlington managed to bounce back by landing deals with Nestle, Boeing and RTX — formerly Raytheon — Amazon and Microsoft, Dorsey said.

“But this is a little bit different because this is in the midst of a paradigm shift in the commercial market,” he said, pointing to the impacts of remote work. “And then, of course, there’s a market which is in turmoil, with incredibly low valuations and commercial space, which impacts lending and trading.”

Rising office vacancy rate (via Arlington County)

With a potentially protracted dip in tax revenue from commercial properties in Arlington, residents will have to pay more for essential services, Touhill said.

“Historically, we’ve had that 50-50 split between our commercial and residential tax base,” he said. “But in recent years, we’ve seen that increase to more of a 55-45 split. And this means that our residents are carrying more of the burden to fund our essential services.”

To weather this storm, the economic development commission, AED and the Dept. of Community Planning, Housing and Development (CPHD) intend to streamline onerous county processes and tackle restrictive ordinances.

‘Work flows’ in the second stage of the Commercial Market Resiliency Initiative (via Arlington County)

One under scrutiny will be the major and minor site plan amendment process, which developers and property owners go through to repurpose or renovate large, existing development projects.

“The site plan process’s length and variability are amongst the biggest impediments to redevelopment,” says the commission, which calls for an expedited process for these types of projects. “As these buildings already exist, all that will change is the building’s use.”

(more…)

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
N. Highland Street in Clarendon (Staff Photo by Jay Westcott)

Teens Missing in Arlington — From the Arlington County Police Department: “MISSING: Anne Arundel County Police are seeking the public’s assistance locating missing juveniles who may be in Arlington County. Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to contact the Anne Arundel County Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit at 410-222-4731.” [Facebook]

APS Tackles Bathroom Vaping — “Some of Arlington’s secondary schools may see vape-detection equipment placed in bathrooms to address ongoing use of nicotine and THC oil by students. ‘Bathrooms are a trouble area – other students feel unsafe,’ School Board member Mary Kadera said during a recent School Board meeting.” [Gazette Leader]

School Board Chair Wants Drug Data — “Arlington parents and the broader community might at some point in the future be able to see how the county’s various schools compare in terms of drug use and abuse. After quiet prodding apparently didn’t get the response she wanted, School Board Chairman Christina Diaz-Torres on Oct. 12 went public in her call for the school system to provide more specific information on drug cases at local schools.” [Gazette Leader]

Today: Dog Film Fest — “Join the Animal Welfare League of Arlington at Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse for a special screening of the 2023 New York Dog Film Festival… Doors open at 6 PM.” [Event Calendar]

Are You Missing a Pigeon? — From the Animal Welfare League of Arlington: “Do you recognize these animals? A0054604332 – neutered male gray and white cat found on 10/16. A0054608585 – female brown dog found found on 10.17. 0054536387 – rock pigeon found on 10.5. Thank you for helping us reunite these pets with their families!” [Twitter]

Design Award Submissions Open — “Arlington County’s design awards program, DESIGNArlington, is now accepting submissions for architectural, historic preservation, landscape and public art projects. Submissions will be accepted through December 7, 2023.” [Arlington County]

Another DCA Gun Arrest — “Police arrested a Bethesda, Maryland, man on Monday after he was stopped by security officers with a loaded handgun at a checkpoint at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, according to the Transportation Security Administration. The .40 caliber gun was loaded with 13 bullets and was packed in the man’s carry-on bag, the TSA said. It was the 30th gun that TSA officers at the airport have detected at one of the checkpoints, which ties the record at Reagan National Airport set in 2021.” [Patch]

Bottomless Brunch Horror Story — “The birthday cake was the first bad sign. Bringing your own food technically wasn’t allowed at the Arlington restaurant where Lorraine McNamara was working the bottomless-brunch shift, but she let it slide. She was already serving the entire patio by herself. Plus, the kitchen was backed up. The birthday group was pounding mimosas on empty stomachs.” [Washingtonian]

It’s Wednesday — Mostly sunny today with a high temperature near 65 degrees. For Wednesday night, expect partly cloudy skies and a low around 49 degrees. [Weather.gov]

Reston man faces charges in Arlington sex crimes investigation

By ARLnow.com
Matthew Coble (photo courtesy ACPD)

A 21-year-old Reston man is facing charges after a sex crimes investigation involving victims under the age of 18.

The charges stem from “criminal incidents that occurred in 2020,” Arlington County police said. ACPD says they’re now seeking other potential victims of the suspect, identified as Matthew Coble.

Coble was already on the radar of law enforcement. In July, an Arlington jury found Coble guilty of Aggravated Sexual Battery of a mentally incapacitated or physically helpless individual in a public park. His sentencing in that case is currently set for Dec. 15.

More on the latest charges and the search for additional victims, below, from an ACPD press release.

The Arlington County Police Department’s Special Victims Unit is investigating a suspect charged with sex offenses against a teenage juvenile and is seeking possible additional victims.

On September 18, police received information regarding criminal incidents that occurred in 2020 and immediately initiated a comprehensive investigation. As a result, Matthew Coble, 21, of Reston, VA was charged on October 13 with Indecent Liberties with a Child (x3) and Production of Child Pornography. He is being held in the Arlington County Detention Facility without bond. Additional information regarding the investigation is restricted from release in accordance with Virginia Code § 16.1-301 and Virginia Code § 19.2-11.2.

Based on the investigation, detectives believe there may be additional victims. Anyone with past inappropriate encounters with this suspect or who has additional information related to this investigation is asked to contact Detective P. Pena at 703-228-4183 or [email protected]. Information may also be provided anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).

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