A D.C. man was arrested Monday morning after allegedly trying to steal liquor from Whitlow’s in Clarendon.
Police say the man entered the bar, at 2854 Wilson Blvd, just after 9:00 a.m. and stole six bottles of liquor. An alert employee, however, was able to foil the alleged theft and hold the suspect until police arrived on scene.
Wilber Johnson, 37, was arrested and charged with statutory burglary and grand larceny, according to a crime report.
Lee Highway was closed for nearly two hours last night after a man told police he had a bomb.
The bizarre incident happened around 10:30 p.m. Police received a call from a “concerned citizen,” reporting that a man was walking down the road with his pants around his ankles.
The man failed to comply with the commands of responding officers who tried to stop and question him, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. Instead, he began walking down the middle of Lee Highway, shouting obscenities, daring police to shoot him and saying he had a bomb in his backpack, Sternbeck said.
Eventually, the man dropped the backpack in the middle of the roadway and was then taken into custody. Police shut down Lee Highway between N. Lexington Street and Sycamore Street while the county’s bomb squad evaluated the backpack. No bomb was found, and the road reopened after an “extended” closure, said Sternbeck.
The man has been charged with resisting arrest, assault on police and making a bomb threat, we’re told.
Historic Affairs Board: Preserve Stratford — Arlington’s Historic Affairs and Landmark Review Board has voted unanimously to recommend designating Stratford Junior High School, the current home of the H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program, a local historic district. The School Board will now decide whether or not to go along with the historic designation, which could delay plans to build a new middle school on the site by 2019. [InsideNova]
Three Arrests at Bar Crawl — There were only three arrests made at the All-American Bar Crawl in Clarendon on Saturday. Arlington County police were out in force, keeping the peace among the thousands of revelers who participated in the rain-drenched event, which the department again live-tweeted. Among the arrests were one for being drunk in public and another for failure to pay, according to a police spokesman. [Twitter]
Man With Knife Arrested at McDonald’s — A man was arrested at the McDonald’s on the 3000 block of Columbia Pike on Saturday afternoon. Police responded to the restaurant for a report of a fight in progress and encountered a man who was brandishing a knife. The suspect was arrested but was acting disorderly and spitting on officers while in custody, according to a police spokesman. It was later determined that the man was wanted for a probation violation in Loudoun County.
Flickr pool photo by Erinn Shirley
Metro Transit Police pepper sprayed a man who allegedly assaulted a station manager and a police officer in the Crystal City Metro station this afternoon.
Arlington County paramedics were called to the station around 1:30 this afternoon, to treat the suspect after the pepper spray incident.
According to Metro spokesman Dan Stessel, then man had “rammed” the Crystal City station manager while attempting to run through the emergency gate to evade the transit fare. Metro Transit Police officers responded to the station and found the man sitting on the floor in the station entrance area, smoking a cigarette.
“As they began talking to the man, the suspect abruptly kicked one of the officers from his position on the floor,” Stessel said. “The officers moved in to make the arrest, and in that process, utilized [pepper] spray to gain compliance. The suspect was arrested without further incident.”
The man is being charged with assault, for bumping the station manager, and assaulting a police officer. The station manager was not injured.
File photo
A woman was arrested over the weekend after allegedly pepper spraying the owner of a dog that attacked her neighbor.
The chain of events started Sunday evening on the 2400 block of S. Monroe Street, in Nauck.
Police say a woman was bitten in the face by a dog that belonged to a man who was renting a room in her house. The dog attacked the woman after she stomped her feet and tried to take a bone away from it, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. The dog’s owner was not at home at the time.
The woman went to the hospital, received several stitches, then returned home and called police to report the dog bite.
Later that night, just past midnight, police were called to the house again. The owner of the dog had returned home and was sleeping when he awoke to find a woman standing next to him. The next thing he knew, the woman was pepper spraying him in the face, Sternbeck said.
Police responded to the house and found the woman, a next door neighbor and friend of the bitten homeowner, hiding in some woods behind the house, Sternbeck said.
The woman, who had reportedly been drinking earlier in the day, was taken into custody but on the way back to the police cruiser she tripped and struck her face on a fence, causing a black eye, according to Sternbeck. An officer was dragged down with the falling suspect and suffered a dislocated shoulder, he said.
Arlington resident Laura Dyckman was arrested and charged with breaking and entering with intent to assault, plus assault and battery by caustic substance. She was held on bond.
The dog, breed unknown, remained in the custody of its owner.
A man has been arrested and charged with touching a boy inappropriately in a restaurant bathroom.
The incident happened just before 8:00 p.m. Tuesday in a restaurant on the 900 block of N. Stafford Street in Ballston. We’re told the restaurant was the IHOP on the corner of Stafford Street and Fairfax Drive.
Police say a boy entered the restaurant’s bathroom without parental accompaniment and was “pulled into a stall and touched inappropriately” by 53-year-old Cesar Muz-Moya.
Muz-Moya, of no fixed address, was arrested and charged with aggravated sexual battery and abduction. He was held without bond.
This is just the most recent brush with the law for Muz-Moya.
Earlier this year he was arrested for and later convicted of peeping through a woman’s bedroom window in the Ballston area. He was sentenced to two months in jail.
On May 11, Muz-Moya was arrested and charged with being drunk in public in Fairfax County. His next hearing date in that case is scheduled for August.
(Updated at 7:45 a.m.) The Arlington County Police Department Special Victims Unit is seeking additional victims of a county home inspector who has been accused of inappropriately touching a woman during an inspection of her home.
Olaseni Cole, 54, was charged with sexual battery after allegedly groping a woman on the morning of Tuesday, April 14, according to Arlington County police.
The incident happened on the 3900 block of 8th Street S., in the Alcova Heights neighborhood. Cole, an Upper Marlboro, Md. resident and an Arlington County employee, was inspecting the woman’s house.
Cole was arrested and is being held at the Arlington County Detention Facility in Courthouse. Police are asking anyone else who might have been a victim to come forward.
“Anyone who has had past inappropriate encounters with this suspect is asked to call Detective N. Brooks at 703.228.4169 or email [email protected],” the press release continued. “To report information anonymously, contact the Arlington County Crime Solvers at 866.411.TIPS (8477).”
Olesani started working for the county in March 2014, according to Arlington Human Resources Director Marcy Foster.
An Arlington man has been arrested and charged with robbing a bank in Ballston this past fall.
Police say 30-year-old Sunny Parekh was arrested without incident at his home on the 1400 block of N. Scott Street, near Courthouse, last night (Wednesday). He’s been charged with the Nov. 10, 2014 robbery of the Presidential Bank on the 900 block of N. Stuart Street.
The FBI and Alexandria police assisted with the investigation and arrest, according to an Arlington County Police Department press release (below).
Parekh is currently being held at the Arlington County Detention Facility, which incidentally is located just three blocks from his home.
“He can probably see it from his cell window,” noted Arlington police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. “It wasn’t a far drive.”
Parekh is also a suspect in two other bank robberies, in Alexandria and the District. No word yet on whether charges have been filed for either of those robberies.
From ACPD:
A bank robbery suspect was taken into custody by the Arlington County Police Department, with assistance from the FBI Washington Field Office and Alexandria Police Department, at his residence in the 1400 block of N. Scott Street. Sunny Parekh, 30, of Arlington, VA, was arrested during the evening of April 8, 2015 and charged with bank robbery. He is being held without bail.
At approximately 3:59 p.m. on November 10, 2014, the Arlington County Emergency Communications Center was alerted of a bank robbery that had just taken place at the Presidential Bank, located in the 900 block of N. Stuart Street. The suspect entered the bank just prior to closing time and handed a teller a note that demanded money and implied he had a weapon. The teller gave the suspect an undisclosed amount of money and the subject fled towards Ballston Metro Center.
After months of police investigation and collaboration with partner law enforcement agencies, Parekh was identified as the primary suspect. Officers took the subject into custody without incident and he is being held at the Arlington County Detention Facility. “The closing of this case by our investigators was the direct result of outstanding work by our patrol officers and the leveraging of the resources of our FBI and Alexandria colleagues with whom we work closely on a daily basis,” commented Daniel J. Murray, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Investigations Division.
Police: Pair Stole Car, Shrimp, Underpants — (Updated at 2:00 p.m.) A man and a woman allegedly under the influence of crack cocaine and alcohol were arrested in Rosslyn Tuesday afternoon. Police say the pair had stolen a car, men’s underwear and a “large quantity of shrimp.” [MyFoxDC]
Playgroup Controversy in Fairlington — Members of a cooperative playgroup that uses the Fairlington Community Center say that Arlington County is attempting a “takeover of the group.” The parents say the county is trying to buy the playgroup’s toys, take over registration and raise the playgroup fee from $20 to $190. [Patch]
How One Teacher Is Using iPads — There’s some question about just how well Arlington Public Schools has trained its teachers on the use of technology in the classroom — particularly the individual iPads and MacBooks that are being assigned at certain grade levels. One teacher at Carlin Springs Elementary School, however, is taking advantage of the iPads in a big way, using them for various interactive lessons. That, officials say, is indicative of how such technology will increasingly be used in schools. [InsideNova]
ACFD Metro Training — Arlington firefighters are participating in department-wide Metro safety training this month. [Twitter]
Alleged Bank Robber Was Staying at Retirement Home — The FBI tracked down an accused bank robber in an Arlington on Friday thanks to his cell phone usage. The so-called Bicycle Bandit is accused of a dozen bank robberies, including a robbery in Alexandria just a few hours prior to his arrest. Investigators used phone records to figure out his identity. The suspect, Woosen Assaye, was staying at his father’s apartment at The Carlin retirement home at the time of his arrest. [NBC Washington – WARNING: Auto-play video]
Arlington Named Healthiest County in Va. — A new study has named Arlington County as the healthiest county in Virginia. Albemarle, Fairfax and Loudoun ranked second, third and fourth, respectively. [Associated Press]
Fehr Reads to Key Students — Washington Capitals player Eric Fehr read his new anti-bullying book to students at Key Elementary School yesterday. [NBC Washington – WARNING: Auto-play video]
Board Considers Affordable Housing Report — The Arlington County Board on Monday heard a comprehensive report about affordable housing in the county. [InsideNova]
Blue Line Issues — A Blue Line train suffering mechanical problems offloaded passengers at the Pentagon station this morning, causing overcrowding on the platform. [Twitter]
Some 3,700 people participated in Saturday’s Shamrock Crawl, an annual St. Patrick’s Day-themed bar crawl in Clarendon, according to police.
That’s down from nearly 5,000 attendees for last year’s crawl. Unlike last year, however, this one resulted in relatively few arrests.
Police say they arrested two people in direct connection to the crawl — one for assault and battery, and the other for drunk in public. That compares to more than two dozen arrests during last year’s event, including a bar crawl attendee who was arrested for allegedly showing up naked at the Arlington magistrate’s office in search of her incarcerated husband.
The Arlington County Police Department credited planning and cooperation among police, bars, event organizers and neighbors for the largely drama-free afternoon.
“It was a lot smoother of an operation,” said ACPD spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. “We have to credit the bars that participated as their staff refused to let people who were highly intoxicated in. There was a great working partnership for this event between police and the participating businesses.”
“It was a year-long planning process… there were constant meetings among county staff, the civic associations, the businesses and the bar crawl hosts,” Sternbeck added. “It showed positive results in terms of behavior.”
Sternbeck said police “could have arrested quite a bit more for drunk in public” but instead focused on getting those individuals home safely via taxicabs. New this year, Sternbeck and another police department employee live-tweeted the bar crawl and set up an outdoor photo booth — complete with props including a McGruff the Crime Dog mascot head — where they mixed fun with a bit of public outreach.
“We definitely spoke to them directly about responsible partying, appropriate behavior and transportation usage,” he said.
Despite helping to drastically reduce crime, police did take note of one area for possible improvement.
“The biggest problem I saw was people darting into the street before waiting for the appropriate time to cross,” Sternbeck said. Several police department tweets showed attendees dressed in green crossing in the middle of busy roads, in front of cars.
Per new bar crawl regulations that were approved last year, bar crawl organizer Project DC Events was to pick up the tab for police overtime associated with security for the event. Sternbeck was unable to say what the bill was for this weekend, though the Washington Post previously reported that the cost to police was between $15,000 and $20,000.
Photos courtesy Arlington County Police Department
