crime

County boasts progress in Green Valley but public intoxication hasn’t gone away

By Daniel Egitto
1/5

The Arlington County Police Department has ramped up efforts to curb public intoxication and other illegal behavior near a Green Valley elementary school.

Despite these efforts, however, some of that behavior persists, according to some community members and ARLnow’s observations.

Police, true to their word, have increased foot patrols and community engagement in Drew Park and John Robinson, Jr. Town Square after the neighborhood heard shots fired and witnessed a shooting over one week in December. During an Arlington County Board meeting on Tuesday, County Manager Mark Schwartz said that authorities have “seen a difference in some of the behaviors,” including drinking in public, in the area near Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary School, and announced other forthcoming measures to curb this activity.

County Board member Matt de Ferranti applauded police on three arrests in connection with the incidents, along with outreach such as conducting security surveys and hosting a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus.

“The residents who have sat there and said, ‘We want results’ — you have pulled through and so has ACPD,” de Ferranti said.

Around 1 p.m. Friday, however, at least one person on a sidewalk within eyesight of Drew Elementary was visibly drunk. He had an empty beer bottle in his hand and was dancing energetically to music.

From reiterating demands for public restrooms to calling for more investment in area businesses, some community members said Green Valley has a long way to go.

“I will say, the county has been very empathetic to the situation,” said Yordanos Woldai, co-founder of the public safety advocacy group Green Valley Matters. “But I want to judge by the action.”

Striking the right enforcement balance

Among the complexities of intervening in Green Valley is how to do so while being sensitive to the area’s strong hangout culture. The drunk person was dancing next to several other people who sat in lawn chairs outside The Shelton, an affordable housing building, who did not confront him.

  • A middle-aged woman enjoying the warm weather was dismissive when asked whether she has seen any changes in how the county approaches her neighborhood.
  • “Nope,” she said. “I’m keeping it real with you right now. All they do is talk.”
  • The woman, who declined to give her name, called the town square’s lack of restrooms, shade and functional water fountains “disrespectful” and scoffed at the suggestion that police have redoubled efforts to keep her community safe.

“If it wasn’t for these older guys that they complain about out here? They look out for us,” she said.

For Schwartz, the focus on Green Valley goes beyond the public nuisance crimes to more serious offenses. The neighborhood is among the “top three or four” in Arlington for firearms offenses and is in the top 12 neighborhoods for a category of offenses that includes weapon law violations, theft, assault and homicide, he noted.

“I’m not going to sit here and tell you that all civic associations are created equal. Some are in more urban areas; some are in less urban areas,” Schwartz said. “But the reason we’re focusing on Green Valley has to do with firearms crimes.”

One approach will be to improve tracking and public reporting of crimes at the neighborhood level. Schwartz announced last week that a new dashboard displaying crime numbers, broken down by civic association, should go live in the near future.

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BREAKING: Former swim club board president pleads guilty to sexually exploiting children

By ARLnow.com
Mark Black (courtesy Alexandria Sheriff’s Office)

A former board president of the Arlington Aquatic Club pled guilty today to conspiring to sexually exploit several children.

Mark Black, 50, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to produce child pornography and one count of coercion and enticement one month before he was set to go to trial in federal court on Feb. 27, according to a press release from the U.S. Dept. of Justice.

He is set to be sentenced on April 30 and faces a mandatory minimum term of 15 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison.

From January 2018 to October 2021, Black was part of two groups that found prepubescent girls online and convinced them to livestream themselves engaging in sexually explicit conduct, the release says. Black and his co-conspirators would secretly record so they could share the videos with each other.

Last November, a grand jury returned an indictment charging Black with six counts of creating, advertising, distributing and receiving child pornography between 2018 and 2023.

Black was one board president of AAC, an elite swimming program notable for producing a Tokyo Olympian two summers ago, and also worked as a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) attorney.

More, below, from the Justice Department press release.

A Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) attorney pleaded guilty today to conspiring to sexually exploit numerous children.

According to court documents, between January 2018 and October 2021, Mark Black, 50, of Arlington, was a member of two online groups dedicated to exploiting children. The goal of the two groups was to locate prepubescent girls online and convince them to livestream themselves engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Black and his co-conspirators would covertly record this conduct and share the videos with each other.

In July 2019, Black induced a prepubescent minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct on a live-streaming application while screen-recording that activity. That same month, Black and a co-conspirator also groomed another prepubescent minor to engage in sexually explicit acts on a photo and video-sharing application. The co-conspirator surreptitiously hacked into this girl’s live-video feed and recorded the sexual acts before sending them to Black.

Black was formerly the Arlington Aquatic Club (AAC) board president.

Black pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to produce child pornography and one count of coercion and enticement. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 30 and faces a mandatory minimum term of 15 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Nicole M. Argentieri, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Michael D. Nordwall, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; and Shimon Richmond, Assistant Inspector General for Investigations of the FDIC Office of Inspector General (FDIC-OIG), made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema accepted the plea.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Halper and Trial Attorneys McKenzie Hightower, Kaylynn Foulon, and James E. Burke IV of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section are prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc. […]

Any individuals who believe they or someone they know may have been victimized by Black are encouraged to contact the FBI at 202-278-2000 and ask to speak to the Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force.

Green Valley to see ramped up public safety efforts after months of resident advocacy

By Jo DeVoe
1/8

Still reeling from recent shootings, a Green Valley resident took the dais during Saturday’s Arlington County Board meeting to ask the county and police for a plan to address public safety concerns.

Yordanos Woldai, co-founder of Green Valley Matters, a new resident group focused on public safety, says this plan should include regular police patrols and stepped up enforcement of illegal activities.

This includes crimes such as drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana, urinating and selling drugs in public around the John Robinson, Jr. Town Square — crimes which she said are largely committed by people who do not live in the neighborhood.

“The illegal activities happen in the open, on a consistent basis, starting in the afternoon when children are walking home from Drew,” she said. “This continued policy of inaction and looking the other way is not only dangerous, but it is inequitable. Nowhere else in Arlington County is a residential neighborhood — within feet of an elementary school — subjected to open and persistent, illegal activities that go unaddressed, except in this mostly Black and brown community.”

Neighbors have been raising these and other quality of life issues for several months. While there have been small fixes, including temporary bathrooms, Woldai says residents have exhausted public engagement methods — signing petitions, attending meetings and sending letters and emails — with little to show for it.

“The lack of enforcement has made our neighborhood attractive to people who want to openly engage in illegal activities without any consequence,” she said, tying these to more serious crimes Green Valley has witnessed.

The neighborhood has logged a number shots fired calls in recent years, including two in the summer of 2021, two in 2022 and this year so far, four in 2023. That’s in addition to several shootings, including one on Dec. 9.

It is a nuanced issue but, ultimately, residents want equitable policing that reduces crime and makes their community safer, says Arlington County’s Independent Policing Auditor, Mummi Ibrahim.

She says the county’s Community Oversight Board, which reviews public complaints of officer behavior, can help ensure this happens. Right now, she is focused on understanding what has been done so far.

“In my opinion, the best way a police department can strike this balance is to engage with the community as partners,” Ibrahim said. “This means actively listening and being guided by community in learning what is needed to address the problems, and to continue consulting with the community when determining the police department’s response to ensure police actions are properly measured, effective and equitable.”

Woldai agrees. In a follow up communique to the County Board after her remarks, she stressed the community wants “a middle ground between the current policy of inaction and over-aggressive police tactics,” not “a militarized police state.”

When residents came to the County Board this spring, decrying similar problems, County Manager Mark Schwartz said he would have a few recommendations for new technology, like gunshot detection, by the summer. He said adding patrols would be difficult — given vacancies within ACPD — but remains an option.

Seven months later, Schwartz said ACPD will be adding those patrol officers.

“You should start seeing visible Arlington County police presence, not just a cruiser, I’m talking about police officer or officers on foot starting this coming week,” the County Manager said.

Schwartz said he has also authorized Police Chief Andy Penn to purchase a gunshot detection device. ACPD told ARLnow today that these technologies are being considered across county agencies but none have been purchased yet.

“The Arlington County Police Department remains committed to our key initiatives of crime prevention and control, transportation safety, and community engagement as we continue to work with all stakeholders in the Green Valley community to address public safety concerns and identify solutions,” the department said in a statement.

Schwartz said ACPD will also deploy portable cameras with a license plate reader function around the town square and elsewhere in the neighborhood once the county wraps up their purchase, using $80,000 in closeout funds.

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Grand jury returns indictment for wild chase through Arlington and Fairfax County

By Jo DeVoe
Police looking for evidence where shots were fired along S. Wakefield Street in Barcroft (staff photo)

A grand jury has returned an indictment for a man on felony charges in connection to a wild police chase in October 2022.

The indictment against Ricardo Singleton, returned last Monday, included charges for eluding police and shooting a firearm from a vehicle within 1,000 feet of a school. They follow a bizarre crime spree for which Singleton was arrested on Oct. 6, 2022.

The man allegedly made a U-turn in front of Arlington County police headquarters in Courthouse and brandished a gun at a sheriff’s deputy, later fleeing and striking a parked car. That evening, police chased the suspect vehicle through Arlington — where shots were fired along a residential street — and into Fairfax County. Singleton was arrested after his gun reportedly jammed.

Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano subsequent compiled a detailed timeline of the events. His use-of-force review found that a Fairfax officer fired shots at Singleton, but the officer acted properly in doing so.

Singleton had a court hearing in Fairfax General District Court this March. He was charged with three counts of attempted maiming of law enforcement officers and one count of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

The court certified all these charges to Fairfax County Circuit Court. His trial in Fairfax is set to begin on May 20, 2024, according to Laura Birnbaum, the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Deputy Chief of Staff.

On Oct. 24, Singleton had a hearing in Arlington General District Court on a slew of charges: three counts of assault on law enforcement, two counts of eluding police, brandishing, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, reckless handling, endangerment and damage exceeding $1,000.

The Arlington court dismissed most of the charges after not finding probable cause, the standard of proof required for an indictment, sources say. To convict Singleton, the Commonwealth’s Attorney would have to meet a higher standard of proof, “beyond a reasonable doubt,” that he committed the crimes.

A felony eluding charge, meanwhile, was certified to Arlington County Circuit Court.

Last week, Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti presented the court with new felony charges — including shooting a gun from a vehicle, near a school — for which she says there is stronger evidence.

Felony charges against Ricardo Singleton (via Virginia Courts Case Information)

If he is found guilty, Singleton could face 2-10 years in prison for shooting a weapon within 1,000 feet of a school and 1-10 years for shooting a weapon from a car, according to state sentencing guidelines. The eluding police charges come with a jail sentence between 1-5 years.

On most of the charges — save for the one involving shots fired near a school — a jury or the court can opt for fewer than 12 months in jail, tacking on a $2,500 fine.

His next court appearance is today (Monday).

NEW: Former Arlington Aquatic Club board president faces trial for child pornography charges

By Jo DeVoe
Pool at the Long Bridge Park Aquatics & Fitness Center (staff photo)

(Updated at 8:20 p.m.) A former board president of Arlington Aquatic Club is set to go to trial next year for child pornography and sexual coercion charges, according to court documents.

Mark Black, who is about to turn 50, according to public records, was arraigned in federal court last week. A trial date was set for Feb. 27, 2024.

Earlier this month, a grand jury returned an indictment charging Black with six counts of creating, advertising, distributing and receiving child pornography between 2018 and 2023.

His alleged crimes date back to January 2018 and continued up to June of this year, when, according to court documents, he was allegedly found in possession of child pornography, including at least one depiction involving a minor not yet 12 years old.

According to these charges, in July 2019, he coerced one victim, identified as “Victim 1,” to “engage in sexually explicit conduct” to produce child pornography.

He also faces a seventh charge of coercing a minor to engage in sexual activity to create child pornography, after allegedly coercing and enticing a second child victim to engage in sexual activity for this purpose between April 2022 and April 2023.

“He faces a mandatory minimum term of 15 to 30 years for conspiracy to produce child pornography,” a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia told ARLnow this evening, after publication.

He also faces “15 to 30 years for conspiracy to advertise child pornography, 15 to 30 years for production of child pornography, 10 to life for coercion and enticement, and 5 to 20 for both receipt and distribution,” she continued.

The average sentence on federal child pornography charges in fiscal year 2022 was 110 months, or just over nine years, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Trafficking child pornography typically carries longer sentences than reception or possession.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia filed an indictment against Black on Sept. 14, 2023. He was taken into custody at the William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center in Alexandria the next day, according to court documents.

Later that month, swimming news outlet SwimSwam reported that Black was suspended indefinitely by the U.S. Center for SafeSport and USA Swimming “for unspecified allegations of misconduct.”

The outlet had previously reported Black was entered into SafeSport’s disciplinary database, around the same time he was allegedly found in possession of child pornography.

Black was prepared to enter a plea agreement for the first count, Conspiracy to Produce Child Pornography, however “the Court indicated that the plea would not be accepted at this time,” per court documents.

Neither the Arlington Aquatic Club (AAC) — an elite swimming program notable for producing a Tokyo Olympian two summers ago — nor the U.S. Attorney’s Office could be reached before deadline.

Suspect heading to court in cross-jurisdiction vehicular mayhem case

By Jo DeVoe
Falls Church carjacking suspect (courtesy City of Falls Church)

The case involving the man who allegedly went on a carjacking and assault spree through Falls Church and Arlington is moving forward.

Last week — eight months after his arrest — he was identified as Garrett Reeves, of Lorton, according to Susan Finarelli, a public information officer for the City of Falls Church Police Department.

He has been charged with carjacking, malicious wounding, destruction of property with intent and felonious charges of failure to stop at an accident and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, per court records. He has hearings for these charges on Jan. 4 and 10, 2024.

Falls Church police arrested Reeves in March. According to police and a surveillance video aired by NBC 4, Reeves struck a pedestrian near the Beyer Volvo dealership and crashed into several cars, while driving a carjacked Jeep.

He fled and allegedly ran to a nearby shopping center, where he attacked a man and stole his car. He drove into Arlington and was reported to have rear-ended a woman driving on Langston Blvd. This stolen car was later found in Fairfax County, police said at the time. Two days later, he allegedly carjacked another car in Falls Church.

Between his arrest and now, however, he has spent most of his time in a state psychiatric facility because he was not deemed fit to stand trial. Statewide, this is an increasingly common finding that has strained state hospitals, the Virginia Mercury reports.

Falls Church police conducted two investigations before obtaining warrants for Reeves’ arrest, Finarelli said. He was arrested on multiple charges, including carjacking, and taken to the Arlington County Detention Facility — where Falls Church arrestees are jailed — though he was uncooperative and did not reveal his name.

“During his first arraignment, the Courts deemed him not mentally competent hence his transfer to the Western State mental hospital,” Finarelli said.

Last Tuesday, the Falls Church police department learned that the man was identified and transferred back to the Arlington County jail. There, Finarelli says, he was served with additional warrants and held in jail without bond.

The Arlington County Police Department is not seeking charges for the hit-and-run in the county — considered a misdemeanor — because Reeves faces felony charges for the hit-and-run and carjacking in Falls Church, ACPD spokeswoman Ashley Savage tells ARLnow.

Arlington County Board candidates make their final pitches for votes this election

By Jo DeVoe
Election Day 2022 in Arlington (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

The end of the election is drawing nearer: early voting ends on Saturday and Tuesday is Election Day.

At this point, the roughly 12,000 early votes cast are almost evenly split between in-person and mailed-in ballots, per the Arlington County election turnout dashboard. Some 44,000 ballots need to be returned between now and the close of the polls on Tuesday to surpass turnout in 2019, the last similar election year.

With few days left to vote, candidates for the two open Arlington County Board seats are making their last public pitches for support at the polls.

They maintain the reasons that motivated them to run — economic stability, crime rates, Missing Middle, outcomes for youth and better planning —  remain relevant in the home stretch.

“One of the reasons I’m running for the Arlington County Board is my concern for the rising crime rate,” Republican candidate Juan Carlos Fierro said in a statement Monday.

“As a husband and a father, I am deeply concerned about the safety of my wife and daughters,” Fierro continued. “I am increasingly hearing about concern about Arlington’s rising crime from my fellow Arlingtonians — talking with friends and neighbors, following postings on social media, and reading articles in the local media.”

He referenced the Arlington County Police Department’s 2022 annual report, released this year, in which the department reports a nearly 18% increase over 2021 in crimes against persons, property and society, ranging from murder and manslaughter to drug offenses. Crimes against people increased 16.4% — primarily driven by assault — and property crimes increased by 23%, driven by motor vehicle thefts, larcenies and fraud.

While total offenses have risen since 2018, total arrests only ticked up between 2021 and 2022 and still have not recovered from a decline going back to 2013, according to annual reports by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

ACPD reports do not include arrests for these offenses and previously told ARLnow it would have to be requested by the Freedom of Information Act, though they can also be found on the Virginia State Police data dashboard.

“While Arlington is generally a safe community, residents must be aware of the rising crime, and our leaders must prioritize the safety of our residents,” Fierro added. “Crime and community safety are not partisan issues. Voters deserve elected leaders who will prioritize community safety and address the rising crime across Arlington.”

Fierro attributed the uptick in part to police staffing issues and pledged to “fully” invest in ACPD’s recruitment and retention efforts. Part of the reason fewer people are becoming officers, he said, is “because police officers are being vilified.”

“Community leaders must rebuke the pro-criminal elements in our justice system that are contributing to the culture of increased crime and reduced public safety in Arlington,” he said. “Some in our own community have joined the nationwide effort to undermine police morale while refusing to prosecute certain offenses.”

Democrat Maureen Coffey distilled her platform into two fundamental issues: affordability and economic stability.

“Our residents need to see a path forward where we can meet their needs,” she said. “Whether it’s housing, taxes, child care, or food security, people are struggling. Arlington needs to find both the short- and long-term solutions that help us serve everyone in the community and create stability while maintaining our core services.”

Meanwhile, perennial independent candidate Audrey Clement — who presciently made Missing Middle central to her campaign three years ago — is doubling down on her choice to make it a focus in 2023, after the passage of the ordinances in March.

She says “the issue will live on,” no matter how the Arlington County Circuit Court rules on challenge by 10 Arlington homeowners to the Expanded Housing Options ordinance the Arlington County Board “rammed through earlier this year.”

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Arlington teen receives net 10-day sentence for assaulting five women last year

By Jo DeVoe
Arlington County courthouse on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023 (staff photo by James Jarvis)

An Arlington teen has been sentenced for assaulting five women in and around Courthouse last year.

One of the victims posted the conclusion to her story — a year in the making — on Reddit this week. The guilty teen is 17 years old and lives in the area between Courthouse and Rosslyn, the victim said, noting he had a stable home life.

Last year, she said, he ran up behind her, lifted up her jacket, grabbed her crotch and pulled at her pants. As the investigation progressed, she said, the assailant was discovered to have worn the same shoes in each assault and to have taken videos, which ended up matching the experiences of the five identified victims.

The teen pleaded guilty to three counts of assault and battery, according to a source familiar with the case. He is expected to spend 10 days in the Landmark juvenile detention facility in Alexandria, with 80 days of the 90 day sentence suspended.

Details about juvenile cases are typically not made public by police or prosecutors. ARLnow spoke with sources familiar with this case and with juvenile justice, in general, to fill in the cracks and provide context.

In addition to juvenile detention, the teen will have one year of probation and will undergo a psychosexual evaluation to determine if he needs therapy. He will be required to complete whatever is recommended.

If he does not complete this or has any run-ins with the law during probation, the rest of his 80-day suspended sentence could be imposed. That means he would wind up back in the juvenile detention facility or adult jail, if this happens after he turns 18.

“Since he’s a juvenile, the sentence is (in my opinion) fairly light,” the victim said.

Several Reddit users said they agreed with her, expressing their outrage, though the victim implied that the prosecution was not the reason for the light sentence.

“That said, I’m really appreciative of the Arlington PD and the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney for both their doggedness and sensitivity,” she said, while adding that she never received contrition from her assailant.

“I think I’d be having an easier time with the light sentence if his apology hadn’t been so appalling — ‘I’m sorry if anyone was, like, offended or something. That wasn’t my intention. I don’t want people to think I’m like a monster or anything,'” she said, emphasizing the use of the word “offended.”

Court apologies often feel this way, said Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti.

“She wants to know ‘why her’ and she wants an apology for making her feel violated. Our system is not designed for this,” she said. “Our system is designed to separate the harmed party from the person who did the harm and to give ample opportunities for the person who did the harm to contest that.”

“Our system really makes people dig in their heels,” Dehghani-Tafti continued. “So that apology — and the sentencing — very frequently does not feel healing.”

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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.”

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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.

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Persistent one-word graffiti spree around Arlington is vexing neighbors

By Jo DeVoe
1/4

(Updated at 11:35 a.m.) All around Columbia Pike — and increasingly elsewhere in Arlington County — one graffiti message has been popping up: “hate.”

At first, it seemed to be concentrated around a stalled development project on the Pike, but now, the graffiti has been seen farther north in Cherrydale. It appears not to be confined to Arlington, either, as it was spotted earlier this year in Georgetown.

The persistent tagging is troubling a number of Arlington residents. It is also vexing those who report not seeing action taken after using Arlington County Police Department’s channels for recourse, including a non-emergency phone number and an online reporting system.

The most recent tag was on the building that is home to the Columbia Pike Partnership and the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington at 3045B Columbia Pike.

“We are checking camera footage,” museum president Scott Taylor told ARLnow, noting this is the first time the building has been tagged with the now ubiquitous slogan. “Police have been notified… We are saddened.”

Alyssa Trembeczki, who lives near Bob & Edith’s Diner, has seen the graffiti while out for runs and bike rides around the Pike, though she also reported seeing it at the corner of Langston Blvd and Military Road.

“I would love for whoever is doing this to stop since it’s making me feel unsafe in my own neighborhood and I’m sure others feel the same way,” she said.

She said she learned from police officers that whoever is tagging property is targeting places without security cameras.

Resident Tim Starker says he called the non-emergency number in early July to report one incident he noticed on S. George Mason Drive and Columbia Pike — and then twice more — but received no follow-up at any time.

“After about six weeks of no remediation, I emailed the [Arlington County] Board and got a canned response from a staff member advising to use the graffiti reporting function on the website,” he said. “The staffer eventually told me it was on private property so they had limited options.”

Another anonymous tipster, sharing photos from of similar graffiti in Cherrydale, echoed the dilemma of going to the county for issues on private property.

“This has been reported to Arlington County via their website but not sure they can intervene since these are private building(s) and utilities,” the tipster said.

Starker says he is waiting on a response from any County Board member, which he says is surprising.

“It’s an easy opportunity to address a constituent and at least explain the problem,” he said, noting the graffiti on S. George Mason Drive still there.

Later this morning, a county spokesperson said the graffiti at the location had been removed.

Tackling the graffiti and finding the culprit have been top priorities for Penrose Civic Association President Alex Sakes. He says last week, he met with ACPD, County Manager Mark Schwartz, Board Chair Christian Dorsey and Board Vice-Chair Libby Garvey for the second time to discuss solutions.

Sakes says ACPD recently completed a study, specifically for Penrose, about how to prevent crime through what he calls “environmental design.”

“We’re working on getting security cameras and motion-sensing lighting available to our Columbia Pike businesses… and a registry for existing security footage and data for current businesses that ACPD needs,” he said. “I’m beyond ready to get this stuff funded, purchased and installed. [I’m] tired of all these meetings.”

County Board spokesman David Barrera said the Board is aware of the graffiti concerns, noting they are most prevalent in Penrose and along Columbia Pike.

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