police

Crime Report: Masturbating Suspect Tried to Pay Victim

By ARLnow.com
File photo

A man masturbated in front of a woman in an apartment laundry room, then tried to convince the victim not to call police by paying her cash, according to this week’s Arlington County crime report.

The alleged incident took place around 9:00 a.m. near the western end of Columbia Pike in Arlington. Police have identified the suspect as a 34-year-old Arlington resident. From the crime report:

INDECENT EXPOSURE, 140902018, 5500 block of S. Columbia Pike. At 9 am on September 2, a male subject masturbated in front of a female victim in the laundry room area of an apartment building. Following the incident, the suspect grabbed the victim and attempted to pay her with cash to not report the incident. Warrants for indecent exposure and assault & battery were issued for Walter Kissee, 34, of Arlington, VA.

The rest of this week’s crime report, after the jump. All named suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty.

(more…)

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Glebe Road storm clouds (Flickr pool photo by Wolfkann)

New Security Measures at Schools — This school year, Arlington Public Schools has three additional police officers assigned as school resource officers at elementary schools. The school system has also added 30 new video cameras in secondary schools, which can be viewed by the county’s 911 call center and by school resource officers. [Washington Post]

Stamos Back in the ACDC Fold — Arlington Commonwealth’s Attorney Theo Stamos has apparently been welcomed back into the good graces of the Arlington County Democratic Committee. Stamos voluntarily stepped down from the committee after she endorsed independent candidate John Vihstadt over Democrat Alan Howze. [InsideNova]

Bracket Room to Celebrate Anniversary — Contrary to the pessimistic predictions of its critics, Clarendon sports bar The Bracket Room is about to celebrate its one year anniversary and seems to be thriving. Former Bachelorette cast member Chris Bukowski opened the bar, at 1210 N. Garfield Street, on Sept. 5, 2013. Bracket Room is planning a birthday party on Saturday, Sept. 6. [Clarendon Nights]

Flickr pool photo by Wolfkann

Arlington K-9 Helps Apprehend Pursuit Suspect

By ARLnow.com

Police car (file photo)An Arlington County Police K-9 took a bite out of crime Monday night following a car chase on the GW Parkway.

Around 9:30 p.m., on the southbound lanes of the parkway near Route 123, U.S. Park Police began chasing two suspects driving recklessly in a stolen vehicle, according to Park Police spokeswoman Lelani Woods.

The vehicle pursuit ended on the ramp to Key Bridge when the suspects lost control of the car, wrecked and fled on foot.

Arlington County officers, a K-9 unit and the Park Police Eagle 1 helicopter assisted with the ensuing search for the suspects near Rosslyn. The police dog — K-9 “Hugo” — was able to track and apprehend one of the suspects.

The suspect was taken into custody and checked out by paramedics for a bite wound, said ACPD spokesman Dustin Sternbeck.

Ambassador Identified as Suspect in Beating of Girl With Chair Leg

By Andrea Swalec

Ruben Maye Nsue Mangue via Flickr/Embassy of Equatorial GuineaThe ambassador of Equatorial Guinea to the U.S. is the prime suspect in a reported assault in an Arlington home Monday night, police told the Associated Press.

As ARLnow was first to report based on a tip, a girl was beaten in the country’s diplomatic residence in the Dover-Crystal neighborhood, but no arrest was made because the accused attacker, Ruben Maye Nsue Mangue, has diplomatic immunity, Arlington police said.

Police responded to the 4000 block of 27th Road N. about 9:30 p.m. Monday after a female 911 caller said a man “hit her in the head with a chair,” and “there’s someone going crazy at her house,” according to scanner traffic.

The female victim was struck “several times,” police said Tuesday, leaving her with a head wound. She was transported to Virginia Hospital Center.

Reached at the diplomatic residence, Rebeca Maye, who identified herself as Nsue’s secretary, said the ambassador’s 16-year-old daughter was released from the hospital Wednesday. “She’s fine,” she said.

The Equatorial Guinea Ambassador's Residence on the 4400 block of 27th Road N.Nsue did not respond to multiple inquiries.

The ambassador has protections as a member of a foreign diplomatic mission, the State Department and police said.

“The subject has full diplomatic immunity and was not arrested,” ACPD said in a crime report issued Tuesday.

The U.S. State Department has informed the government of Equatorial Guinea of the reported crime and expects a response next week, a department representative said.

Governments can waive diplomatic immunity, as officials in the nation of Georgia chose to do in 1997 after a diplomat from the Eurasian country struck and killed a Maryland teenager in a crash after a night of drinking.

Photo via Flickr/Embassy of Equatorial Guinea

Report: Diplomat Beat Girl With Chair Leg But Won’t Be Charged

By ARLnow.com
1/3

A girl was beaten with a chair leg in the diplomatic residence of Equatorial Guinea last night, police said Tuesday, but no arrest has been made because the alleged attacker is a diplomat.

The incident happened around 9:30 p.m. Monday on the 4000 block of 27th Road N., in Arlington’s tony Dover-Crystal neighborhood. Police were called to the home of Ambassador Ruben Maye Nsue Mangue after a female 911 caller reported that “there’s someone going crazy at her house” and a man “hit her in the head with a chair,” according to scanner traffic.

“I’ve been there before,” said a responding officer. “There have been previous calls from this address.”

The female victim was struck “several times,” police said. Paramedics transported her to Virginia Hospital Center with a head wound, but no arrests were made.

“The subject has full diplomatic immunity and was not arrested,” Arlington County Police said in a crime report today. Police said the assault was “domestic” in nature but declined to reveal the identity of the suspect.

“We won’t go in to those details at this time,” ACPD spokesman Dustin Sternbeck told ARLnow.com. “The State Department was notified by our officers and it’s in their hands at this point.”

An anonymous tipster who contacted ARLnow.com this morning, before news of the attack was made public, claimed that the ambassador — who was appointed last year after serving on the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the Peace and Security Council of the African Union — was the attacker and that his teenager daughter was the victim.

Reached at the Equatorial Guinea embassy in D.C., Rebeca Maye, who identified herself as Ambassador Nsue’s secretary, said his 16-year-old daughter was brought to Virginia Hospital Center with a head injury, but added that it was “not very big.” Maye declined to answer questions about the alleged assault and said the ambassador would not be available for comment until later Tuesday night.

Equatorial Guinea is a small nation on the west coast of Africa. It has a population of just 650,000, but it’s one of sub-Sahara Africa’s largest oil producers, according to Wikipedia.

Neighbors of the diplomatic residence on 27th Street, who did not wish to be identified by name, said the family that lives there mostly “keeps to themselves” — but there have been some recent disturbances.

“A girl can sometimes be heard screaming foul language” from the home, one neighbor said. Another said police were called to the house a couple months ago when a man and a woman had a shouting match outside.

Andrea Swalec, Ethan Rothstein and Scott Brodbeck contributed to this report

Bike Registration Continues to Rise in Arlington

By Ethan Rothstein

Bicycles at the Bike to Work Day pit stop in Rosslyn

When Arlington County Police Lt. Heather Hurlock returned from a vacation last week, she found more than 70 messages from residents asking to register their bicycles.

This is the high demand that Hurlock — a crime prevention specialist with the county and the head of the bicycle theft program — said she’s seen since she launched the county’s bicycle registration program 15 years ago. ACPD registers an average 1,000 bikes every year, Hurlock told ARLnow Tuesday morning.

Hurlock said she gets satisfaction in returning stolen bikes to their owners, who sometimes have been missing the cycles for years.

“One time, I received a call from Alexandria about a recovered, stolen bike with an Arlington decal on it,” she said Tuesday morning. “I called the owner it was registered under and he had it stolen on his second day of eighth grade. The day I called him was his last day of college.”

Calls about the free registrations come from around the globe.

“At this point, I have bikes registered [from] all over the world,” Hurlock said. “I get calls from very strange places asking about their decal number after their bike was stolen.”

Hurlock is also in charge of recovering abandoned bikes. Every week, she patrols the county following up on tips about bicycles left unattended or locked to parking meters and lampposts for more than five days. After Hurlock leaves a note and waits two days, she impounds the bikes. After 60 days in county custody, the cycles are donated to Bikes for the World, an Arlington-based charity that gives repaired, used bicycles to needy people as close as Rockville and as far as Namibia and the Philippines.

If a cyclist can’t read the serial number on the bike to register it, Hurlock will engrave a new number.

To prevent theft, the police lieutenant recommended securing bikes using a sturdy U-lock and storing them in protected places.

Bike thefts from residential areas are up in Arlington County because residents leave their garage doors open with their bikes inside, Hurlock said. Overall bike thefts were down significantly in the first half of 2014, ACPD announced in May.

File photo

Arlington Man Arrested After Sunday Night Stabbing

By ARLnow.com

Police on the 3500 block of 8th Street N (photo courtesy Bill Colton)An Arlington man has been arrested and charged with a stabbing that occurred overnight, about four blocks away from the Virginia Square Metro station.

Police say a group of people were drinking heavily inside a home on the 3500 block of 8th Street N. in Ashton Heights Sunday night. Around midnight, a verbal dispute escalated into a physical confrontation and a 25-year-old man was stabbed outside the house, suffering two puncture wounds to the chest and numerous slashes to the chest and back, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck.

The victim was transported to Virginia Hospital Center. His wounds are described as non-life-threatening.

Arlington resident Rafael Temaj-Jiguan, 30, was arrested by police officers who were executing a search warrant on the residence this morning. He has been charged with malicious wounding and is being held at the Arlington County jail.

Temaj-Jiguan was an acquaintance of the victim, Sternbeck said. He was previously arrested in Arlington last September and convicted on a charge of being drunk in public.

Photo courtesy Bill Colton

Crime Report: Racist Graffiti in Ballston

By ARLnow.com
File photo

A homeless man was arrested last Friday after allegedly writing “racist” graffiti around Ballston, according to Arlington County Police.

From this week’s Arlington crime report:

DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY (series), 140815014, 4200 block of N. Fairfax Drive. Between 4:30 and 6:55 am on August 15, an intoxicated subject wrote profane language with a green marker on buildings, vehicles, bus shelters and signs. Phillip Cannon, 55, of no fixed address, was arrested and charged with five counts of destruction of property and drunk in public.

The rest of the crime report, after the jump.

(more…)

Police: Naked Biker Crashes into Cars, Runs Through Woods

By ARLnow.com

A car on S. Barton Street allegedly damaged by a naked motorcyclist (submitted photo)

(Updated at 2:45 p.m. on 12/23/21) A drunk and naked man on a motorcycle crashed into two cars and ran into the woods in the Arlington Village area Friday night, according to a police report.

The incident happened just before 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 15. The nude biker struck two cars on the 1600 block of S. Barton Street, near Columbia Pike, before fleeing on foot into a wooded area, according to the Arlington County Police Department.

Arlington resident Roland [Redacted], 42, was located by officers a short distance from the scene — residents told ARLnow.com he was found on S. Edgewood Street — and taken into custody. He was transported to Inova Fairfax Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries before being locked up at the Arlington County jail, police said.

[Redacted] has been charged with felony hit and run, indecent exposure, DUI, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and driving while revoked.

This is the second time this summer an alleged naked and intoxicated driver crashed a vehicle in Arlington and tried to flee. In June, a bar crawl attendee in Clarendon was accused of stripping naked and leading police on a brief car chase that ended with a wreck on Wilson Blvd.

Photo courtesy anonymous. Hat tip to Brendan L.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

A lunch-goer looks at a construction area at the Pentagon City mall food court

Prostitution Arrests on the Rise — Arrests of prostitutes are on the rise in Arlington. Halfway through the year, ACPD has made 26 prostitution arrests, compared to 32 for all of 2013 and 18 in 2012. Police say many of the prostitutes come from the West Coast and are attracted to areas like Crystal City, Ballston and Rosslyn due to high-income clientele and easy access to highways. [Washington Post]

Artists Build Art Studio After Fire — Husband and wife artists Bryan and Julie Jernigan have built a freestanding, 16’x20′ art studio in their North Arlington backyard. The project follows a period of hardship in their lives: a fire broke out in the couple’s home in 2012. [Northern Virginia Magazine]

State Budget Woes — Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) has revealed that the state is facing a $2.4 billion budget shortfall and that additional budget cuts are necessary. McAuliffe blamed the shortfall, in part, on federal defense spending cuts. [Washington Post]

Arlington’s Best-Reviewed Apartment? — The Concord, an apartment building in 2600 Crystal Drive in Crystal City, has been named the best apartment building in Arlington by a national research firm. The firm ranked 120 properties in Arlington based on online reviews and reputation. [Multi-Housing News]

Red Light Camera Revenue Falls in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

Red light cameras in RosslynThe amount of revenue Arlington County brings in from ticketing violators caught on camera running red lights is on the decline.

The Arlington County Police Department has recorded a decrease in red light violations, and therefore ticket revenue, since fiscal year 2012.

The county currently has four working cameras, at N. Lynn Street and Lee Highway, Ft. Myer Drive at Lee Highway, N. Glebe Road at Fairfax Drive and Washington Blvd at Lee Highway. Each violation carries a fine of $50.

ACPD reports the red light cameras have brought in the following revenue for the last four fiscal years:

  • FY 2014 — $236,792 (as of July 30)
  • FY 2013 — $322,682
  • FY 2012 — $444,427
  • FY 2011 — $327,292

The police departments points to safety education campaigns as contributing to the drop in red light violations.

“We believe it’s a combination of people understanding and knowing locations of the cameras, along with being better and more aware drivers as the result of educational campaigns put on by our officers regarding traffic safety,” said police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. “Safety is our biggest concern.”

Although they’ve been delayed for more than a year, seven new red light cameras are still in the works for Arlington. They will go in at five intersections shown to have high rates of red light running: two cameras at Columbia Pike and Glebe Road, two at Jefferson Davis Highway and S. 23rd Street, one at Columbia Pike and George Mason Drive, one at Lee Highway and George Mason Drive, and one at Washington Blvd and Glebe Road.

ACPD says the delay has been, in part, due to a Virginia Department of Transportation approval process. The county recently re-submitted information VDOT requires for the approval and hopes to hear back soon. However, VDOT spokeswoman Joan Morris told ARLnow.com the agency submitted its comments to ACPD July 1, and it is “not opposing any of the proposed sites since the signals are maintained and operated by the County.”

Once construction begins at the camera sites, ACPD plans to begin another educational campaign. The department typically offers a one month grace period when drivers will merely get a warning for running red lights at the intersections with newly installed cameras. Violations after the grace period will result in tickets.

View More Stories