police

Crime Report: Wine and Purses Stolen

By ARLnow.com

Someone stole numerous Coach purses and bottles of wine from a storage unit in the Rosslyn area earlier this month, according to police.

From this week’s Arlington County crime report:

BURGLARY, 07/28/13, 1000 block of N. Arlington Boulevard. Between July 9 and July 28 at 10 am, an unknown subject(s) broke into a storage unit and stole 2 cases of wine and eleven Coach purses. There is no suspect(s) description.

The rest of the crime report, after the jump. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

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Man Slashed Outside Crystal City Metro

By ARLnow.com

Police car lightsA man suffered a large cut during an attempted robbery outside the Crystal City Metro station early Sunday morning.

Police say the man was outside the Metro station around 4:00 a.m. when a male suspect approached him from behind and asked for a cigarette. The suspect then demanded money and when the victim refused to hand over any cash, the suspect took out a knife and slashed him across the right forearm, police said.

“The victim sustained a large laceration and was transported to Virginia Hospital Center,” said police. “The suspect is described as a black male, approximately 5’7” tall and 180 lbs. He was wearing a black t-shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers at the time of the incident.”

The suspect is wanted by police on expected charges of malicious wounding and attempted robbery.

Window Cleaner Wanted for Jewelry, Medication Thefts

By Ethan Rothstein

Justin HonakerA window cleaner is wanted by Arlington County Police for allegedly cleaning out jewelry and medications from some of the homes he worked on.

Justin Honaker, 33, of Falls Church, is suspected in a string of residential larcenies in Arlington and Fairfax counties, police said this afternoon.

“Employed by a window cleaning crew, Honaker stole jewelry and prescription drugs from numerous residences in Arlington and Fairfax counties during work hours,” according to a police press release. He’s wanted on grand larceny charges.

Honaker is described as a 5’10” white male, weighing approximately 185 pounds. Police say Honaker might have targeted additional houses, and are asking anyone else who might have been burglarized to come forward.

“If anyone has information on the whereabouts of this individual, please contact Detective Patricia Pena of the Arlington County Police Department’s Burglary/Larceny Unit at 703.228.4183 or at [email protected],” the press release said. “To report information anonymously, contact the Arlington County Crime Solvers at 866.411.TIPS (8477).”

Big Teen Drinking Party Busted in Lyon Park

By ARLnow.com

Police car (file photo)Police broke up a big teen drinking party in Lyon Park over the weekend.

Officers responded to a home on the 3100 block of 1st Street N. just before midnight on Friday, after police received a noise complaint, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. They found numerous teens, as young as 16 but mostly 18 and 19, drinking beer and liquor.

“Officers responded to the location for a large party and discovered 28 under-aged individuals drinking alcohol,” Sternbeck said.

In all, police issued 28 citations to party-goers. Three teens were released without charge. Several people tried to flee, Sternbeck said, but none threw beer bottles at the officers, as allegedly happened during a teen drinking bust in the Williamsburg neighborhood in April.

No one required medical treatment for intoxication, said Sternbeck. Police investigating the party found an adult “in the upstairs portion of the residence.” It’s unclear if the adult knew about the under-age drinking that was allegedly taking place.

Crime in Arlington Declines in 2012

By ARLnow.com

Police car lightsCrime was down and arrests were up in Arlington in 2012, according to a report from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

The report, released earlier this month, showed that reported offenses dropped 2 percent from 4,169 in 2011 to 4,084 in 2012. At the same time, the Arlington County Police Department reported 931 arrests in 2012, compared to 875 arrests in 2011.

(The report focuses on the following types of crimes: homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle thefts.)

Arlington crime stats in 2012Despite the good news, three types of crime were up significantly in Arlington in 2012. There were five homicides in 2012, compared to zero in 2011. There were 31 reported rapes in 2012, compared to 23 in 2011 — a 35 percent increase. Burglaries were also up 14 percent.

Total calls for service to Arlington’s 911 call center were also down, from 115,982 in 2011 to 80,872 in 2012. With 358 sworn police officers — unchanged since 2011 — Arlington had fewer officers per call compared to Alexandria, the City of Fairfax and the District of Columbia, but more officers than Fairfax County, Loudoun County and the City of Falls Church.

One ongoing area of concern for Arlington police, and police departments across the region, was cell phone thefts.

“Theft of cellular devices, particularly cell phones, has become a cross-jurisdictional concern and is a widespread problem throughout the United States,” the Council of Governments said in the report. “In late 2012, the FCC teamed up with law enforcement to combat theft and cross-border trafficking of mobile electronic devices. Mobile service providers initiated an international stolen device database that will use shared information to identify and deactivate a stolen device after it has been reported stolen to the police… Further mitigation strategies are planned for 2013 at the national level.”

Road Closures for Crystal City Twilighter 5K

By ARLnow.com

Start of 2011 Crystal City Twilighter 5K (courtesy Crystal City BID)The Crystal City Twilighter 5K race will result in a number of road closures Saturday night.

The race is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, and is billed as “the area’s favorite summer twilight race.” The race registration fee includes a free beverage at a post-race party for those 21 and over.

Today, the Arlington County Police announced the following road closures, to go into effect Saturday evening.

The following lane closures will be in effect between 6:30 p.m. and 11:15 p.m.:

  • Northbound lanes of Crystal Drive between 23rd Street and 20th Street.
  • Southbound lanes of Crystal Drive between 23rd Street and 20th Street.
  • A single southbound access lane from 20th Street to the parking garage entrance at 2100 Crystal Drive will be provided.
  • A single southbound exit lane will be provided at the 2200 Crystal Drive exit with access to 23rd Street.

Note, there will be parking and limited access restrictions in the horseshoe driveway at 2121 Crystal Drive starting at noon.

The following lane closures will be in effect between 8:00 p.m. and 9:45 p.m.:

  • All lanes of Crystal Drive between Route 1 and 23rd Street.
  • Northbound lanes of Crystal Drive between 20th Street and 15th Street.
  • One southbound lane of Crystal Drive between 20th Street and 15th Street. Western-most southbound lane between 15th and 20th Streets to remain open to provide parking garage access.
  • Northbound lanes of Potomac Avenue between Crystal Drive and the Potomac Yard movie theater.
  • One southbound lane of Potomac Avenue between 33rd Street and the Potomac Yard movie theater. Western-most southbound lane to remain open to provide parking garage access and circulation.
  • 33rd Street between Potomac Avenue and Crystal Drive.

The following lane closures will be in effect between 8:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.:

  • Horseshoe driveway at 2345 Crystal Drive – access to the horseshoe driveway at 2345 Crystal Drive will be accessible until approximately 8:30 p.m. and is scheduled to reopen by 9:00 p.m. at the latest.

Numerous parking garages will also be impacted by the closures.

Photo courtesy Crystal City BID, an ARLnow.com advertiser

Crime Report: Man Flees After Grabbing Woman’s Buttocks

By Katie Pyzyk

Police are looking for a man accused of reaching up the skirt and grabbing the buttocks of a woman walking on S. Hayes Street in the Aurora Highlands neighborhood, near Crystal City, on Monday evening.

From this week’s Arlington County crime report:

SEXUAL BATTERY, 07/22/13, 2000 block of S. Hayes Street. At 6:25 pm on July 22, a female victim was walking on the sidewalk when a suspect approached her from behind and reached up her skirt, grabbing her buttocks. The suspect fled the scene on foot. He is described as a white Hispanic male in his 20’s, approximately 5’8″ tall and 170 lbs. He was wearing a red bandana, baby blue shirt and khaki shorts at the time of the incident.

Police say a bystander witnessed the incident and attempted to chase the suspect for several blocks, but the suspect got away. The witness stayed at the scene to speak with police. Neither the witness nor the victim sustained any physical injuries.

The rest of the crime report, after the jump.

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Student Leaders Attend Conference to Help Curb Teen Booze Use

By ARLnow.com

Selection of beer and wine (file photo)This article was written by Audrey Batcheller

Alcohol use among Arlington teens is down, and a recent trip for a group of high school students was organized to help continue that trend.

Data from the Arlington Partnership for Children, Youth, and Families shows that the percentage of Arlington high school students that reported recently drinking alcohol decreased by eight percent from 2004 to 2010. In an effort to keep that number declining, Arlington’s READY Coalition sponsored a trip for Arlington students and their School Resource Officers — Arlington County police officers assigned to schools — to attend the 29th Annual Youth Alcohol & Drug Abuse Prevention Project (YADAPP) conference last week.

Ten students were selected by their SRO, and two additional students were chosen by the READY Coalition, which paid the registration fee to send the group to Longwood University, in Farmville, Va., for the week.

“Each high school resource officer picked the people they thought would be good leaders in trying to get their peers to get on board with an anti-drinking and anti-drug club and to help spread the message,” said Corporal Jim Tuomey, who accompanied the students to the conference.

APS students have attended this conference before, but last week was their first appearance in over ten years.

“We decided to take a group of teens to the conference for the purpose of trying to find better ways to outreach to the high school community,” said Phillip Leverett, the Youth Outreach Coordinator for the READY Coalition.

The 2013 results of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey are still pending, but the 2011 YRBS shows that two thirds of Arlington teens do not consume alcohol on any given weekend, a surprising number considering that a decade ago teen drinking appeared to be on the rise.

Hundreds of students attend the YADAPP conference — which is presented by the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control — every year to listen to speakers and participate in workshops. Students work in teams of four and create a Strategies To Act Now (STAN) prevention plan specific to their community that they will implement upon their arrival home.

Kateri Gajadhar, a student at the conference and chair of the Teen Network Board’s Drug and Alcohol Committee, is laying the ground work for an “Above the Influence” club at Washington-Lee.

“It helped me see ideas that have worked and things that didn’t work,” said Gajadhar about YADAPP. “It was good to interact with people who are doing the same things in different places to see what we can do here to effectively expand to older age groups.”

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DJ Accused of Sex Assault in Clarendon

By ARLnow.com

Joseph Rivera (photo via Farifax County Police)A former Alexandria resident and DJ is accused of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman in Clarendon and videotaping the encounter.

Joseph Rivera, 34, has been charged with aggravated sexual battery in connection with the incident, which police say took place between 2:00 and 2:33 a.m. on December 26, 2010. According to police, Rivera sexually assaulted an unconscious 26-year-old woman in a vehicle in a parking lot somewhere in Clarendon.

The victim came forward after seeing news reports about Rivera, who last week was charged with numerous sex offenses by Fairfax County Police. Those charges include rape, aggravated sexual battery, animate object sexual penetration and two counts of unlawful filming; police say Rivera sexually assaulted several unconscious women and made videos of some of the assaults.

Rivera, formerly of 724 Four Mile Road in the Arlandria section of Alexandria near the Arlington border, was arrested in Las Vegas and is awaiting extradition.

The Arlington victim saw Rivera’s mug shot on the news and contacted police, Arlington Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck said. Detectives showed her one of the videos he made to establish positive identification.

“The victim saw the news coverage and called police,” he said. “She was able to identify herself in one of the videos the suspect had taken.”

Rivera worked as a DJ at several D.C. area bars under the name Joey Flash. According to the Washington Post, one of the bars he worked at was A-Town Bar and Grill, in the Ballston area.

The bar was operated under a different name in 2010 and Sternbeck was unable to say whether Rivera had been working as a DJ the night of the alleged Dec. 26, 2010 incident.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Rosslyn Metro station (Flickr pool photo by Wolfkann)

Man Accused of Attempted Rape in Office — An Arlington man is accused of trying to rape a woman in an office near Columbia Pike. Police say Michael McKeever, 31, entered an office on the 900 block of S. Monroe Street on Friday morning and tried to rape a female employee. The woman fought McKeever off, police say, and he was later arrested at his home. [Arlington County]

Sinkhole at Arlington National Cemetery — Crews are working to fix a 5 or 6 foot deep sinkhole on the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. The sinkhole formed on a road in the cemetery due to a collapsed culvert, officials said. [Washington Post]

Record Adoptions for Lost Dog & Cat Rescue — A total of 323 dogs and cats were adopted out by Lost Dog & Cat Rescue in June, a record for the Arlington-based rescue organization. [Sun Gazette]

Flickr pool photo by Wolfkann

Driver Apprehended After Hit and Run Near DMV

By ARLnow.com
1/5

A suspect is in custody after a hit-and-run accident near the Department of Motor Vehicles office on S. Four Mile Run Drive.

A witness told ARLnow.com that the driver of a Nissan was trying to turn into the DMV parking lot from the westbound lanes of Four Mile Run Drive when the car was struck by a truck heading eastbound.

The driver of one of the vehicles fled the scene on foot after the accident, according to Arlington Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. The other driver was injured and transported to the hospital.

A police K-9 officer was brought in to track the fleeing driver. The dog picked up the scent and led officers to nearby Wakefield High School. The suspect was located and arrested behind the school, Sternbeck said.

Sternbeck was unable to confirm which vehicle belongs to the fleeing driver, who’s expected to be charged with hit and run.

Photos courtesy Brian Kee

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