(Updated at 3:15 p.m.) An Arlington man was arrested in Cherrydale yesterday for an alleged credit card theft.
The suspect, 58-year-old Ibrahim Abdullah, was arrested by Fairfax County police at a house on the 1700 block of N. Quebec Street. The arrest happened around 1:40 p.m. on Thursday and prompted some curious neighbors to question why police from another jurisdiction were carrying out an arrest an Arlington home.
According to Fairfax County Police spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell, Abdullah is accused of swiping a credit card from a victim’s purse or wallet. The alleged theft happened at a Panera Bread restaurant in the Tysons Corner area on Monday, May 27.
Police say Abdullah then used the credit card to make purchases at several Tysons Corner stores. He has been charged with credit card theft and credit card fraud, Caldwell said.
A man has been arrested and charged in connection with the March 19 smash and grab robbery at Pentagon City mall.
As seen in the above surveillance video released by the Arlington County Police Department, four suspects entered the Torneau store and broke the jewelry case with Rolex watches. The FBI has since taken over the case, and said the suspects got away with 22 watches worth more than $500,000 before fleeing to a getaway car with a fifth suspect.
Last week, Walter A. Douglas was arrested in connection with the robbery, claiming he “did knowingly and unlawfully, conspire, confederate, and agree to delay and affect commerce and the movement of articles and commodities in such commerce, by robbery.” According to the FBI affidavit, Douglas has a history of robbery, grand theft and grand larceny in the D.C. metro area. The document connects him to seven other high profile robberies in the region between December 3, 2012, and April 30, 2013, for which he has also been charged.
The affidavit states that an informant contacted the ACPD on April 10 and claimed Douglas was responsible for the Pentagon City robbery, and possibly for others. The informant reported hearing Douglas speaking with another man, the recently arrested Floyd Davis, about high end watches and rings.
Davis was reportedly arrested early last month, but the list of alleged crimes in his affidavit did not directly name the Pentagon City incident. Davis was, however, mentioned in the Douglas affidavit for having been in the immediate area and in contact with Douglas around the time of the Torneau robbery.
Evidence against the men includes cell phone records showing Douglas and Davis in frequent contact with each other on or around the days of the robberies. Cell phone records also place one or both men near the locations of several of the robberies at the times they occurred.
Additionally, the FBI matched cars spotted at a couple of the robberies with those Douglas apparently rented around the time of each incident. Records show he rented a grey Dodge Charger — like the one investigators saw in the Pentagon City surveillance video — four days before the robbery. The vehicle was returned the day of the robbery.
An FBI spokesperson would not comment on the possibility of other arrests in the case because the investigation is still active.
A man wielding two knives was arrested on Thursday for allegedly threatening to hurt a coworker in Shirlington.
The suspect then took off, according to this week’s Arlington County crime report:
ATTEMPTED MALICIOUS WOUNDING, 05/30/13, 2900 block of S. Quincy Street. At 8:36 pm on May 30, a subject threatened to harm a coworker with two knives. The subject fled the scene on foot and taken into custody outside his residence. Tevin Brown Phillips, 21, of Arlington, VA, was arrested and charged with attempted malicious wounding. He was held on a secured bond.
The rest of the crime report, after the jump. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. (more…)
(Updated at 7:55 p.m.) John Malvar, an 18-year-old Arlington high school student, died after a skateboarding accident in Arlington Heights this afternoon.
The accident happened on the 300 block of S. Highland Street around 12:30 p.m. According to police, Malvar was skateboarding down the street while hanging on to the side of a pickup truck, driven by a 17-year-old male student at an unknown rate of speed.
Malvar somehow lost his balance and fell to the ground, hitting his head. He was not wearing a helmet. The fall caused “significant head trauma” and left a large pool of blood on the ground.
The teen was in cardiac arrest when paramedics arrived on scene, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. Medics performed CPR, Malvar regained a pulse, and he was rushed to George Washington University in critical condition, Sternbeck said. He was later pronounced dead.
Charges — reckless driving, most likely — are pending against the 17-year-old driver, according to Sternbeck. Malvar and the driver attend both Washington-Lee High School and the Arlington Career Center, according to Arlington Public Schools spokesman Frank Bellavia.
Malvar attended his senior prom last week, posting photos of himself and his date on Instagram (right). Washington-Lee High School’s graduation is set for June 20.
The 300 block of S. Highland Street was closed for several hours while crime scene investigators took photos and measurements of the accident scene. Detectives also interviewed witnesses and canvassed the street to see if any video surveillance systems might have recorded the moments prior to the accident.
Via Twitter, Washington-Lee Principal Gregg Robertson called Malvar “an awesome kid” who was proud of his perfect attendance this year. Robertson sent the following email to parents late this afternoon.
Dear Washington-Lee Community,
Regrettably, I must inform you that the injured student I mentioned in my earlier email has died. This is a difficult time for the Washington-Lee staff, students, and parents. The student involved was an incredible young man who contributed positively in many ways to our school and lives. The upcoming days will be difficult ones as we will be missing him and providing support to our Washington-Lee family. Please let us know of any students who may need individualized support. We have counselors available this evening until 6:00 pm and in the days to come. As I mentioned earlier, our thoughts remain with the families involved.
A woman was stabbed three times in the neck during a “brazen” broad-daylight attack on the Four Mile Run trail on Saturday.
The attack happened around 11:00 a.m. According to new details released by police, a woman was walking down the trail in the area of Glencarlyn Park when a man approached her from behind. He motioned for the woman to get off the trail and walk into the woods, police said, but she refused and screamed for help.
The man then used a knife to stab the victim three times in the neck, said Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. Other trail users heard the woman’s screams but the man fled the scene on foot before help arrived.
The woman suffered non-life threatening injuries. She remained alert and was able to talk to officers before being transported to the trauma center at Inova Fairfax Hospital, Sternbeck said.
“The suspect is described as a white Hispanic male in his 20’s, approximately 4’8” tall and 130 lbs,” according to the police report. “He was wearing a yellow Polo shirt and dark pants.”
Police plan to talk to the victim today in an effort to get a fuller description of the suspect, possibly for the creation of a composite sketch. Sternbeck said the incident “was a very brazen attack on a Saturday morning,” and a reminder that trail users should always remain alert.
“First and foremost, be aware of your surroundings,” he said. “If you are going to go on the trail, invite a friend to go with you. It’s very rare that we see an attack on the trail where the victim is with a companion or a group. The majority of times they’re attacking a woman who’s alone.”
Earlier this year the Arlington County Police Department produced a video that details a number of safety tips for users of local trails.
A 38-year-old Penrose resident has been arrested and accused of raping a girl in Pennsylvania.
Roger Valdez, of the 800 block of S. Adams Street, was arrested by Arlington police on Thursday, according to PennLive.com. Police in Palmyra, Pa. say Valdez took a 12-year-old girl he met on the internet from her home there to a motel and had sex with her multiple times. Palmyra is a town of about 7,000 people between Harrisburg and Lebanon, Pa.
Valdez has been charged with “three counts of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with a minor, aggravated indecent assault of a child under the age of 13, indecent assault of a child under the age of 13 and corruption of minors,” according to TV station WHTM.
Valdez will be extradited from Arlington to Pennsylvania.
Police are investigating a hit-and-run involving a minivan that crashed into the front of the Popeyes at 5007 Columbia Pike this afternoon.
The incident happened around lunchtime at the Columbia Pike Plaza strip mall. After running into the front of the restaurant, the van backed into an SUV and then sped away, according to police and witnesses.
The collision caused minor damage to the Popeyes, including scrape marks on a brick column and a broken front window pane. The restaurant was briefly evacuated, according to scanner traffic, but then reopened and continued to serve lunch patrons. Nobody was hurt.
The SUV driver told ARLnow.com that the van backed into his vehicle as he was trying to leave the parking lot. The collision dented the front of the SUV but did not cause any injuries or significant damage. The SUV driver said the striking vehicle was a gray minivan, and the driver — who he caught a glimpse of as the van fled the scene — was a Hispanic male. He said it was his first crash in his 46 years of driving.
“I just hope they catch the bastard,” he said as he surveyed the damage to the SUV. “They better find him before I do.”
As of 1:00 p.m. police were still looking for the van and its driver. This was at least the third time a vehicle has crashed into the front of a business at the Columbia Pike Plaza shopping center since May 2011.
Woman Attacked on Four Mile Run Trail — A man with a knife attacked a woman who was walking alone on the Four Mile Run Trail on Saturday morning. The woman suffered “minor, non-life threatening” injures. The suspect is still at large. [WJLA, NBC Washington]
Yorktown Falls in Soccer Championship — The Yorktown High School girls’ soccer team lost 2-1 to Chantilly in the Northern Region championship game on Friday. The team, which finished regional play with a 20-2 record, will still continue to the state tournament. The first round game will take place on Tuesday at Battlefield High School. [Sun Gazette]
ACPD Officers Honored for Fighting Car Theft — Three Arlington County Police officers have received state Law Enforcement Officer Awards for their work in helping to fight car theft. “LEO Award winners are selected by judges from the insurance industry, partnering law enforcement agencies and the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles for their exemplary actions related to Intelligence, Prevention, Enforcement and Recoveries in fighting the crime of vehicle theft,” police said in a press release. [Arlington County]
Examiner Skewers Board for Signature Bailout — The Arlington County Board “blindsided” taxpayers by approving a $250,000 bailout for Signature Theatre during a closed session, according to a Washington Examiner editorial. “Other financially struggling artistic venues have to scale back productions, sublease space or launch pledge drives when money gets tight,” the Examiner editorial board wrote. “But Signature Theatre has friends in high places who apparently believe it’s too fabulous to fail, county taxpayers be damned.” [Washington Examiner]
A 16-year-old girl told police that she saw a man masturbating behind a window at an Arlington country club last week.
The alleged incident happened around 5:30 p.m. last Tuesday at the tennis courts of the Washington Golf and Country Club (3017 N. Glebe Road). According to a police spokesman, the man was spotted in an area of the club that was under construction.
From this week’s Arlington County crime report.
INDECENT EXPOSURE, 05/23/13, 3000 block of N. Glebe Road. At 5:30 pm on May 21, a 16 year-old female victim witnessed a subject masturbating behind a glass window overlooking a tennis court. The suspect is described as a white male with scraggly hair and was wearing a white hat.
(Updated at 8:30 p.m.) An accidental shooting at Arlington National Cemetery sent one person to the hospital on Memorial Day (Monday).
The incident happened at the cemetery’s parking lot around 9:30 a.m., an hour and a half before President Obama was scheduled to lay a wreath at the cemetery.
According to a spokeswoman for Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall (JBMHH), which has jurisdiction over the incident, a cemetery visitor returned to his car in the parking garage after visiting the gravesite of a friend. The man reportedly opened the door to his vehicle and tried moving a handgun from under the seat.
The privately-owned gun fell out of its holster and underneath the vehicle, however, and fired once as the man attempted to retrieve it. The discharged bullet hit the leg of a vehicle passenger — the man’s mother — who then had to be transported to George Washington University Hospital with a non-life threatening injury. Nobody else was injured.
Visitors are prohibited from bringing a gun to the cemetery, according to JBMHH spokeswoman Sharon Walker.
“Weapons of any type are not authorized on military installations or reservations such as [Arlington National Cemetery],” said Walker. “Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall Police and Arlington National Cemetery security personnel responded to the call.”
The Ft. Myer Fire Department and the Arlington County Fire Department also responded to the incident.
The owner of the gun was an active duty military service member, according to JBMHH spokeswoman Leah Rubalcaba, and the charges are pending under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to Walker.
The motorcycle cops who escort motorcades, meter maids, crossing guards and the SWAT team — all of these all under the auspices of the Arlington County Police Department’s Special Operations Section.
The county’s Arlington TV channel recently took a look at ACPD’s special ops section and the various roles it plays in the community. (Video, above.)
(Updated at 3:15 p.m.) An Arlington man was arrested in Cherrydale yesterday for an alleged credit card theft.
