(Updated at 11:20 a.m.) A parking attendant was found dead in Rosslyn this morning.
A security guard found the man without a pulse and not breathing at the entrance to a garage at the Waterview Building (1919 N. Lynn Street). Police were called around 5:45 a.m.
The death appears to be medical-related, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck.
The Arlington County Police Department’s Special Victims Unit asks for the public’s help in solving a crime. The department is trying to catch a sex offender and would like victims or witnesses to come forward.
The suspect has been known to find his victims through contact on internet sites and online advertisements. He is described as a black male, 35-45 years old, 5’7″-5’9″ and 160-180 pounds.
An incident two weeks ago is the latest in what may be a string of crimes by the same suspect. The victim told police she had been hired by the suspect from an online advertisement to perform sexual acts in a Crystal City hotel room. When the suspect arrived at the room, the victim asked him to leave. The victim was forced to stay in the room against her will and perform unwanted sexual acts. She was able to escape and immediately went to the police.
Anyone who believes they have been a sexual assault victim or witness to a crime by this suspect is asked to contact the Arlington County Police Department at 703-558-2222, or directly contact Detective Sandra Lafley at 703-228-4052. Detective Lafley can be emailed at [email protected].
A woman who was arrested for disrupting a children’s dance performance last spring is making accusations of racism and mistreatment against the dance company and one of its most prominent supporters.
Jackie Carter was charged with disorderly conduct following an incident on April 30, 2011, in which she booed a Bowen McCauley Dance Company performance at Kenmore Middle School. The incident was detailed by the Afro newspaper last week, and then picked up by the Washington City Paper on Friday.
The performance, which featured live music by a Kenmore Middle School band, included a dance number that Carter said she found to be “racist and offensive to African-Americans and African American women especially.”
“The skit involved a white child and her black mamee singing and dancing together to the song ‘Lil Rabbit where’s Ya Mamee,'” Carter wrote in a lengthy blog post. “The Mamee scene was a celebration of the many black women, enslaved and used as wet-nurses and the many other unspeakable crimes committed against their enslaved minds, souls and bodies.”
Carter says she booed a performance of the scene on April 29, 2011, but left peacefully after police showed up. Carter, whose daughter was attending Kenmore, then expressed her disapproval to numerous Arlington Public School officials, who listened but apparently declined to take any definitive action.
As Afro reported, Kenmore’s principal later defended the performance, writing a note to parents explaining: “The word ‘mammy’ used in the song is a colloquial affectionate term for mother or grandmother and was used historically and still today in some areas by both African and White Americans, especially in the south.”
On April 30, Carter again showed up to Kenmore to protest the performance. Carter says she handed out letters of protest to members of the audience before the show. During the scene, she started booing. That’s when she says she was assaulted by several people associated with the dance company, including current Arlington County Board Chair Mary Hynes, who’s also an honorary Bowen McCauley board member.
“Mary Hynes and 4 additional Bowen-McCauley staff members began hitting me and pulling my arms in many different directions,” Carter alleged. “I yelled out ‘get off of me’ … a man, representing Bowen McCauley put me in a head lock and squeezed my neck.”
“I attempted to return to my seat when another man also Bowen-McCauley staff member began pushing me in my chest and blocking my forward movements,” she continued. “I was able to get around him, I return to my set and continued booing the ‘Mamee’ scene.”
Carter says she left the theater after the scene, but was then confronted by police. She was ultimately detained and charged with disorderly conduct, a Class 1 misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine.
“We had to arrest Ms. Carter at the school on 4/30/11 because she caused quite a disturbance,” Arlington County Police spokeswoman Det. Crystal Nosal told ARLnow.com in May 2011. The incident did not make the department’s weekly crime report at the time.
“It didn’t make the Crime Report because it was just a disorderly conduct charge released on summons,” Nosal explained.
According to court records, the next hearing in Carter’s case is scheduled to be held in Arlington County General District Court on April 23.
Update at 5:45 p.m. — Hynes declined to comment, citing the pending criminal charge against Carter.
The man accused of firing bullets at the Pentagon and other military installations in Northern Virginia pleaded guilty in federal court today.
Yonathan Melaku, 23, of Alexandria, pleaded guilty to three counts of: damaging government property, using a firearm during a crime, and attempted injury to veterans’ memorials. Prosecutors and defense attorneys have jointly asked for a 25-year sentence.
As part of the plea, Melaku admitted that on or around the early morning of Oct. 19, 2010 he fired multiple 9mm rounds at the Pentagon building. He also admitted to firing bullets at the National Museum of the Marine Corps (twice), a Marine Corps recruiting sub-station in Chantilly, and a U.S. Coast Guard recruiting office in Woodbridge. The shootings took place between Oct. 17, 2010 and Nov. 2, 2010.
Prosecutors say terrorism was the motive of the shootings. In a video, investigators say Melaku can be seen firing a handgun out of the passenger-side window of his car, then repeatedly shouting “Allahu Akbar.”
“Yonathan Melaku pled guilty to carrying out a calculated, destructive campaign to instill terror throughout our community,” U.S. Attorney MacBride said in a statement. “The video he filmed during one drive-by shooting is a chilling portrayal of his intent and the escalating danger he posed. Thanks to the FBI and their law enforcement partners, we were able to apprehend Mr. Melaku, develop the evidence that linked him to the shootings, and secure this conviction today.”
Melaku was arrested on June 17, 2011 after what’s being described as an unsuccessful attempt to vandalize the graves of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans at Arlington National Cemetery. At about 1:30 a.m., police spotted Melaku on the property of Ft. Myer. He attempted to flee, and dropped a backpack in the process.
Prosecutors say the backpack contained “numerous spent 9mm shell casings; four bags containing ammonium nitrate, and a spiral notebook with numerous Arabic statements referencing the Taliban, al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, ‘The Path to Jihad,’ as well as a list of several other individuals associated with foreign terrorist organizations.”
After he was taken into custody, Melaku admitted that he was trying to sneak into Arlington National Cemetery “to desecrate and injure the grave markers by spray-painting the markers with Arabic statements and by leaving the ammonium nitrate he was carrying at the sites of the grave markers.”
Later, prosecutors say, a list of parts for a bomb detonator was discovered in Melaku’s Alexandria home.
The FBI-led investigation received assistance from Arlington County Police, Virginia State Police, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, U.S. Park Police and other federal and local law enforcement agencies.
Artisphere Gets Exclusive Photo Exhibit — Artisphere has scored a bit of a coup by becoming the first and only venue in the United States to host an exhibit of the personal photos of famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. “These images reveal a little-known side of the artist and lifelong resident of Mexico City suburb and Arlington, Va. sister city, Coyoacán,” Artisphere said in a press release. “The collection of photographs in this exhibition reflect Kahlo’s tastes and interests, the experiences she shared with those close to her, and her complicated, but also thrilling, personal life.” [Artisphere]
General Assembly May Ban Motorcycle Checkpoints — State legislators are considering a bill that would ban police from setting up motorcycle-only safety checkpoints. Arlington is one of the jurisdictions cited as having conducted such a “discriminatory” checkpoint — during last year’s Rolling Thunder ride to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. [Virginian-Pilot]
Company: Moving Out of Arlington Was a Mistake — The non-profit research firm that’s planning to move in to this soon-to-be-built office development in Clarendon says they’re happy to be moving back to Arlington. “We had a brief moment of insanity and we moved to Alexandria,” a company executive is quoted as saying. “Now we just want to move home.” [Arlington Mercury]
A female escort was held against her will and sexually assaulted in a Crystal City hotel room last week, according to the latest Arlington County crime report.
ABDUCTION WITH INTENT TO DEFILE / SEXUAL ASSAULT, 01/19/12, 2000 block of S. Jefferson Davis Highway. On January 19, around 8 pm, a female escort was held against her will in a hotel room while an unknown male sexually assaulted her. The suspect is a black male, 30-39, 170 lbs.
This is the third time in recent memory that a crime against an escort has been reported in Crystal City. A local man was arrested on Nov. 4, 2010, after allegedly forcing two prostitutes to perform sex acts at gunpoint. Then on Dec. 15, 2011, a female escort was robbed of cash at gunpoint on the 2000 block of Jefferson Davis Highway.
Also in Crystal City last week, several men are accused of going to a 23rd Street nail salon, then skipping out on the bill. One suspect even allegedly took $1,500 from an employee’s purse.
GRAND LARCENY, 01/18/12, 500 block of S. 23rd Street. On January 17 at 4 pm, five suspects entered a nail salon, received service and left without paying. While distracting salon staff, one of the subjects stole $1,500 cash from an employee’s purse. All suspects were black males, 25-30 years of age; however three were dressed in female clothes and wore wigs.
Finally, a young woman is accused of robbing a juvenile at gunpoint during a pot deal in the East Falls Church area.
ARMED ROBBERY, 01/24/12, 2600 block of N. Winchester Street. Shortly after 6 pm on January 24, an unknown female suspect brandished a handgun and robbed a juvenile for $100 cash during a marijuana deal. Immediately after, the female fled the scene in a green SUV driven by another party. The suspect is described as an Asian female, approximately 18 years old, 5’5″, 120lbs, with a dark mole under her left eye.
The rest of this week’s crime report, after the jump.
On Monday, two armed men robbed a jewelry store on Lee Highway, holding employees at gunpoint while snatching the store’s merchandise. One of the suspects was wearing a “one-piece burka with a hood,” according to this week’s Arlington County crime report.
ARMED ROBBERY, 01/16/12, 5100 block of N Lee Highway. On January 16 at 7:42 pm, two unknown suspects entered a jewelry store, brandished a firearm and while one suspect held the employees at gunpoint, the other suspect took an unknown amount of jewelry. Suspect description is two black males; one age 35-45, 6′ 250 lbs wearing a black hoody and jeans and the other 5’8 155 lbs wearing a one-piece burka with a hood.
A somewhat similar armed robbery took place last week on Columbia Pike. Two armed men robbed a convenience store while holding a customer at gunpoint, according to police.
ARMED ROBBERY, 01/13/12, 5500 block of S Columbia Pike. On January 13 at 10:15 pm two unknown suspects entered a convenience store, brandished a firearm and while one suspect held a customer at gunpoint the other suspect had the cashier open the register taking approximately $300. Suspect description is two black males, both age 17-20, 6′, 150 lbs wearing ski masks and jeans.
Also last week, a man was arrested for malicious wounding for striking a victim with a “small wooden table.”
MALICIOUS WOUNDING, 01/15/12, 200 block of N Thomas Street. On January 15 at 1:27 am, victim was struck with a small wooden table. William Henry, 50, of Arlington was arrested for malicious wounding and held with no bond.
The rest of the crime report, after the jump.
A 70-year-old woman who went missing on Jan. 2 was found in Arlington Central Library last night, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Buckingham resident Julienne Erisnor, 70, was located just hours after Arlington County Police issued a press release asking for the public’s help in finding her. Quick-thinking library staffers spotted Erisnor in Arlington Central Library (1015 N. Quincy Street) and immediately called police, we’re told.
Police came to the library and Ms. Erisnor was reunited with her daughter.
The traffic light sat the busy Clarendon intersection of Washington Boulevard, 10th Street and Fillmore Street is expected to remain dark throughout the morning rush hour following a car accident Thursday night.
Around 7:15 last night a car hopped the curb and took out the traffic signal control box near the Virginia ABC store. One minor injury was reported.
Arlington County crews have been working throughout the night to replace the traffic signal hardware, but the lights are not expected to come back on until after the morning rush hour. Police have set up cones in the intersection in order to keep traffic flowing in an orderly manner.
Arlington County Police are asking for the public’s help in finding a missing adult. Investigators say 70-year-old Julienne Erisnor was last seen near her home on the 4400 block of N. Pershing Drive on Jan. 2.
Erisnor is described as a black female, approximately 5’2” tall and 150 lbs. She has black hair and occasionally wears a curly black wig. Police say Erisnor is required to take regular medication but does not have the medication with her.
“Anyone with any information about Ms. Erisnor’s whereabouts is asked to call the Arlington County Police Department at 703-558-2222 or Detective Alan Lowery at 703 228-4199,” police said.
Someone had the nerve to break into the Greenbrier Baptist Church and steal a laptop last week, according to the latest Arlington County crime report.
BURGLARY, 01/05/12, 5400 block of S. 7th Road. Between 7:30 pm on January 4, and 6:20 am on January 5, an unknown subject entered through a basement window of a local church. A laptop computer was stolen. There is no suspect description.
Also last week, someone was bold enough to break into at least five vehicles in the Pentagon City mall parking garage in the middle of the day.
LARCENY FROM AUTO (SERIES), 01/04/11, 800 block of Army Navy Drive. On January 4 between 9 am and 1:30 pm, an unknown subject broke into at least five vehicles in a mall parking garage. Various items were stolen. There is no suspect description.
The rest of this week’s shorter-than-usual crime report, after the jump.
