police

Crime Report: Cell Phone Snapper Arrested

By ARLnow.com

A man was arrested Monday afternoon after police say he took photos of a 13-year-old girl in a dressing room. According to police, the 34-year-old took the photos with a cell phone camera he stuck under the dressing room door.

UNLAWFUL FILMING-ARREST 02/21/11, Unit block S. Glebe Road. On February 21 at 3:30 pm, an adult male was found taking pictures of a 13-year-old girl in a dressing room. He was apprehended by police. Jose Cabrera Orozco, 34, of Arlington, was charged with Unlawful Filming of a Minor. He was held without bond.

Also in this week’s Arlington County crime report are items from the rash of car break-ins we told you about earlier this week.

The reports below — which represent thefts from at least 26 cars — only show incidents in which more than one vehicle was broken into in the same area. Individual break-ins are not noted in the report.

LARCENY FROM AUTO (SERIES) 02/17/11, 400 block of S. Edgewood Street. Between 9 pm on February 16, and 8:30 am on February 17, an unknown subject entered at least seven unlocked vehicles. Various items were stolen.

LARCENY FROM AUTO (SERIES) 02/17/11, 800 block of Army Navy Drive. On February 17 between 12:45 pm and 10 pm, a suspect broke into at least two vehicles in the same parking garage. Various items were stolen from each. There are no known suspects.

LARCENY FROM AUTO (SERIES) 02/19/11, 800 block of N. Randolph Street. Between noon on February 18, and 11 am on February 19, a suspect broke into at least eight vehicles in the same parking garage. Various items were stolen from each. There are no known suspects.

LARCENY FROM AUTO (SERIES) 02/19/11, 3200 block of Wilson Boulevard. On February 19 between 6 pm and 11:30 pm, a suspect broke into at least two vehicles in the same parking lot. Various items were stolen from each. There is no suspect description.

LARCENY FROM AUTO (SERIES) 02/21/11, 4000 block of N. 20th Street. On February 20 between 9 am and 2:30 pm, a suspect entered at least two unlocked vehicles and stole items from each. There are no known suspects.

LARCENY FROM AUTO (SERIES) 02/21/11, 2300 block of S. 9th Street. Between 4 pm on February 20, and 10 am on February 21, a suspect entered at least two unlocked vehicles in the same neighborhood. Various items were stolen from each. There is no suspect description.

LARCENY FROM AUTO (SERIES) 02/22/11, 1000 block of N. Quincy Street. Between 8 pm on February 21, and 7 am on February 22, a suspect broke into at least three vehicles in the same address. Various items were stolen. There are no known suspects.

The rest of the crime report, after the jump.

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Cops Nab Cross-Dressing Shoplifting Suspect

By ARLnow.com

Arlington police arrested a shoplifting suspect in Pentagon City last night after two store employees gave chase.

Just after 5:30 p.m., a call came in for two men chasing a woman down South Hayes Street. Later, the person being chased was described in police dispatches as a six-foot tall man dressed as a woman.

The man had allegedly stolen an item from a store in the Pentagon City mall, and the two men were identified as store employees.

The men chased the suspect into a condo complex on 15th Street, across from Costco. Police arrived and apprehended the suspect, who was handcuffed and later placed in the back of a squad car.

The store employees declined to reveal their employer but confirmed that they chased the suspect after a theft.

ARLnow.com was in Pentagon City on another story and was able to arrive at the scene shortly after the incident.

Authorities Warn of Car Break-Ins

By ARLnow.com

Officials are warning residents about a rash of car break-ins in Arlington.

Last week, according to the Ode Street Tribune, police told members of the Radnor/Ft. Myer Heights Civic Association that thieves have been smashing car windows in the Rosslyn area to steal GPS devices.

Yesterday, management of the Archstone Ballston Square apartments sent the following email to residents, suggesting that the number of break-ins is on the rise.

Dear Residents,

Within the past week, there has been an increase in reported thefts from cars garaged in the Ballston/Arlington area.  Recently, we have experienced several incidents where items have been reported taken from automobiles garaged at our community.  While we do not wish to alarm you, we did want to make you aware of the situation.  We share your concern regarding these incidents and are fully cooperating with local authorities.

We take great pride in providing you with a great living environment. To that end, it is important that we all understand that the protection of person and property is the sole responsibility of each resident.  As a reminder, and as specified in your Lease Agreement we encourage you to report any illegal or suspicious behavior. Please take a second look if something or someone appears out of place, or seems odd or curious. If you suspect troubling activity or suspicious individuals, call the concierge desk immediately or the Arlington County Police nonemergency number at 703.598.2222 703.558.2222. If there is clear and present danger, call 911. In addition, we ask you to be mindful of the following:

Please use safety measures when parking your car – lock all car doors and activate your car alarm if you have one

Do not allow unknown individuals to follow you into the community

Do not leave valuables such as laptops, GPS systems, cell phones, iPods, tools, etc in plain sight in your car

Report any suspicious or criminal activity immediately to the Arlington County Police Department (call 911)

Again, we certainly do not want to alarm you, but felt it was important to let you know of this activity.

There were 11 break-ins listed in the latest Arlington County crime report. The crime report typically only lists incidents in which more than one car was broken into.

DEVELOPING — Arlington County Experiencing 911 Problems

By ARLnow.com

Arlington County issued the following alert this morning:

Arlington County is currently experiencing intermittent problems with the 9-1-1 system. If you call 9-1-1 and can’t get through, immediately call 703-741-3035.

A supervisor at the county’s Emergency Communications Center said she was not sure when 911 service would be back to normal.

Update at 12:25 p.m. — “This is a Verizon issue,” said Debbie Powers, Deputy Coordinator for the Arlington’s Office of Emergency Management. “It’s a regional issue and it’s intermittent.”

Update at 1:35 p.m. — Verizon tells Arlington’s Office of Emergency Management that the 911 system is now functioning normally, according to OEM’s Brian Geraci.

Update at 3:10 p.m. — Verizon spokesman Harry J. Mitchell says that the outage, which affected cell phone calls to 911, was due to a faulty piece of equipment at the company’s Fairfax switching center.

At this point it appears that a Verizon service issue starting around 9:10 a.m. affected customers primarily in Arlington and Fairfax counties. It appears that a faulty piece of equipment in Verizon’s Fairfax switching center caused the service issue.

Calls to 911 from Internet-based phones and landline phones served by the Arlington and Fairfax 911 centers were automatically redirected to these 911 centers via an alternate path in the Verizon network. The equipment failure, however, may have intermittently affected wireless calls to 911 in Arlington and Fairfax counties. This is still under investigation.

The faulty equipment was restored to normal operation around 11:30 a.m., and we continue to monitor the situation closely to ensure the issue is completely resolved.

This issue is unrelated to the 911 issues triggered by storm-related mass call events earlier this year.

Arlington to Falls Church: $2.2 Million Bill Was a Mistake

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 2:15 p.m.) Arlington will be missing out on an expected revenue windfall due to a software error.

Last month Arlington sent Falls Church a notice that it could owe an additional $2.2 million for use of the Arlington County Detention Facility. At the time, the county said a “clerical error” resulted in Falls Church being undercharged for the housing of prisoners. Falls Church even admitted that it owed the money, according to the Washington Examiner.

Now, the county says “an outside contractor’s software error” resulted in an over-count of Falls Church prisoners. Falls Church only owes Arlington $123,000, the county said in a statement last night.

“Arlington County regrets the error and the difficulties that it posed for the City as it develops its FY 2012 Budget,” Arlington said. “The Arlington County Sheriff’s Department will now report monthly on Falls Church prisoners. The report and applicable prisoner data will be shared with the Falls Church Sheriff for verification.”

The county’s contract for judicial, police and fire department services is up for renewal this year. Arlington says it will renegotiate the contract “to reflect changes in technology, procedures and services that have occurred since 1989, when the City of Falls Church first contracted with Arlington County to provide the City with judicial and public safety services.”

Crime Report: The Tables Have Turned Edition

By ARLnow.com

In this week’s Arlington County crime report, a man pulls a gun on his ex-boyfriend on Valentine’s Day, leading to a struggle. The victim manages to take away the suspect’s gun, and the suspect flees. Ironically, this scene played out only one block from police headquarters in Courthouse.

ABDUCTION 02/14/11, 2000 block of N. 15th Street. On February 14 at 6:50 pm, a man was walking to his car when his ex-boyfriend approached him displaying a firearm. The suspect attempted to force the victim into a car, and the two struggled. The victim was able to recover the weapon and call police. The suspect fled. Warrants are pending.

The rest of the crime report, after the jump.

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Illegal Immigrant Bills Killed in State Senate — Most of the bills that immigrant advocates spoke out against at a rally last week have suffered a quiet death in a state Senate subcommittee. The bills would have prevented illegal immigrants from attending public universities in Virginia and would have required citizenship checks for anyone arrested by police. [Washington Examiner]

Cyclist Gets Doored on Clarendon Boulevard — It’s a non-uncommon tale of woe from the cycling world. A bicyclist was riding in the bike lane on Clarendon Blvd when a parked motorist suddenly opened his door. A collision ensues. Police and medics are called. The next day, however, the injured bicyclist wasn’t able to get the driver’s insurance information from police. While this raises police procedure questions, there is also the larger question: Is there a way for drivers and bicyclists to share the road without injuring or cursing at each other? [TBD, Patch]

More: Native Foods Cafe Coming to Shirlington — This Craigslist ad seems to make it official. California-based vegan restaurant chain Native Foods Cafe will be opening their first East Coast location in Shirlington. Earlier, we reported that a restaurant that at least shared the same name was planning to open in the old Bear Rock Cafe space. [Shirlington Village Blog, Shirlington Village Blogspot]

Charlie Davies Signs with D.C. United — Soccer phenom Charlie Davies will be playing for D.C. United this season, on loan from the French club FC Sochaux. Davies is still trying to get up to full-speed after suffering serious injuries in crash on the GW Parkway in October 2009. The crash, which killed one female passenger, happened on the Arlington section of the GW Parkway, just past Memorial Bridge. [Washington Post, FanHouse]

Flickr pool photo by Philliefan99

Courthouse Damaged by Burst Pipe

By ARLnow.com

The cleanup is still on-going at Arlington’s courthouse building, which was damaged by a burst hot water pipe early Friday morning.

The pipe burst in a wall of a courtroom on the the third floor of the building. Water leaked down to the second and first floors, as well as the parking garage. Crews worked throughout the weekend to dry out damaged carpets, chairs and other furniture.

Several boxes of documents at the police department’s central records department were damaged, but a county spokesperson said that most of those documents had already been digitized and were waiting to be shredded. Another box of documents, which was intended to be preserved, suffered light water damaged but has since been dried out by a contractor.

“We lost nothing of any significance,” said county spokeswoman Mary Curtius. “The courtroom will reopen tomorrow and most of the offices are functioning already today.”

Damage is expected to exceed the county’s $50,000 insurance deductible, Curtius said.

Police Tase Aggressive Dog in Claremont

By ARLnow.com

A pit bull that attacked a pet sitter and then went after another dog was Tasered by police Friday evening.

Police were called to a home on the 2400 block of South Dinwiddie Street in Claremont for a report of a man being attacked by a dog. By the time officers arrived, just after 5:30 p.m., the dog was no longer attacking the man. Instead, it had another pit bull by the throat.

An officer attempted to separate the two dogs. When those attempts were unsuccessful, the officer used a Taser on the aggressive dog, according to police spokesperson Det. Crystal Nosal.

The man, who had been hired to watch over the two dogs, was injured and required medical attention. The pit bulls were taken to an emergency veterinarian.

District Taco Applying for Licence to Serve Cerveza

By ARLnow.com

District Taco (5723 Lee Highway) hopes to have a permit to serve beer in time for some warm-weather cerveza drinking.

The popular new restaurant just applied for an ABC license from the state.

“We think it’s going to be a couple of months” until the license is granted, District Taco founder Osiris Hoil said. “We hope to have it by the summer.”

“A lot of people are asking for it,” Hoil added. “Our salsa makes people sweat… it would really go well with some beer.”

Hoil says he’ll keep the beer list small so that that he can keep the beer as fresh as possible. Among the brews he plans to serve are Negra Modelo, Modelo Especial, Pacifico, Sol, Corona and Tecate — all Mexican beers.

“No Coors Light,” Hoil said with a laugh.

Meanwhile, District Taco is offering special deals for public safety and military personnel. The restaurant is offering 50 percent off for police and firefighters and a free drink for members of the military.

Crime Report: Girls Gone Wild Edition

By ARLnow.com

Two young women came to Clarendon this weekend looking to have a good time at one of our local watering holes. They both chose a bar on the 3100 block of Wilson Boulevard, the long block that includes Spider Kelly’s and Clarendon Ballroom. And, according to this week’s Arlington County crime report, they both left the bar with police in tow.

ASSAULT AND BATTERY-ARREST 02/05/1, 3100 block of Wilson Boulevard. On February 5 at 12:45 am, an intoxicated woman assaulted several people inside a bar. Brittany Doyle, 22, of Stafford, was charged with Assault and Battery and Drunk in Public. She was held until sober.

ASSAULT AND BATTERY-ARREST 02/06/11, 3100 block of Wilson Boulevard. On February 6 at 1 am, a woman punched another female inside a bar. Mindy Carreon, 21, of Fairfax, was charged with Assault and Battery and released on a summons.

The rest of the crime report, after the jump.

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