vandalism

Dozens of Cars Damaged by BB Vandals

By ARLnow.com
1/2

(Updated at 7:30 p.m.) Dozens of cars were vandalized overnight in North Arlington, police and residents say.

More than 70 cars had windows shot out by BB gun-wielding vandals, according to Arlington County Police Department spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. The crime spree was reported in neighborhoods north of I-66 and south of Lee Highway — neighborhoods like Waycroft-Woodlawn, Leeway Overlee and Westover.

The alleged vandals — two adult men — were arrested near the intersection of N. Lexington Street and 19th Street N. after a resident saw them drive by, called police and relayed a description of their vehicle, according to Sternbeck. They were identified by police as 20-year-old Christopher Albrant and 19-year-old Antonio Lopez, both of Arlington.

Two BB pistols and a .40 caliber handgun were found in the vehicle, Sternbeck said.

Albrant and Lopez are currently charged with 7 counts of destruction of property. The number of charges against them is expected to increase as police continue to investigate the crimes.

Photos courtesy @StuNagurka, Jim Pebley

Crime Report: Cars Spray Painted

By ARLnow.com
File photo

Police are looking for someone who vandalized five vehicles with red spray paint Sunday morning.

The incident happened on the 2900 block of S. Glebe Road. From this week’s Arlington County crime report:

DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY (series), 140309025, 2900 block of S. Glebe Road. At approximately 9:55 am on March 9, an unknown subject(s) sprayed the side of five vehicles with red spray paint. There is no suspect(s) description.

The rest of crime report, after the jump.

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Another Tire Slashing Spree in Hall’s Hill

By Katie Pyzyk

Arlington County police car (file photo)Dozens of cars parked in the Hall’s Hill neighborhood had their tires slashed over the weekend in the same area where a similar incident occurred last month.

Police say 40 cars were hit sometime from 12:30-7:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 7. The first vandalized car was discovered at 7:00 a.m. that day and dozens of others were found as residents emerged from their homes.

The targeted cars were found along several blocks in Hall’s Hill: the 1800 and 1900 blocks of N. Dinwiddie Street, the 1800 block of N. Culpeper Street, the 1700 block of N. Cameron Street, the 4900 blocks of 17th and 18th Streets N., the 4700 and 5000 blocks of 19th Street N. and the 5000 block of 20th Street N. Most of the vehicles were in the street but some were also parked in driveways.

This is the same neighborhood struck last month when 36 vehicles were discovered with slashed tires. Some of the vehicles vandalized on Saturday had been hit last month as well.

Police do not have any suspects so far but the investigation is ongoing.

“We are aware of the continued target of that general area and without going into specifics about the tactical strategy, we will be deploying resources in that area,” said Arlington County Police Department spokesman Dustin Sternbeck.

Anyone who may have seen suspicious activity in the Hall’s Hill neighborhood or who may have information about the vandalism incidents is asked to call the police non-emergency number at 703-558-2222.

Tire Slashing Spree in Hall’s Hill

By Katie Pyzyk

Police investigating tire slashing spree in Hall's Hill (photo via @ArlingtonVaPD)(Updated at 3:30 p.m.) Police are investigating a string of tire slashing incidents that occurred overnight in the Hall’s Hill neighborhood.

According to Arlington County Police Department spokesman Dustin Sternbeck, 36 vehicles had their tires slashed. Each vehicle had one or two tires slashed and no other damage has been found on the vehicles.

Police received slashed tire reports from residents on a number of blocks in the neighborhood, with large concentrations along the 1800 block of N. Culpeper Street, the 1900 block of N. Dinwiddie Street and along N. 19th Street. Some vehicles were parked in the street and others were in driveways. Police were at the scene for hours this morning to check out each new report as residents exited their houses and discovered the damage.

At this time, it does not appear that there is a connection among the types of vehicles targeted, as was the case when Priuses were vandalized in July. It’s too early to tell if the Hall’s Hill incident is related to the incident with the Priuses, or to another tire slashing spree that happened in the Arlington View neighborhood in August.

So far police do not have any suspects in this case. Anyone who may have seen suspicious activity in the Hall’s Hill neighborhood overnight is asked to call the police non-emergency number at 703-558-2222.

Photo via @ArlingtonVaPD

Crime Report: Police Cruiser Vandalized

By ARLnow.com
File photo

Someone smashed a police cruiser’s windshield in the Columbia Heights neighborhood last Thursday.

The incident happened around lunchtime. From this week’s Arlington County crime report:

VANDALISM, 10/24/13, 1000 block of S. Cleveland Street. Between 12:40 pm on October 24 to 1:00 pm October 24, a police cruiser’s windshield was shattered with a piece of concrete while parked on S. Cleveland Street. The investigation is ongoing.

Early this morning, a man with “bulging eyes” was seen masturbating in front of a Virginia Square apartment building.

INDECENT EXPOSURE, 10/31/13, 900 block of N. Pollard Street. On October 31 at 3:03am, a man was seen masturbating in front of an apartment building by the concierge. When police arrived, the man was gone.  Officers searched the area, but were unable to locate the suspect. The suspect is described as a black or possibly Middle Eastern male in his 20’s – 30’s, “bulging eyes”, who was bald and possibly had facial hair. At the time of the incident the suspect was wearing a black coat.

The rest of this week’s crime report, after the jump.

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Priuses Vandalized in Tire-Slashing Spree

By ARLnow.com
1/5

Sixteen vehicles, mostly Toyota Prius hybrids, had their tires slashed in Arlington overnight.

Tires were slashed on 10 vehicles in the Waverly Hills and Cherrydale areas, on we’re told. Most were Toyota Priuses, though at least one was a smart car, which is another gas-sipping vehicle popular with environmentally-conscious drivers.

Another 5 Priuses had their tires slashed in the area of Barcroft Park in south Arlington, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. Additionally, tires were slashed on an Arlington County-owned Ford F-150 pickup truck.

Between 1 and 4 tires were slashed on each vehicle, Sternbeck said. The vandalism spree is believed to have happened overnight. So far, there’s no indication that anyone spotted the vandals in the act.

“It wasn’t noted until people starting waking up to go to work,” Sternbeck said. Police are investigating the crime.

Arlington is no stranger to tire-slashing sprees. In 2010, police investigated two separate vandalism sprees that saw the tires slashed on some 50 vehicles. A suspect was later arrested and convicted of the crimes.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Kabob restaurant on a sunny Sunday (Flickr pool photo by Ddimick)

County’s Debt Upgraded to ‘Stable’ — Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded the outlook on Arlington County’s debt from “negative” to “stable.” The county’s otherwise triple-A bond rating was downgraded in 2011 due to Arlington’s “lose economic, financial and capital markets linkages to the federal government.” The upgrade reflects the federal government’s improved debt outlook. [Arlington County]

Vandalism at Powhatan Springs Park — The skate park at Powhatan Springs Park was closed Friday and Saturday due to graffiti. The graffiti was “nothing serious,” said Department of Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Susan Kalish, but the park was closed while county crews removed it.

Dangerous Heat Prompts AWLA Rescues — The Animal Welfare League of Arlington has shared photos of four dogs it rescued in the recent heatwave. Among them are dogs left in hot cars, tied up in a parking lot and in cages in a backyard without adequate water. [Washington Post]

Flickr pool photo by Ddimick

Police: Would-Be Robber Destroys Store

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 2:05 p.m. on 12/23/21) Rebuffed when he tried to rob a convenience store on Columbia Pike, police say an Arlington man vented his frustration by proceeding to trash the store.

The incident happened around 10:30 p.m. yesterday (Thursday) night. Police say German [Redacted], 49, entered Miguel’s Q-Mart on the 5500 block of Columbia Pike and demanded money from a store employee.

“When the employee refused, the subject proceeded to light coffee filters on fire and announced that no one could leave the store,” according to the Arlington County Police crime report.

The man started throwing mangoes and avocados at store employees and a 16-month-old child, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. He tipped over the store’s shelves, destroyed merchandise, broke the store’s slushie machine, and partially melted a television with the flaming coffee filters, Sternbeck said.

“He literally destroyed the entire store,” said Sternbeck.

Store employees barricaded themselves in a room inside the store during the incident, but the store’s manager was eventually able to subdue the man and hold him to the ground until police arrived and placed him under arrest.

[Redacted] was charged with arson, attempted robbery, four counts of abduction, felony destruction of property, and three counts of assault and battery. He is currently being held without bond.

The store employees suffered minor injuries, Sternbeck said, but the baby was unharmed.

Photo courtesy ACPD

UPDATED: Man Arrested After Stabbing Vandal

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 9:10 p.m.) A 27-year-old Arlington man has been arrested after police say he stabbed a man who was vandalizing houses near Clarendon.

The incident happened just before 2:00 a.m. this morning, June 1, on the 800 block of N. Irving Street. According to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck, three subjects were vandalizing houses — breaking items and throwing porch chairs and plants into the street — when Mauricio Canales, 27, came outside to confront them.

At some point Canales — who had been drinking, according to investigators — went back into the house and retrieved a large kitchen knife.

Canales told police that one of the subjects took a swing at him. Then, police say, he pulled out the knife and stabbed the subject just below the jawline. The subject fled the scene and eventually staggered over to Fire Station No. 2 in Bluemont with a five inch stab wound to his jaw area, along with lacerations to his forearm and hand. The subject was brought to a local hospital and his injuries are considered non-life-threatening, Sternbeck said.

Police arriving on scene at Irving Street found the bloody knife and the vandalized chairs in the street. Canales was located at his home, wearing a white shirt with blood on it, Sternbeck said. He was arrested, charged with malicious wounding, and is currently being held without bond.

So far, no charges have been filed against the three alleged vandals.

Suspect Pleads ‘No Contest’ to Langston-Brown Tire Slashings

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 2:45 p.m.) A 22-year-old man has been arrested and has pleaded no contest to two tire slashing sprees in the Langston-Brown area.

Cameron Scott Fraley, of no fixed address, was arrested on Dec. 19, 2010, four days after allegedly slashing the tires on more than 30 cars near Glebe Elementary School and Virginia Hospital Center.

Fraley was charged with misdemeanor destruction of property for the December tire-slashing spree. He was charged with another count of destruction of property for another tire-slashing spree in the same neighborhood in October, when 15-20 vehicles were hit.

Fraley pleaded no contest to both charges, and was sentenced to 200 days in jail with all but 40 days suspended, according to court records. He was also assessed $356 in court costs.

The tire slashings came at a time when Fraley was facing a felony charge for possession of oxycodone. According to court records, Fraley was indicted by a grand jury on the oxycodone charge on Oct. 18. The first tire slashing was discovered early on the morning of Oct. 20.

The second tire slashing was discovered on Dec. 15, the same morning Fraley entered a plea. A pre-sentence hearing on Fraley’s oxycodone charge is scheduled for Feb. 18.

Another Tire-Slashing Spree in Langston-Brown

By ARLnow.com

It was a pretty lousy start to the morning for a number of residents of the Langston-Brown neighborhood.

We’re hearing that the tires were slashed on more than 30 cars overnight. Investigators are on scene taking photos.

Among the streets hit were Culpepper Street and 19th Street, near Glebe Elementary School.

This incident comes less than two months after another tire-slashing spree in the same neighborhood. On Oct. 20 we reported that a vandal slashed the tires on 15-20 cars in the area.

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