Strong-arm rape reported at Rockville hotel

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a strong-arm rape at a hotel in Rockville Tuesday night. The assault was reported at a hotel in the 9900 block of Medical Center Drive around 8:36 PM, according to crime data.

Assault reported at Rockville nursing home

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a second-degree assault at a nursing home in Rockville Sunday afternoon, February 28, 2021. The assault was reported at a nursing home in the 200 block of Hurley Avenue around 3:23 PM, according to crime data.

Strong-arm rape reported in Rockville

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a strong-arm rape in Rockville on Monday morning, February 22, 2021. The sexual assault was reported in the 600 block of Jefferson Plaza around 10:44 AM, according to crime data.

Montgomery County police officer attacked while buying food at Chipotle in Rockville

 

Nyziere London

A Montgomery County police officer was sucker-punched by an assailant while standing in line to buy food at the Chipotle at 14925 Shady Grove Road in Rockville on Thursday night around 6:48 PM. Nyziere London, 21, of Coatesville, Pennsylvania, allegedly approached the officer and suddenly punched him twice in the face. Another County police officer paying at the counter rushed over to assist the victimized officer in taking London into custody.

London has been charged with second-degree assault and resisting arrest. He was transported to the Central Processing Unit and is being held without bond.

Chief Marcus Jones released a statement regarding the unprovoked assault on the officer, who is a 26-year veteran of the force. “Officers work hard every day to ensure that our community stays safe. Police work can often put officers in harm’s way, but I’m saddened that this unprovoked attack occurred while this officer was attempting to simply grab a quick bite to eat during his shift. This is another danger to our profession.”

Police across the country have been under heavy criticism and scrutiny this year, which has led to lower morale - and in some cases attacks on police officers - in numerous jurisdictions nationwide. Here, the Montgomery County Council has consistently painted local law enforcement in a negative light in its public statements and legislation over the last several years.

Rockville man killed in Silver Spring crash

A Rockville man was killed in an auto accident in the Layhill area of Silver Spring early Sunday morning, Montgomery County police announced. Stefano Jorge Fernandes, 23, was traveling west on Norbeck Road in his 2006 Mazda6 around 1:08 AM, when it left the roadway for unknown reasons. The vehicle collided with several trees in the vicinity of Whitehaven Road, police said, and Fernandes was pronounced deceased at the scene.

The Collision Reconstruction Unit (CRU) continues to investigate this collision. Anyone with information regarding this collision is asked to contact CRU detectives at 240-773-6620.

Rockville man killed in crash on Norbeck Road

A Rockville man has died after a collision on Norbeck Road Friday night. Detectives with the Collision Reconstruction Unit of the Montgomery County police say Christian Richardson, 24, of Dumbarton Drive in Rockville, was riding a 2014 Yamaha FZ-09 motorcycle heading west on Norbeck Road approaching Llewellyn Manor Way around 8:20 PM. A 2007 Toyota Prius on Llewellyn Manor Way attempted to cross Norbeck Road to enter Northwest Branch Recreational Park, and the two vehicles collided.

Richardson was transported to an unidentified local hospital, where he later died from his injuries. The driver of the Prius, identified as Tatiana Ogundeko, 22, of Waldorf, and an adult female passenger were not injured in the collision. They remained on the scene and are cooperating with police. Anyone with information regarding this collision is asked to contact the Collision Reconstruction Unit at 240-773-6620.

Strong-arm robbery in Rockville

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a strong-arm robbery in Rockville on Thursday morning. The robbery was reported along the street in the 11400 block of Rockville Pike around 7:15 AM, according to crime data.

Purse snatching at Rockville grocery store

A purse-snatching was reported at a Rockville grocery store on Wednesday afteroon. Montgomery County police responded to the theft at a supermarket in the 12000 block of Rockville Pike around 1:00 PM. No force was used against the purse's owner in the snatching, according to police data.

Veirs Mill Road armed carjacking suspects flee on foot in Rockville

An armed carjacking was reported in the 12000 block of Veirs Mill Road in Silver Spring last night at 8:35 PM. Montgomery County police searching for the stolen vehicle located it in Rockville, near the intersection of N. Van Buren Street and W. Middle Lane.

Three suspects bailed out of the vehicle. Officers arrested one of them, but two remain at-large. Police describe the two at-large suspects as a Latino male with braided hair wearing a red shirt, and a second Latino male wearing a black sweatshirt. 

Montgomery County Council proposes creating its own illegal police force to pull you over

Proposal is illegal under

federal and state law

The Montgomery County Council is proposing to create its own police force, to replace the Montgomery County Police Department's role in traffic enforcement. This would be illegal under both federal and Maryland law, but that's not deterring them from trying to quietly move forward. Councilmembers have floated the idea with two local reporters in recent weeks, resulting in two low-key articles, one in The Washington Post and one on NBC Washington's website. Those, and a virtual town hall being held by one councilmember tonight, have largely evaded public attention.

Who would make up this new police force remains unclear. The Post article made vague references to "civilians" somehow gaining the authority to pull over and detain motorists. NBC Washington reports that it could be County bureaucratic employees who somehow gain this authority. Unfortunately for the Council, neither group can engage in such activity under the law. Which is why such a ridiculous idea isn't currently allowed anywhere in America.

In the case of civilians, the Council may have been inspired by an idea proposed in the District to have civilians be able to use an app to enforce traffic laws in Washington, D.C. One can only imagine the potential abuses of an army of "Karens" wielding a Stasi-style reporting app, but that was largely the goal, as yet another way to harass people committing the horrific offense of continuing to drive private automobiles.

Now, imagine Karen or a random bureaucrat empowered to pull you over and issue tickets and other penalties, with no way to defend yourself against any preposterous allegation designed to fill the County's dwindling coffers. Your crime might be your race, as if racism is somehow only found among sworn police officers, or a particular religious or political bumper sticker displayed on your vehicle. Let's not forget, it was our white County Planning Board chair who repeatedly called in police officers on members of a black church peacefully protesting at board meetings.

Having non-sworn civilians pulling people over in traffic would not only be a violation of federal and Maryland law, but it would also be a danger to those making the traffic stops. Who would pull over for a non-police vehicle, especially when a non-sworn bureaucrat would have no authority to make a stop? What happens if the driver detained is a criminal and has a violent response? How would tourists know non-police could pull them over in our jurisdiction? How many accidents will be caused by the confusion of non-police vehicles trying to pull over drivers on busy roads? And traffic stops are inherently very dangerous to make, as the number of police officers hit by vehicles while making such stops each year indicates.

Montgomery County has one of the most professional and highly-trained police forces in the nation. These men and women are prepared physically and mentally for one of the most difficult and demanding jobs in the world. Bureaucrats would not have anywhere close to the same preparation and judgement as these officers possess. And if they did, why and how would taxpayers fund what essentially would be a duplicative police academy and police department?

The bottom line is that what the Council is proposing is illegal. They've offered no details on their proposal, nothing is mentioned about it on the Council website, and there is so far no public process through which we the People can yet comment on this.

If you are concerned about your Constitutional rights and tax dollars, you may want to sign up for Councilmember Will Jawando's little-advertised "virtual town hall" tonight at 7:00 PM. Given the hush-hush nature of the event beyond the Montgomery County political cartel, it's unlikely he's expecting your virtual attendance.

Would you turn to your lawyer or hairdresser to perform emergency heart surgery? Likewise, most of the general public is more comfortable with professional police officers enforcing the law than with random bureaucrats. It's about time we also had a professional County Council. Maoist fever dreams like a personal police force are yet another distraction from the Council's failure to address the multiple crises they've created over the last two decades.

Montgomery County Council's progressive credentials on the line in Defund the Police debate

Day 1 of the Montgomery County Council tackling the nationwide call of progressive activists to Defund the Police found the Council looking out of touch with the moment to some observers. Shortly after Councilmember Andrew Friedson (D - District 1) became the first elected official to publicly state he was reviewing correspondence on the topic, the Council released a public statement about their plans regarding police reform. Their specific 3-point platform of "set a higher standard for use of force by police, outlaw certain deadly tactics such as chokeholds, and require police officers to intervene if a fellow officer is committing a crime or violating department policy," fell flat with many of their progressive constituents.

For a Council that touts itself on the cutting edge of progressive policy, many saw the proposal as being years behind the current hot topic that has arisen out of the nationwide protests in the wake of the George Floyd murder case: defunding or abolishing the police. A Zoom meeting held by several councilmembers later Monday evening was criticized by some for having the formal announced panel dominated by elected and appointed public officials. Meanwhile, residents opposed to defunding the police warned of crime surges, chaos, higher gun sales, and the prospect of fleeing Montgomery County altogether if the Council were to defund the police.

Monday was also a day that some high-level Democrats nationwide began to express second thoughts about the Defund the Police slogan. "Joe Biden does not believe that police should be defunded," a Biden campaign spokesperson said in a statement. Prominent progressives countered that phrases once considered extreme have become mainstream in a short time. "Not long ago, 'Black Lives Matter' was *also* a rallying cry for justice that politicians worried polled too poorly, was too 'divisive' & required 'too much explanation,'" U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D - NY-14) tweeted. "Now Mitt Romney is saying it. Progress is a process. It’s normal to work through discomfort along the way."

It will be interesting to see which way the Council breaks on the issue. Montgomery County has clearly broken far to the left of establishment Democrats like Joe Biden in recent elections. Twitter was not low-volume in providing feedback to the Council on Day 1.

Montgomery County Council weighs defunding the police

A day after the Minneapolis City Council vowed to dissolve its police department, the Montgomery County Council is now examining whether it should "defund the police." Councilmember Andrew Friedson (D - District 1) says the Council has received almost 700 emails from constituents "advocating for defunding police, reforming police, reallocating resources to mental health services, housing initiatives, restorative justice, and more." The Councilman said on Facebook that "[w]e have many important conversations ahead."

The all-Democrat Council has been mostly silent on the nationwide issues of dissolving the police or defunding the police to this point. Progressives in Minneapolis quickly turned against very progressive Mayor Jacob Frey, who has pressed through radical reforms like ending single-family-home neighborhood zoning, when he declined to support the City Council plan to abolish its police department Saturday. With Montgomery County and Maryland veering sharply left in the last decade, it will be interesting to see how the County Council addresses these issues with progressive voters, who are now the decisive factor in Democratic primaries.

Rockville man arrested in Rockville synagogue vandalism case - UPDATED

UPDATE 11:15 AM: The suspect has been identified by police

Montgomery County police have arrested a man in the incident of vandalism at the Tikvat Israel Congregation synagogue at 2200 Baltimore Road on March 28, 2020. Andrew Lemond Costas, age 28, of Russett Road in Rockville, has been charged with malicious destruction of property, defacing religious property, and damaging property of a group because of the group’s religious beliefs.

Costas was arrested yesterday, April 9. He was released after posting a $5,000 bond.

ArcLight Cinemas Bethesda wins Governor's Crime Prevention Award

The general manager of ArcLight Cinemas in
Bethesda (second from left) holds the Governor's
Crime Prevention award received by the cineplex

ArcLight Cinemas at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda has won a Governor's Crime Prevention award from Gov. Larry Hogan. The cineplex was recognized for donating auditorium time on the first Wednesday of each month to the Montgomery County Police Department. Officers use the time to host a senior forum where seniors enjoy a free film, along with a presentation on tips to prevent becoming a crime victim.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R)

Police Chief Marcus Jones and other police officials attended the award ceremony, and thanked ArcLight and the other winners. The theater's general manager was on hand to receive the award. Target's Rockville store also received an award from the governor.

ICE captures sex abuse suspect MoCo released after 3 days at large

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers located a man accused of sexually abusing a child in Montgomery County hiding in Virginia, three days after Montgomery County released him from jail. ICE found Luis Fredy Hernandez-Morales, 48, in Springfield, Virginia on Friday.

ICE officials blasted Montgomery County for not honoring its detainer on Hernandez-Morales, saying the County had put children in Montgomery County and Northern Virginia at risk while he remained at-large. In a statement, ICE called Hernandez-Morales' release "the latest in a continuing list of public safety threats Montgomery County, MD has released into the community rather than allow a lawful transfer into ICE custody."

"This case shows how the noncooperation policies of one jurisdiction can have serious public safety impacts on its neighbors,” ICE Washington Field Office Director Russell Hott said yesterday. Hernandez-Morales is involved with the youth ministry program at Iglesia de Dios en Cristo, located on W. Diamond Avenue in Gaithersburg, Montgomery County police have said. They have expressed concern that there may be additional child victims in this case.

Police seek suspect in attempted burglary of Derwood Gulf station

A man tried and failed to break into the Gulf gas station at 15805 Frederick Road in Derwood, and now police are seeking your help in finding him. The suspect attempted to break a window at the service station Tuesday morning at 3:25 AM. Unable to do so, he fled on foot.

WATCH: Video of Gulf suspect

Investigators are asking anyone with information regarding this suspect to call the 1st District Investigative Section at 240-773-6084. Those who wish to remain anonymous may call Crime Solvers of Montgomery County toll-free at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). Crime Solvers will pay a cash reward of up to $10,000 for information provided to them that leads to an arrest and/or indictment for this crime.

Police to close Maryland Avenue during dueling immigration rallies today

Dueling rallies between opponents and advocates of Montgomery County's new policy restricting ICE agents' access to County facilities, and to prisoners with federal immigration detainers being released by the County, at 11:00 AM in Rockville today have led Montgomery County police to close parts of two streets.

Maryland Avenue will be closed between Fleet Street and E. Jefferson Street between 8:00 AM this morning and 2:00 PM this afternoon; the rallies are taking place in front of the County Council office building at 100 Maryland Avenue between 11:00 AM and noon.

Vinson Street will be entirely closed during those same hours.

The rally against the County's sanctuary policy will be headlined by television commentator and author Michelle Malkin and conservative commentator and talk radio personality Larry O'Connor. A coalition of progressive, immigration, and faith-based organizations has scheduled a counterprotest at the same location. Expect police to try to keep the two groups separate, but if you are not participating in one side or the other, you'll probably just want to steer clear of this area mid-day today.

Montgomery County Interfaith Community Liaison Rev. Mansfield Kaseman released a statement saying he has advised police that he and his team are available to assist in "maintaining peace" at today's rally, and has discussed the event with County Executive Marc Elrich.

Montgomery County 911 system fails again

Officials don't know how

many emergency calls went

unanswered during outage

Montgomery County's 911 system failed twice Thursday, according to the Montgomery County Police Department, which does not operate the system. An MCPD spokesperson said that County officials cannot, as of now, tell them how many urgent 911 calls went unanswered during the service interruptions, but that the department is aware of one caller in need of basic life support medical services who was affected.

Callers who dialed 911 around 8:30 AM yesterday morning - and again between 9:35 and 9:43 AM - could not get through to the 911 call center, and instead heard a message saying they number they'd reached was out of service. According to MCPD, the failure was traced to a network outage between system components.

There is no indication that the Alert Montgomery system informed citizens of either outage. Montgomery County Government has yet to post any statement regarding the outages as of this writing.

It was exactly three years ago that I broke the story of a similar 911 system failure. Later, the County tried to cover up the fact that Alert Montgomery had failed to issue alerts to subscribers until long after the outage had ended. Two people were confirmed to have died has a result of that 2016 911 system failure, 

Yet despite their failure having fatal results for two of their constituents in 2016, the County Council has clearly failed to change its ways. Here we are again, with another 911 outage three years later. Similarly, the Council failed to upgrade the public safety radio communications system for County first responders for more than a decade, deliberately kicking the can down the road to have more play money to spend on their cartel sugar daddies.

In fact, since taking the oath of office last December, the latest Council has failed to take action on a single major crisis. Not a single thing has been done to exercise oversight and update the 911 system, complete our master plan highway system, turn around our moribund economy that now ranks last in the region by every economic development benchmark, nor to address rising rates of violent crime.

Most of the current Council term has been spent on a grotesque attack on the men and women of the Montgomery County police department. The Council's continual slander, defamation and disparagement of Montgomery's finest only put our first responders and the public in greater danger. Which fits perfectly with the County Council's record of making public safety a low priority, to the point that there are actual people who have died as a result of their failure to address basic government issues like providing a functioning 911 system. It's outrageous.

Montgomery County police respond to call for more security at mosques during Ramadan

Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando released a letter to acting Montgomery County Police Chief Russ Hamill Monday, in which he requested the department "increase security" at mosques in the county during the holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan begins the evening of Sunday, May 5, and ends the morning of Wednesday, June 5. The department last night issued a statement saying they have received Jawando's letter, and many inquiries about it from unidentified individuals.

In the statement, MCPD says they will continue to work closely with faith communities in the county, but will not ever publicly announce or disclose specific security plans. A public discussion of strategies and tactics "may diminish – not enhance –  the safety of our residents," MCPD says.

Russell Hamill named acting police chief of Montgomery County

A familiar face to Rockville residents has just been named acting chief of police for Montgomery County. Assistant Chief Russell E. Hamill, III officially assumed that role at 12:00 AM this morning, according to a statement from the Montgomery County Police Department. Hamill has been a member of the force since 1986.

Hamill began his police career in Rockville, first as a Sheriff's deputy, and then as a County officer in the 1st District. He was assigned to Montgomery County's first community policing unit, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Rockville. In August 2007, Hamill was named Commander of the 2nd District, which includes Bethesda, Chevy Chase, most of Potomac, Kensington and a small part of Silver Spring. During that time he was often found at community and civic association meetings to brief residents on public safety issues.

Hamill is expected to remain acting Chief until a nationwide search for a new police chief is completed. He is a lifelong resident of Montgomery County.

Photo courtesy MCPD