Police Arrest Robbers!

I am a little late getting this posted, and for that I apologize. Personally, I am very excited and thankful for this successful action by Richmond’s finest. Oh behalf of the neighborhood, thanks to the Richmond Police Department!

From the press release:

Trio Charged With Fan/Carver Neighborhood Robberies

Nov. 5, 2009
Thanks to the hard work and covert actions by several Richmond Police officers, three people who robbed multiple citizens around the Fan and Carver neighborhoods are off the streets and being held without bond.

“We are pleased to bring closure to these robbery cases and we will continue to use a variety of deployment strategies to both deter and arrest those individuals that commit robberies,” Chief Bryan T. Norwood said.

Jayquan L. Perry, 19, of the 500 block of Patrick Avenue, has been charged with:
five counts of robbery, five counts of abduction and 10 counts of use of a firearm during the commission of a felony in the Sept. 9 robbery at 10 S. Brunswick St.;
a Sept. 11 armed robbery at 100 S. Cherry St.;
four counts of robbery, one count of attempted robbery and five counts of use of a firearm during the commission of a felony in the Sept. 13 armed robbery at 700 Norton St.

Brian A. Walker, 18, of the 3800 block of Pinewood Glen Lane, has been charged with:
five counts of robbery, five counts of abduction, 10 counts of use of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm as a convicted felon in the Aug. 27 robbery at 1 S. Vine St.;
two counts of robbery, two counts of abduction, four counts of use of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm as a convicted felon in the Aug. 25 robbery at 2400 W. Main St.;
a Aug. 29 armed robbery in the 800 block of Cumberland Street;
four counts of robbery, one count of attempted robbery and five counts of use of a firearm during the commission of a felony in the Sept. 13 armed robbery at 700 Norton St.

Dennis J. Loney, 23, of Glen Allen, has been charged with:
the Sept. 11 armed robbery at 100 S. Cherry St.
the Sept. 19 armed robbery in the 800 block of Cumberland Street.

This investigation is still ongoing and additional indictments are still being sought in conjunction with our partners at the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office.

Sector 413 November Newsletter

From Lt. Baltz:

Hello. I hope everyone had a nice October and a quiet Halloween. I know there were a lot of activities taking place over the weekend. First Fridays will be this Friday night, plan to come out and support the businesses that participate in this.
It is unfortunate but we had a homicide in Sector 413 that occurred on October 29 at 3rd and Broad Streets at four o’clock in the afternoon.
There were 10 robberies in Sector 413 last month. Two of these were to Commercial businesses.
There was 1 aggravated assault in Sector 413; the suspect was arrested.
Here is a breakdown on the crimes reported:
VIOLENT CRIME:
Homicide-
300 E. Broad Street, 4:00 pm, Javis Turner was stabbed by Desean Trent on 10/29/09. Trent was arrested. Motive-Argument
2 Commercial Robberies-
10/14/09, 212 E. Grace Street, 2:00pm, the modern Coin was robbed by two unknown b-m’s. Both had handguns.
10/18/09, 520 W. Broad Street, 5:30 pm, Rite Aid was robbed by unknown male with a handgun.
8 Robberies-
10/09/09, 1230 am, 700 W. Franklin Street, Anthony Brown, 18 and Nicholas Smith, 18 were robbed by two unknown b-m’s armed with hand guns.
10/21/09, 0245 a.m., 501 W. Broad Street, Thomas Higgins, 19 and Michael Mann, 18, were robbed outside of New York Fried Chicken by two unknown males armed with handguns.
10/21/09, 0230 a.m. 813 W. Grace Street. Jairo Montengno, 20 was robbed by 2 suspects armed with handguns. Brandon Anderson, 22 and Bryant Harris, 26 were arrested that night.
10/23/09, 0245 am, 300 N. Madison, Buster Perkins, 26 was robbed by an unknown male armed with a handgun.
10/23/09, 1205 a.m., 400 N. Madison, William Bendye, 32 and Rasheeda Johnson, 30 were robbed by 2 unknown males armed with handguns.
10/24/09, 0144 am, 600 E. Main Street, the parking attendant, Diruk Wordofa, 44 was sprayed with mace and robbed by two unknown males.
10/31/09, 5:00pm, 200 E. Broad Street, Anthony Higgins, 19 was robbed by David Evans by force. Officer Nicholas Castrinos observed the incident taking place and after a short foot pursuit was able to apprehend the suspect. EXCELLENT JOB OFFICER CASTRINOS!
1 Aggravated Assault-
320 W. Grace Street, 10/30/09, Vanessa Mitchell, 21 was assaulted by her roommate, Sarah Rodriguez, 21. Rodriguez was arrested.
PROPERTY CRIMES
There were 49 thefts from motor vehicles during the month of October. The majority happened in the Monroe Ward and City Center neighborhoods. I have requested some additional officer’s to patrol in these areas especially when we have activities taking place at the coliseum, the National theatre and Center Stage. On a positive note, Patrol officers did make 6 arrests involving individuals breaking into vehicles. This occurred in the last week of October so we anticipate a decrease in this type of crime.
Graffiti seems to be appearing everywhere throughout our Sector. I cannot think of a neighborhood that has not been “tagged”. These individuals do not think about the damage they are causing to the businesses when they paint on walls and vehicles. They are very hard to catch but maybe if we all work together we could catch one or two. Call us if you see anything suspicious taking place.
If you are aware of crime or would like to give information call Crime Stoppers at 780-1000. Please continue to report suspicious persons or activities to the police as soon as possible. The non emergency number is 646-5100.
Sector 413 Officer Thomas Neale was awarded the 4th Precinct Officer of the Month. Congratulations Officer Neale! Officer Neale apprehended a theft from a motor vehicle suspect after he observed the individual outside of a car. After a short foot pursuit the subject was apprehended and the stolen property was returned to the owner.
During the month of October, Sector 413 officers answered 1880 radio calls and conducted 155 field interviews. These numbers reflect only Sector 413; it does not include the rest of the Precinct. That is a lot of radio calls!
I want to thank the officers, detectives and community for their continued support in making Sector 413 a better place to live and work.

Sincerely,
Lt. Yvonne Baltz- Fourth Precinct – Sector 413 – (o) 646-4239
yvonnebaltz@richmondgov.com

Modern Coin Downtown Robbers Sought By Police

It’s ironic that Richmond’s Downtown (which has seen over a billion dollars in investment), still lacks its own neighborhood blog. Oh, there is the River District News, which covers a sort of a contrived, loose neighborhood, and that includes parts of downtown.

In the meantime, OregonHill.net will continue to sometimes take up the slack. Here is another Richmond Police Department press release:

E-mail Advisory 10/21/09
Richmond Police Department
Modern Coin Robbers Sought

Richmond Police need the public’s help in identifying the two males in the attached video.

Both men are wanted for the armed robbery of Modern Coin Company at 212 E. Grace St. at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 14.

The first suspect is described as a black male, medium complexion, 5’7, stocky build, and was last seen wearing a dark ski mask and light-colored gloves.

The second suspect is described as a black male, medium complexion, 6’0, skinny build and was last seen wearing light-colored gloves, blue jeans and black and white sneakers.

Anyone with any information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 780-1000.

Here is video as posted by WTVR:

 

This Jury’s A Terror To City’s Evil Doers, 1902

From the October 17, 1902 edition of the Richmond Dispatch :

Prisioners in City Jail Seeking Continuences Rather Than Face The Present Composition

The present jury in th Hustings Court is one after the heart of Judge Witt and Commonwealth’s Attorney Richardson. It has gotten such a reputation for giving good long penitentiary terms that all of the prisioners confined in the city jail awaiting trial are seeking to have their cases postponed a month rather than to face it. The prisioners evidently are of the opinion that it would be better to wait another month and save possibly a year or two on Oregon Hill than to be tried during this term of court.

The reference to Oregon Hill is because the state penitentiary used to be here, casting a particular pallor over the whole area. Here is an old picture of it:

2899339626_b52242110c

At least part of the wall still exists as part of Ethyl Corporation/Afton Chemical’s complex on Belvidere.

Robbery Near Monroe Park

From Richmond Police:

ROBBERY
10/09/09 12:30 a.m.
700 block of W. Franklin St.
Two males reported they were robbed by two unknown males with a gun.

The Times Dispatch account has a little more information.

Two young men told Richmond police they were sitting on a wall in the 700 block of West Franklin Street, opposite the north side of Monroe Park, when they were confronted at 12:30 a.m. by two unknown males who first asked for a light. One of the suspects then pulled a handgun and demanded money.

The two victims surrendered their wallets and cell phones, and the suspects ran.

This continues a rash of robberies that have been plaguing the whole area.

Fourth Precinct CAPS Meeting Scheduled

Fourth Precinct Community Assisted Public Safety (CAPS) meeting will be held:

. Date: Thursday, October 15, 2009

Time: 6:00 p.m.

Place: Linwood Holton Elementary School

1600 W Laburnum Avenue

Please bring your concerns, comments and suggestions to this meeting in order that we may address them properly.

Thank you

Jacki Page

Sr. Customer Services Representative

804-646-4150

Sector 413 October Newsletter

Don’t you just love the fall? The nights are getting cooler which means we can turn the air conditioner off and crack the windows. If you chose to do this please do not leave them up when you are at work and never open the windows on the first floor, you are only inviting trouble. Unfortunately, we have to always think defensively.
The same crimes are still plaguing our Sector. During the month of September we had 29 thefts from motor vehicles in Jackson Ward and Monroe Ward. The items being stolen are still electronic equipment,(GPS, iPods, laptops). If anyone sees or hears of these types of items being sold on the street, call me so I can forward that information to a Detective.
There were 8 robberies to individuals in Sector 413 last month. Three were cleared with arrests. There were also 2 aggravated assaults in Sector 413; an arrest was made on one of them.
Here is a breakdown on the crimes reported:
VIOLENT CRIME:
8 Robberies
100 W. Franklin Street, 9-5-09, unknown b/m robbed at this location of money.
16 E. Grace Street, 9-8-09, unknown b/m attempted to rob the victim of his money.
100 S. Cherry Street, 9-11-09, 3 unknown b/m suspects robbed 3 victims. ARRESTED: Jayquan Perry, 6/22/90; Brian Walker,12/19/90; Dennis Loney, 8/21/86
800 E. Marshall Street, 9-13-09, 3 unknown 2 b/f, 1 b/m suspects robbed the victim.
100 E. Leigh Street, 9-14-09, unknown b-m robbed the victims of money.
800 Cumberland Street, 9-19-09, 3 unknown suspects robbed the victim of his wallet. ARRESTED: Jayquan Perry, 6/22/90; Brian Walker,12/19/90; Dennis Loney, 8/21/86
100 E. Leigh Street, 9-24-09, unknown b/m stole money from victim.
0100 N. 4th Street, 9-26-09, 5 unknown b-m’s robbed 3 victims of money. ARRESTED: Roger August, 6/29/67; Delroy Dixon, 8/5/87, Everett Evans, 8/23/87; Roy Battle, 7/13/89; Lamine Ndour, 8/15/85.
2 Aggravated Assaults-
312 W. Grace Street, 9-9-09, Individual assaulted by a known party- ARREST MADE
15 N. 5th Street, 9-27-09, a male was shot in the 00 block of 5th Street. Result of a fight inside of the “Cotton Club”.
PROPERTY CRIMES
As I already mentioned there were 29 thefts from motor vehicles in Sector 413 with the majority being in the Jackson Ward and Monroe Ward neighborhoods. The police will continue to patrol and monitor these areas but we need your help by securing valuables in the trunk and locking all doors.
October 24, 2009, is clean up day in the Jackson Ward neighborhood, come out and support this good cause!
If interested, the Richmond Police Department has an account on FACEBOOK and we are interested in your comments.
Please continue to report suspicious persons or activities to the police as soon as possible. The non emergency number is 646-5100.
During the month of September, Sector 413 officers answered 1769 radio calls and conducted 154 field interviews.
I want to thank the officers, detectives and community for their continued support in combating the crime in Sector 413.
Sincerely,
Lt. Yvonne Baltz– Fourth Precinct – Sector 413 – (o) 646-4239

Also, you can get to the newsletter from links on this page:
http://www.ci.richmond.va.us/departments/police/fields/4thPrecinct/S413.aspx

Police Announce SkyWatch

Richmond Police Department press release:

For Immediate Release

News Release
RPD Taking Crime Prevention to New Heights

Sept. 24, 2009
The Richmond Police Department has seized the opportunity to lift its crime prevention efforts by using confiscated funds to purchase the SkyWatch mobile surveillance tower.

SkyWatch is a mobile trailer and cabin that can be deployed to any area of the city. One to four officers can staff the cabin that, when positioned, can be raised 25 feet to allow the officers excellent surveillance opportunities.

The Department used captured property and currency from drug trafficking cases for the purchase.

The unit is equipped with tinted glass, video cameras with recording devices, flood lights, and a loudspeaker system. It is heated and air-conditioned and has a generator that can allow it to operate uninterrupted for several days.

It will be deployed at festivals, popular dining areas on weekend evenings and other events where large groups gather such as the Monument 10K and New Year’s Eve.

“The SkyWatch designers assure us that when this tower goes up, crime goes down,” Major John Venuti said. “As the special events in Richmond continue to grow in popularity each year, the Department is always looking for ways to help large groups stay safe and have a good time. And with SkyWatch’s 360 degree view, cameras and recorders, this tower will send a message to criminals: We are watching.”

The Department is offering the media a preview of SkyWatch and its features tomorrow, 3 to 4 p.m., at the City Garage, 2901 N. Boulevard.

DEQ Tests Reveal High Level of Chemicals In James River

The Times Dispatch reports:

Recent tests found high levels of toxic chemicals called PCBs in the James River and some tributaries between Richmond and Hopewell.

In some cases, levels of the chemicals were hundreds of times higher than the state limit, state officials said.

The PCBs pose a threat to fish but not people, unless people eat contaminated fish, said Bill Hayden, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Quality.