On Thursday night at about 11, a suspect robbed victims by approaching them from behind and brandishing a knife. Victor Braschnewitz of the Metropolitan Police Department reported on a community listserv that the suspect ran east on O Street after the robbery, and is still at large.

It is unclear how many victims the suspect robbed, but from Braschnewitz’s report, it seems that at least two victims were robbed in this incident. They subsequently reported the crime to MPD.

According to the e-mail, the suspect is described as a black male between the ages of 30 and 35 with a thin build, medium complexion, short black hair, and between 5’4’’ – 5’6’’ tall. He was wearing blue pants and an orange shirt with Reebok symbols on the shirt.

A Public Safety Alert from the Department of Public Safety is reporting that Monday morning at 6:30 a.m., a burglary and a separate attempted burglary took place on the 1200 block of 37th Street, NW.

In the first, the suspect succeeded in gaining entry to a student’s residence.

“[T]he resident stated that he discovered the first floor of his home ransacked,” the PSA reads. “It is unknown if any items were missing.”

In the second, the suspect fled when a student discovered him trying to get into her house. From the same PSA:

“A student reported that she was awakened by an unkown male attempting to gain entry through a rear door. When the student turned on the porch light, the suspect fled the scene through the backyard and out the fence gate.”

Officers from the Metropolitan Police Department responded to the scene and is handling both investigations.

The student in the second incident, the attempted burglary, described the suspect as a tall male wearing a white shirt.

On Friday, Vox reported that a Virginia man who had been found guilty of burglaries, assaults, and sexual assault perpetrated against Georgetown students had been sentenced to 26 years in prison. Below is a timeline of his trial and a full accounting of how much time he will serve for each charge on which he was found guilty.

Vox has also reexamined all the crimes that have been attributed to the criminal or criminals known as the “Georgetown Cuddler,” as both the Washington Post and Saxaspeak have reported that the man, Todd Matthew Thomas, was one of the criminals who is sometimes referred to by that name. And our review of all of those crimes makes Vox wary of declaring that police have caught up with any of the criminals who perpetrated “Cuddler” crimes, if what the Post says about his crimes is true. More on that after the jump, but first, the trial.

According to documents from the D.C. Superior Court, prosecution filed the first charge against Todd M. Thomas—burglary one (meaning burglary in the first degree)—on August 23, 2008, at which time he was held “preventatively” without bond. Three days later, the court filed an order for Thomas’s conditional release with GPS monitoring.

On May 13, 2009, prosecution filed seven additional charges against Thomas:

• Four counts of burglary one
• Three counts of simple assault
• One count of attempted burglary two.

Thomas’ arraignment for these charges was scheduled for two days later, but on May 15, Thomas failed to appear in court. His attorney, Reginald Williamson, was present and reported that Thomas was in Baltimore. Judge Gregory Jackson issued a bench warrant without bond for Thomas’ arrest, which stood for three days until he appeared in court on May 18 to plead not guilty to all charges and Jackson canceled the warrant.

Read the rest of this entry »

Virginia resident Todd M. Thomas was sentenced to 26 years in prison today, having been convicted of 11 crimes against Georgetown University students—burglaries, assaults, and sexual assaults—committed in 2007 and 2008 in off-campus Georgetown residences.

Thomas was charged and found guilty of the crimes, including five counts of first degree burglary, one count of attempted burglary, one count of fourth degree sexual abuse, and two counts of simple assault, in November 2009, ABC News reports. In one case, “Thomas sexually assaulted a student who was sleeping in bed while in another a student was awakened when Thomas massaged his ankles.”

It is not clear whether any of the crimes he was convicted for are crimes that have been attributed, by either the Metropolitan Police Department or the Department of Public Safety, to the so-called “Georgetown Cuddler.” Vox could not immediately reach MPD or DPS but we’ll let you know when we learn more.

View February 2010 Crime Map in a larger map

February wasn’t a very criminal month at Georgetown. There were 25 crimes recorded in the Department of Public Safety Daily Crime Log, but nearly half of those were drug violations. There were two very violent crimes, however, one simple assault, and one sexual assault. Here’s the breakdown:

• There weren’t as many thefts in February as Georgetown usually sees recorded in a month. Only five thefts took place. A bicycle tire, a coat containing a scarf, an iPod, and cash, a wallet, the contents of a backpack, including a laptop, and a cellphone SIM card were the items stolen.

• Unusually, there were quite a number of drug violations at Georgetown last month. A grand total of 12 drug violations were recorded in February, far and away the most of any month in the DPS logs online. Earlier this month, readers pointed out to us that the spike coincided with the Voice cover story about Georgetown’s relatively lenient punishments for drug use.

• A sexual assault occurred this month at the Georgetown University Hospital in which an assailant touched a victim inappropriately and was arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department. MPD has not responded to several requests for more details about the assault, and DPS has referred Vox to the Hospital’s security.

• There was one simple assault at Georgetown at 36th and N Streets, in which two male students sent another student to the emergency room. The suspected assailants were identified and the case has been turned over to MPD.

• Two incidents of harassment occurred in which a complainant received threatening notes in Copley Hall and another received threatening notes in Darnall Hall.

• There was one case of unlawful entry recorded this month, in which an individual who had been barred from campus before was found in McCarthy Hall and was arrested and charged with unlawful entry.

• There was one case of public indecency, in which an individual was caught publicly urinating.

Update 9:08 p.m. March 3: NBC Washington is reporting that the crime at 35th and T Streets resembles crimes perpetrated by the so-called “Georgetown Cuddler”:

“A woman claims a man entered her home at 35th and T streets at about 4 a.m. Sunday, climbed in her bed, sexually assaulted her and fled.”

—

Update 8:34 p.m.: The Department of Public Safety has sent out a Public Safety Alert about the assault which took place in Burleith. It reads:

“On Sunday, February 28, 2010 between the hours of 4:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., a sexual assault occurred inside a residence in the vicinity of 35th & T Streets. The suspect gained entry to the residence by an unknown means.

“DPS became aware of the incident on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 2, 2010. The victim is not associated with Georgetown University. The incident is under investigation by MPD and no further details are available at this time.”

The PSA gives the same description of the suspect that Vox listed below.

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This weekend saw two sexual assaults in the Georgetown area. One took place at the Georgetown University Hospital or Medical Center, another in a residence in Burleith near campus.

The little information available about the crime in the Georgetown Hospital comes from the Department of Public Safety’s Daily Crime log:

“[At 6:23 a.m.], an unknown male inappropriately touched the victim. Suspect was identified and arrested by MPD.”

The crime is listed twice in the log, and so it is unclear where exactly it occurred. Vox has not gotten responses from either University spokespeople, safety officials, or Metropolitan Police Department officers about additional information about this case, including whether a Public Safety Announcement should have gone out to students.

Read the rest of this entry »

View January 2010 Crime Map in a larger map

January was a particularly violent month at Georgetown. Not because the number of crime incidents surged—there were 29 crimes reported for January in the Department of Public Safety’s Daily Crime log, which is about even with September and November, and nowhere near October, when 52 crimes were reported—but because the number of more serious incidents increased from months where there were a comparable number of crimes.

• Two assaults occurred on campus this month. The first was the incident Vox reported on in which a female student assaulted another with her keys after he broke up with her. The second occurred in Reynolds on a Thursday night, and ended with the complainant being treated in the emergency room for head injuries.

• A hit-and-run occurred at the Prospect Street gate which did not end in a trip to the emergency room.

• One robbery occurred in which the complainant was pushed into a wall and cash was stolen from her.

• Three cases of harassment were reported this month. In one, a student in Copley Hall received notes with offensive language; in another, someone received profane and harassing text messages; in the third case, someone in the New South Facilities building received annoying radio transmissions. All three cases are under investigation.

Read the rest of this entry »

OK, so this isn’t something you need to watch out for at the moment—dozens of Metro stations are closed and even if you’re using the underground rail, where are you going?

But when D.C. pulls itself back together, keep an eye out for potential thieves on the Metro when you’re riding to a basketball game or internship. The Washington Examiner reports that in the first 11 months of 2009, robberies on the Metro skyrocketed to 805 thefts from 538 over the same period in 2008.

And 2007, the same period saw only 397 thefts—which means that robberies on the Metro have essentially doubled in two years.

Driving the rise in theft, Chief of Police Jeff Delinski told the Examiner, are suspects who grab electronic devices like iPods and BlackBerries out of people’s hands.

“In many cases, a robber will grab an iPod or cell phone from a rider just before train doors close at a Metro station,” the article says. “The crime isn’t reported until the victim reaches the next station and by then, the robber has gotten away.”

In April, transit police began placing undercover agents on Metro cars to arrest criminals who snatched electronics (or committed other crimes) but they can’t be everywhere. So watch your iPhone.

Via DCist.

Photo from Flickr user WisDoc used under a Creative Commons license.

On Wednesday, February 3, at around 11:45 a.m., three black males confronted a University employee and attempted to rob him. The victim repeatedly refused to comply with demands from the three suspects that he give them anything, and they left him without taking anything.

The Department of Public Safety has put out the following details in a Public Safety Alert:

At approximately 11:45 a.m. on Wednesday, February 4, 2010, a University employee reported to DPS that he was the victim of an attempted robbery in the 3300 block of M Street moments earlier. He reported that while walking to his classroom, which is located on the same block, three unknown males were walking towards him. Two of them passed him, then approached him from behind, while the third confronted him from the front. One suspect had his hand inside a black duffle bag. Another suspect demanded the complainant “give it up, old man.”

When the complainant did not comply, the suspect repeated the demand. When the complainant did not comply again, the suspects began walking away, at which time the complainant called DPS. The suspects then ran east towards Wisconsin Avenue. DPS notified MPD and responded to the employee’s office. MPD officers and detectives responded and the investigation was turned over to them.

Paragraphing is Vox’s. The PSA gives the following description of the three suspects: “The suspects are described as three black males. Suspect one: 5′7″, average build, wearing all black. Suspect two: 5′9″, average build, wearing all black. Suspect three: 6′, clean shaven, average build, wearing all black clothing and a hood over his head, carrying a black duffle bag. The hood has a blue stripe on the bottom portion and a yellow stripe on the upper portion.”

On Sunday, a man who had shoplifted merchandise from the University Bookstore fell off the Leavey Center pedestrian bridge during his attempt to flee the scene. The incident happened on a Sunday afternoon, after the suspect had been confronted for trying to steal from the bookstore, University Spokesperson Andy Pino wrote in an e-mail.

A Department of Public Safety investigator who spoke on the condition of anonymity told Vox that the man was not a student, nor does he have any connection to the University. Pino and Rocco DelMonaco, the vice president for University safety, said that the suspect sustained injuries while trying to escape that needed hospital attention. DPS has turned the case over to the Metropolitan Police Department, which has not responded to requests for comment.

Update: Joseph Smith, the associate director of the Public Safety Department, sent more details in an e-mail: “According to witnesses, the perpetrator had attempted to steal two text books valued at $177 dollars each from the Leavey Book Store. He allegedly fled from the bookstore, dropped a duffel bag containing the books, and jumped over the side of the bridge.”

Based on interviews with four University sources, Vox originally reported that the suspect jumped off the bridge. Eyewitnesses have since told the Voice that the suspect fell attempting to climb down the bridge. The post has been altered to reflect the new information.