A woman had to run to safety at Ballston Common Mall after a bicyclist grabbed her buttocks and started riding in circles around her on N. Stuart Street.
As detailed in this week’s Arlington County crime report, the incident happened early Saturday morning outside the Ballston Metro station.
Arlington police are investigating an incident in which goods purchased with a stolen credit card were mailed to the victim of the credit card fraud, then stolen from the victim’s home.
“There were at least ten pairs of women’s shoes and several purses mailed to [the victim’s] residence several days after his credit card was stolen,” said Arlington County police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. “A day later the package he received was stolen, along with jewelry from the house.”
The picture on the left is the area formerly known as Rosslyn Circle, taken around 1925. Records indicate the businesses shown were on Agnew Avenue, which is now Lynn Street. They stood at the base of the newly finished Key Bridge, which replaced the Aqueduct Bridge in 1923.
Rosslyn, and this section in particular, used to be considered a rough area. After the Civil War ended, many soldiers stayed behind. They drove out the farmers who previously owned the land in Rosslyn, and set up saloons, gambling houses and houses of prostitution. Thievery and murder were a regular occurrence, and locals knew not to walk there at night, if at all.
According to police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck, the man was first seen sitting on the sidewalk in between two cars with a newspaper over his lap, in the 1000 block of N. Fillmore Street in Clarendon, on Saturday, May 19. Staff from a restaurant across the street saw the man masturbating as he watched children playing on the restaurant patio.
Witnesses called the police, and one staff member walked across the street to ask the man to leave. He left without causing trouble. Police have not been able to locate him, and want residents to be aware of the incident.
A woman was sexually assaulted last night as she walked into her apartment building in the Columbia Heights neighborhood. The victim managed to fight back, however, and the suspect left some incriminating evidence at the scene as he fled.
From this week’s Arlington County crime report:
The first occurred around 11:15 p.m. in the 3300 block of Washington Blvd, according to police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. A 26-year-old female walked home alone after having spent a night out with friends. After she typed in the security code to open her garage door and walked inside the garage, she noticed the suspect standing at the bottom of her driveway. She became frightened and tried to close the automated garage door, but the man allegedly rushed toward her and stuck his hand over a sensor, causing the door to re-open. She made it inside the house, locked the door and called police while the suspect fled the scene.
According to Sternbeck, the victim described the suspect as a black man with a dark complexion and short hair, about 5’11”, 200 pounds and around 30 years of age. At the time, he had been wearing khaki pants and a red and white checkered shirt. The victim noted that she saw the suspect wearing black gloves when he put his hand over the garage sensor.
One police official said the pair’s efforts were part of the department’s “War on Woodchucks” — a reference to the name sometimes given to scam artists who prey on senior citizens by performing unnecessary yard work and charging exorbitant amounts of money for it. Some of the offenders repeatedly target the same victims, or inform other scam artists of who to target. It’s not unusual for some of the victims to lose tens of thousands of dollars during interactions with woodchucks.
Even after being asked about winning the award, Everest turned the attention back to helping the elderly. She encouraged people to watch out for their neighbors and to call the police if they notice something suspicious. She added that there’s still a long road ahead in the fight to end these kinds of crimes in Arlington, and she’d like to see tougher laws put in place to bring the scam artists to justice.
A woman was raped while visiting her sister in the Tara-Leeway Heights neighborhood last Thursday, according to this week’s Arlington County crime report.
The crime happened while the victim was visiting her sister’s apartment, in the basement of a home shared by several tenants, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. A man who lives in one of the rooms forced himself upon her while in one of the basement’s common areas, according to Sternbeck.
A woman had a double whammy of a bad day this past Friday night/early Saturday morning. Not only was her bike stolen from outside the Ballston Metro station, but a man tried to rob her at knifepoint while she was walking home after finding out that her bike was stolen.
ATTEMPTED ROBBERY, 04/14/12, 1400 block of N. Glebe Road. On April 14 at 12:20 am, after returning to Arlington from DC to find her bike stolen from the Ballston Metro stop, a female walking home alone was approached by an unknown subject with a knife. The suspect demanded the victims purse, causing the victim to begin screaming for help. The suspect fled the scene on foot without the purse and is described as a white male, early-mid thirties in age, approximately 5’6″ to 5’8″ tall, with a semi-muscular build and a chipped or missing front tooth. He was wearing a Phillies jersey and jeans at the time of the attempted robbery.
An event next week will remind residents that Arlington is not without gang activity and gang-related violence.
On Tuesday, April 17, Leadership Arlington will be holding a panel discussion entitled “Arlington County Gangs: Exploring the Shadows of Our Urban Mayberry.” Part of the organization’s spring speaker series, the event will focus on “the threats that gang activity present to the Arlington community,” “contributing factors to youth participation in gangs” and “initiatives in place to address gang-related violence.”
“This purpose of this outreach is to let people know that it’s not okay to sexually harass people on Metro,” said Metro General Manager and CEO Richard Sarles on WMATA’s website. “We are encouraging anyone who may be harassed to report the incident to Metro Transit Police.”
Phase one included this week’s launch of an online reporting system. Victims have the option of remaining anonymous, but all reports will be sent directly to Metro Transit Police. An email address, [email protected], has also been set up to allow customers to send photos or video to assist in an investigation.
A would-be crime victim said “no deal” to a criminal who tried to steal his briefcase full of cash.
The attempted robbery took place in a Crystal City parking garage. According to this week’s Arlington County crime report, the victim was able to hang on to his briefcase even after the suspect struck him in the back of the head.
