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Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009 5:01 p.m.

Elderly man robbed outside Safeway in the Watergate

by Gabrielle Bluestone

An elderly man was robbed of $800 outside the Safeway supermarket in the Watergate Complex last week after he left the store with his groceries.

The 87-year-old told Metropolitan Police that he had been coming up on the escalator that connects the lower level of the complex, where several shops are located, when the incident occurred. According to the report, he was on the escalator with bags in each of his hands when the man in front of him “stopped, abruptly blocking the exit of the escalator and said that he had dropped his watch and needed to look for it.”

The victim told the man to move, but ran into him at the top of the escalator because there was no room to go around him. The victim was knocked backwards onto a second man who was riding the escalator behind him. The second man helped steady him and then quickly left the area, walking west on Virginia Avenue, according to the report.

The victim realized later that his alligator skin wallet had been stolen from his left front pocket where he had put it after he paid for his groceries. Three credit cards, $800 in cash and a drivers license were reported missing.

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Thursday, July 16, 2009 11:56 a.m.

Officers will focus on stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue to curb robberies

by Gabrielle Bluestone

Robberies are up on Pennsylvania Avenue between 21st and 24th streets over the last 60 days, a Metropolitan Police Department official said Wednesday at the Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2A meeting.

Sgt. Dustin Nevel, an evening patrol sergeant, said officers are focusing on the area. Nevel said one reason crime may be up in that area is because of its proximity to the Foggy Bottom Metro station.

“Suspects are most likely fleeing on the Metro,” Nevel said. “We’re going to be pulling video.”

Most of the robberies have occurred between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., the evening rush hour, Nevel said. Ten officers have been assigned to patrol the area during the evening shift and 10 to the midnight shift, while the number of officers in the day have been reduced.

There have been 16 violent crimes in the entire ANC 2A area since May 15, according to data from the MPD crime map Web site. Seven of those crimes occurred on Pennsylvania Avenue, and there were also several thefts reported in the area. According to the map, total violent crime in ANC 2A is up 60 percent from the same time period last year.

Most of that increase came between May 15 and June 15. Since June 15, there have been five violent crimes in the area, compared to four from the same time last year.

An earlier effort to curb theft from cars in the area has seen success. Eleven thefts from cars between May 15 and June 15 was reduced to seven thefts between June 15 and July 15, according to the crime map.

Despite the jump in robberies, the Police Service Area 207, where GW is located, was given an award in June for the highest reduction in crime of all seven police districts, Nevel said.

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Friday, June 19, 2009 12:27 p.m.

Student attacked by group of juveniles near campus

by Gabrielle Bluestone

A GW student was attacked early last Saturday morning in the 2300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, according to a Metropolitan Police Department report.

The student reported that she was approaching Washington Circle at 12:20 a.m. when she was attacked by a group of male and female juveniles. According to the report, they surrounded her, began shoving her, and sprayed her in the face with pepper spray. The group tried to grab her purse but she would not let go, and she was pushed to the ground and kicked repeatedly.

The group of juveniles then ran away, University Police Chief Dolores Stafford said, but a GW 4-RIDE driver who had witnessed the attack followed them as they ran north on New Hampshire Avenue. UPD and MPD identified six of the suspects and the victim was able to identify two of them. The two suspects identified by the victim were arrested and the others were released to their parents.

The victim refused medical transport, but recieved anti-pepper spray wipes from a medic, according to the MPD report.

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Monday, March 16, 2009 10:46 p.m.

Attempted robbery by masked man in the University Parking Garage

by Sarah Scire

A man wearing a black ski mask attempted to rob a female in the University Parking Garage at about 8 p.m. Monday, according to the fourth crime alert e-mail sent in the last two months.

The suspect fled the parking garage, located at 22nd and H streets, after the unidentified female screamed. The man was wearing a black ski mask and was not apprehended, although University Police Department officers conducted a search of the area for him.

As The Hatchet reported earlier this month, there has been an increase in the number of “snatch” robberies on or near campus recently, including a total of eight incidents in January and February.

The crime alerts sent have warned the GW community that “robberies and thefts, including pick pocket, purse snatch, and other thefts where property is snatched from the control of the victims, typically increase with warmer weather and in hard economic times.”

The suspect in Monday’s attempted robbery was described “a black male, 5′ 7″ to 5′ 8″, 160 to 170 lbs, medium build, wearing a black ski mask, dark bulky jacket.”

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Friday, Nov. 28, 2008 8:08 p.m.

Bank of America at 20th and Penn robbed

by Alexa Millinger

At about 9:30 a.m. today, a lone man entered and robbed the Bank of America branch at 2001 Pennsylvania Ave., making off with an undetermined amount of cash, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

The suspect reportedly passed bank employees a note demanding U.S. currency and fled the scene after robbing the bank. MPD said they are currently working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to identify the suspect, who they describe as a “black male, in his thirties, 6′0″ tall and weighing approximately 200 pounds.”

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