Credit Card Thief at Takoma Aquatics Center

Reported on the Takoma Park Listserv:

A credit card thief is working the Takoma Aquatics Center.

Saturday morning, December 11, between 10:30am and 11:00am somebody broke a padlock off locker 562 in the men’s locker room and helped himself to my wallet while I was swimming with my 3-year-old.

I lost about $40 in cash, two debit cards and one credit card.

This is the third such crime in as many weeks at this location.

All three of my cards were swiped at Best Buy in Wheaton around 11:20am. There were four transactions in total, one of which was rejected. The three charges that went through were worth more than $1,500 in total.

Here’s the good news: Officer Israel James of the Metropolitan Police Department, currently detailed to the 4th District, is all over this. He met me at the Aquatics Center and took a full report. Officer James had me call the credit card companies so that he could gather all available information about the fraudulent transactions.

Here’s the bad news: I was the third victim in three weekends. That’s what Officer James and I learned from Mr. James Morrison, the manager on duty today at the Takoma Aquatics Center. Officer James admonished Mr. Morrison to post signs and to engage patrons so that everybody is aware of the problem.

Officer Israel will be coming around the Aquatics Center to keep an eye on things. He’s also going to contact the Montgomery County Police regarding the fraudulent charges made at Best Buy in Wheaton.

Officer Israel asks that all users of the Aquatics Center keep an eye out for suspicious activity and call 911 if you have something to report.

Theft is always a bummer, especially when you have to explain it to a 3- year-old. But I must express my gratitude to Officer James for a prompt and highly professional response.

DC's Dumbest Robber Award Goes To...

Photo by Jimmy Joe

There are all sorts of stupid things that crooks do that get them caught. Stupid crooks are legion; there are even websites devoted to chronically their goofs. If you think you've heard it all, you're wrong: Last week a armed robber was arrested: He was on probation and wearing a GPS ankle bracelet at the time. Here's the police report :

On November 1, 2010, we responded to armed robberies at Holly, Tulip, Maple and Carroll Avenues, in broad daylight at 12:30 p.m. 

On November 3, 2010, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) made an arrest for robbery in the District of Columbia and contacted us. Our detective responded to the 4th District MPD where our investigation identified one of the two suspects from our robbery.

Our State’s Attorney’s Office was contacted and authorized two arrest warrants for armed robbery for Kevin Shird (20), of Washington, D.C. He is currently incarcerated in the D.C. Jail.

We have filed detainers for two counts of armed robbery. It should be noted that our suspect is on probation and was wearing a GPS ankle bracelet at the time of his arrest. The second suspect is still outstanding and our investigation continues.

Pumpkin Thief

Anything and everything is fair game for thieves, including pumpkins. This report of a stolen pumpkin appeared on Communit-E. How sad. Perhaps some enterprising individual will find a way to lock pumpkins to porches. Or maybe we just all need to decorate our pumpkins quickly, because the thieves only want uncarved ones.

This must be a first for so early in the season. our pumpkin was stolen from our front step on 47th Street last night. Just an ordinary, medium-sized, undecorated pumpkin.I'd like to replace it, but I'm afraid the same thing will happen again. No greeter for the trick-or-treaters.

ATM Machine Skimmed in Cleveland Park

Warning:  ATM machine skimming isn't something that only happens somewhere else. It took place in Cleveland Park recently. Card skimmers are machines that get inserted into the mouth of ATM machines and record your account information from the magnetic strip and the PIN number you enter. With that information, a crook can clone your bank card and then steal your money. You can read more about card skimmers and how to detect them on Snopes. Here the victim's firsthand report about what happened to her at the ATM: