Once again, suspected car thieves have eluded Alexandria police by driving across state lines into Maryland.
At around 10:45 a.m., the Alexandria Police Department discovered a stolen red Kia Sorrento with D.C. tags in the area of Duke Street and Callahan Drive in the Carlyle neighborhood of the city, according to the police scanner. APD reported multiple suspects inside the vehicle.
Police followed the vehicle to an Exxon station in the 2800 block of Duke Street, and after refueling, the suspects eluded police by getting on Interstate 495 and driving across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge into Maryland. An APD officer said via scanner that they would contact Maryland law enforcement officials to follow-up.
The tactic is a familiar one for suspects. Earlier this month, would-be car thieves made a brazen getaway by driving across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
Anyone with information on the stolen vehicle can contact the APD non-emergency number at 703-746-4444. Callers can remain anonymous.
The Alexandria Police Department is investigating alleged car thefts that resulted in a high-speed chase across state lines.
At around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14, APD was notified of multiple men in ski masks in a dark blue minivan and a white 2016 Acura MDX trying to break into vehicles in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 4600 block of Duke Street. The 911 caller observed the incident from a surveillance video, according to APD scanner traffic.
Police found the suspects and “commanded” them to “show their hands, but the suspects disregarded the commands and fled in the… minivan eastbound towards Duke Street, almost striking a police cruiser while attempting to flee,” police said in a recently released search warrant affidavit.
The white Acura was abandoned at the scene and two suspects fled the area on foot.
The affidavit said that the van eluded police by crossing state lines over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge from Virginia into Maryland.
“Myself and other officers attempted to stop the vehicle as it continued to flee at (a) high rate of speed eastbound on Duke Street towards Telegraph Road,” police said in the search warrant affidavit.
“The vehicle continued at a high rate of speed, ran red lights, and drove through the delineators at the Telegraph Road ramp,” the affidavit continued. “[An investigating officer] advised the last sighting of the vehicle was fleeing eastbound on Interstate 495 past the Washington National Harbor exit.”
Police found the following inside the abandoned Acura, according to the search warrant:
- Two head lamps
- Clothing (hat and shirt)
- Two cell phones
- Three sets of car keys (Dodge, Toyota, Chrysler)
- Two gloves
- Miscellaneous documents
- Burglarious tools
- Electronic accessories
- Four Honda tires
Anyone with information on this incident can contact the APD non-emergency number at 703-746-4444. Callers can remain anonymous.
The Alexandria Police Department just announced three major new hires.
APD announced Monday that it will welcome new Assistant Police Chiefs Raul Pedroso and Tina Laguna, as well as Communications Manager Tracy Walker.
“We are expanding APD leadership at a necessary time when our community is looking to us for more information sharing and innovative approaches to crime reduction,” Hayes said. “We look forward to the incoming expertise they will bring to further bolster our collective commitment to public safety in Alexandria.”
The assistant chief positions have been vacant since Police Chief Don Hayes was formally promoted in April 2022. The new hirings restructure the department to have three assistant police chiefs, as opposed to the two assistant chiefs (one of whom was a civilian) under previous APD Chief Michael L. Brown.
Pedroso will be the department’s assistant chief and commander of the Criminal Investigation Bureau. In that role, he will lead APD criminal investigations, crime scene investigations and Special Investigations. Pedroso was previously a major in the Coral Gables Police Department in Florida. He attended the FBI National Academy and has a master’s of science degree in criminal justice from Florida International University and a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Florida, according to his LinkedIn page.
Laguna will take charge of the APD Administrative and Technology Bureau, as well as “areas related to accreditation, training and recruitment, along with fleet, facility, and records management,” according to APD. She is currently the assistant chief overseeing investigative services at the Manassas City Police Department, and is the first Black woman to achieve the rank. She has a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in Criminology, Law, and Society from George Mason University, according to MCPD.
Walker was the public affairs director for the Richmond Police Department since 2021. She has been in marketing and public affairs for decades and has a bachelor of the arts degree from the University of Texas San Antonio, according to her LinkedIn page.
Pedroso and Laguna will formally join the department on Oct. 23 and Walker started on Monday, according to APD.
A 29-year-old Maryland man faces multiple charges after allegedly fleeing police in a stolen car in Alexandria’s West End.
The incident occurred at around 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday, August 30. Police found that a white Kia Forte with Virginia tags driving in the area of Duke Street and S. Reynolds Street was stolen, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit.
Police said that the theft of the Kia was “consistent” with other thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles from a TikTok challenge, where suspects break into vehicles and use a USB cord to start them.
“The Kia Forte vehicle was found to have a busted rear driver side window and damaged and missing steering column cover where the ignition is normally located,” police said in the search warrant affidavit. “These damages appear to be consistent with those observed on the current TikTok car theft challenge.”
At a meeting with the City Council yesterday, Police Chief Don Hayes said that as of Aug. 31 there were 118 Hyundais and Kias stolen in the last year, which he attributed to a combination of software flaws and the TikTok challenge.
The suspect in the Kia then allegedly led police on a nearly two-mile chase before crashing into a fire hydrant near the intersection of Duke Street and Cockrell Avenue.
“The vehicle travelled east along Duke Street and attempted to lose the officer but crashed at a fire hydrant at the intersection of Duke Street and Cockrell Avenue,” according to the search warrant affidavit. “The Alexandria police officer commanded the subject to stop but he refused and continued running.”
A female passenger in the vehicle later told police that the suspect is an acquaintance and wasn’t aware that the vehicle was stolen, according to the search warrant affidavit. The woman was not charged.
The suspect was charged with unauthorized use of a vehicle, fleeing from law enforcement, falsely identifying himself to law enforcement, driving without a valid license, hit-and-run (property damage) and reckless driving.
The suspect was released on Sept. 7 on a $6,000 unsecured bond and goes to court on October 11.
Alexandria police on Friday arrested a fugitive who escaped from prison in Wisconsin on Monday, Sept. 11.
The Alexandria Police Department arrested 38-year-old Dustin Bone in the area of King and N. West Streets in Old Town at around 5 p.m. after an officer used a license plate reader and determined that the black pickup truck he was driving was stolen, according to an APD news release and the police scanner.
Bone was arrested more than 900 miles from the minimum-security Sanger B. Powers Correctional Center in Oneida, Wisconsin.
Bone was arrested without incident and is currently held in the William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center, according to APD.
He was convicted of armed robbery in 2016, sentenced to seven years in prison and was reportedly two months away from his scheduled release.
A 41-year-old Alexandria man is being held without bond after allegedly throwing away a handgun on Interstate 395 while eluding police.
The victim’s girlfriend called police on May 5 and reported that she was the victim of domestic assault and battery at her home in the 700 block of N. Ripley Street, according to a search warrant affidavit. The woman told police that her boyfriend threatened her and that he was known to carry a firearm.
Police found the suspect in his car and ordered him to stop, but the suspect “backed over a median and fled northbound on N. Van Dorn Street at a high rate of speed,” police said in the search warrant affidavit.
Police chased the suspect seven miles, through Arlington and then back into Alexandria on I-395. The suspect’s car then started to have mechanical problems, and police saw the suspect “throw a handgun style firearm out of the driver’s side window,” according to the search warrant affidavit.
The suspect was arrested on I-395 just before the exit for Washington Boulevard in Arlington. Police also recovered a Jimenez Arms J.A. 380 on the side of the road.
The suspect was then charged with assault and battery, abduction by force/intimidation, carrying a concealed weapon, driving on a revoked/suspended license, possession of Schedule I and II drugs, reckless driving, eluding police and discharging missiles at a train/car.
All the charges were dismissed in court on June 21 except eluding police and being a nonviolent felon in possession of a firearm, both of which were transferred to the Circuit Court for a grand jury trial. The trial date has not yet been set.
Alexandria’s Sexual Assault Center and Domestic Violence Program is open, and hotlines are available 24/7 at 703-684-7273 [Sexual Assault Hotline] or 703-746-4911 [Domestic Violence Hotline].
Image via Google Maps
Alexandria and Arlington police are searching along Four Mile Run for a grand larceny suspect who fled from officers near the West Glebe Road bridge.
Alexandria Police spokesman Marcel Bassett said the department requested assistance from Arlington police to search along both sides of Four Mile Run.
Bassett said the suspect fled from officers. Scanner traffic indicated the suspect is wanted for grand larceny and, at one point, went into the creek under one of the bridges to cross into Arlington.
Police are searching along underpasses and through homeless encampments along Four Mile Run, per scanner traffic. K-9 units were called in to search through vegetation.
A 41-year-old Alexandria man is being held without bond on multiple charges after allegedly shooting a gun at a vehicle while driving, strangling a former girlfriend, eluding police and discarding a handgun on Interstate 395.
The victim called police at around 11:15 p.m. on Friday night (May 5) and reported that the suspect allegedly fired several shots at other vehicles in the area of E. Raymond Avenue and Dewitt Avenue, according to dispatch reports.
Scanner traffic shows that the suspect was driving in an older model white Chrysler, which was located just before midnight going north on N. Van Dorn Street near Kenmore Avenue. Police chased the Chrysler at speeds up to 90 miles per hour before the suspect drove onto I-395 northbound near Glebe Road and allegedly threw a handgun out the driver’s side window, prompting police to section off a portion of the highway. The Chrysler broke down minutes later on I-395 near the Washington Boulevard exit.
The suspect was charged with strangling, abduction by force, malicious shooting at a train/car, firearm possession by a nonviolent felon, assault and battery, driving on a revoked/suspended license, shooting in a public place and eluding police. He goes to court on June 21.
The Alexandria Sexual Assault Center and Domestic Violence Program is available 24/7 to listen and help at 703-746-4911.
“If you are a neighbor and know that an abusive incident is occurring, call the police immediately,” the city said. “Calling the police is simply the most effective way to protect the victim and children from immediate harm.”
The Alexandria Police Department is investigating an armed carjacking that allegedly occurred in Old Town earlier today..
The incident allegedly took place around 2 p.m. near the 700 block of S. Alfred Street. According to the scanner, the victim told police a man in all-black clothing put a gun to the driver’s head and took the white Mercedes.
The carjacker reportedly fled on I-495 westbound then to I-95 traveling over 110 mph, according to the scanner.
Alexandria Police spokesman Marcel Bassett told ALXnow that the vehicle was located and recovered unoccupied in Fairfax County. No injuries were reported with the incident, according to Bassett.
ARMED CARJACKING IN ALEXANDRIA: 700 Bl. of S. Alfred St. Alexandria, VA. @AlexandriaVAPD on scene investigating an armed carjacking with a woman having her Wh. Mercedes E350 taken at gunpoint by an unknown individual. Vehicle spotted on I495.
— DC REALTIME NEWS (@RealTimeNews10) April 27, 2023
A 28-year-old Fairfax County man wanted for a Jan. 4 shooting incident faces numerous charges after allegedly striking an Alexandria Police Department cruiser in the Landmark area earlier this month.
Police arrested Mengesha Mnat after a brief chase on April 3, after he allegedly pulled into the 7-Eleven parking lot at 6120 Lincolnia Road, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit. Police said Mnat parked facing the street and struck a police cruiser as APD approached his car to make an arrest.
Police tracked Mnat to an apartment complex less than a mile away near the intersection of Little River Turnpike and Southland Avenue. He was reportedly pursued by APD investigators and the K9 unit.
“Mr. Mnat parked the vehicle and fled on foot, (and) while running your affiant could observe Mr. Mnat manipulating his hands around his waistband,” police said in the search warrant affidavit.
The following was recovered from the suspect’s “flight path”:
- A loaded Glock handgun
- 11.8 grams of suspected fentanyl, which field-tested positive
- 5.8 grams of suspected cocaine
- 1.5 pills of Oxycodone
Mnat is suspected in a Jan. 4 shooting incident in the 6100 block of Lincolnia Road. He was charged with discharging a firearm in a public place, resisting arrest, disregarding police commands to stop, assault on law enforcement, hit and run (property damage), possession of Schedule I/II drugs with a firearm, and possession to distribute Schedule I/II drugs.
Mnat goes to court on April 26.
Notification:: There is a moderate police presence in the 6100 block of Lincolnia Road. This is in response to a shots fired call for service, no injuries were reported in connection with the incident. APD is on the scene and investigating. pic.twitter.com/jSQl6tsUUz
— Alexandria Police (@AlexandriaVAPD) January 5, 2023
Image via Google Maps
