(Updated at 10 a.m.) An Arlington man faces criminal charges after Vienna police learned that a vehicle he reported as stolen had, in fact, been involved in a hit-and-run crash.

The Vienna Police Department got a report on July 30 from a supposed resident who said his vehicle had been stolen out of his garage on Battle Street SE sometime between midnight on July 29 and 9 a.m. on July 30.

“A resident left his vehicle unsecured in the garage with the keys inside overnight,” police said in a summary from its recap of the week of Aug. 4. “Due to a storm and power outage, the garage door was unable to close. The following day, the resident discovered the vehicle was stolen.”

The VPD noted at the time that the vehicle was later located in another jurisdiction.

A subsequent investigation, however, linked the vehicle to a crash in Arlington County where the driver fled the scene with two children, according to an update in the VPD’s latest recap, which covers the week of Sept. 8-14.

“Investigation revealed the driver was the owner of the vehicle who made the stolen vehicle report the following morning,” Vienna police said.

According to the Arlington County Police Department, its officers were dispatched to the 1500 block of North Bryan Street around 10:07 p.m. on July 29 for a single-vehicle crash “with unknown conditions.”

“The preliminary investigation indicated the driver of the vehicle struck a stop sign and utility pole at 16th Street N. and N. Bryan Street before exiting the vehicle with the two juvenile occupants and running from the scene prior to police arrival,” an ACPD spokesperson said.

Vienna police arrested the 42-year-old Arlington man on Sept. 7 after Detective Brad Reedy obtained a warrant charging him with making a false report to a law enforcement officer.

The man has also been charged by Arlington police with two counts each of child neglect and hit and run of unattended property.

“He was transported to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center where the warrants were served on him,” the VPD said.

In a separate, more recent incident, Vienna police responded at 7:14 p.m. last Tuesday (Sept. 12) to an assault in the Cedar Park Shopping Center parking lot, according to the weekly recap.

The officers located two men who advised they were getting into an Uber when three or four men approached the vehicle, pulled them out of the vehicle, and began assaulting them. The two men had visible signs of injury, but refused rescue. They reported they did not know the men who attacked them and advised they did not wish to pursue charges against them. Officers searched the area for the suspects but could not locate them.

Late night drinks ended in a round of fisticuffs at Vienna’s Pazzo Pomodoro last Wednesday (July 12).

Officers were called to the Italian restaurant at 118 Branch Road SE around 1:30 a.m. after getting a report of a fight, the Vienna Police Department said in a summary of notable incidents from the week of July 7-13.

According to the report, bystanders told police that the conflict began when a man made “comments about a couple” at the restaurant’s bar, which is open until 1 a.m. on Sundays through Thursdays.

“One of the other patrons was offended by the comments and asked the man to stop,” the VPD said. “When the man continued with the comments, a fight ensued between the man, the patron, and the patron’s adult son.”

Other customers and employees were able to break up the fight before the police arrived and advised those involved of the process for pursuing charges, should they opt to go that route, according to the VPD.

In a separate, belatedly documented incident, police went to the 200 block of Harmony Drive SW on June 2 to settle a dispute between a resident and a group of teen boys.

Officers received two calls about the incident: one from the resident and another from a caller who claimed the resident had brandished a handgun.

The resident advised she heard a loud banging at her front door and she observed several teenage boys standing by the curb. The resident yelled at the boys, swearing and using racial slurs. When the boys began cursing back she called the police. The boys advised they left the local pool and were waiting for a ride when an unknown boy ran up to the resident’s door, knocked, and ran away. The resident then began yelling at them and emerged with a gun.

The resident told officers that she was holding her phone to call the police, not a gun — an assertion confirmed by a cell phone video that the boys recorded of the encounter, the VPD said.

Also in the department’s latest round-up, a traffic stop on June 30 led to the driver — a 30-year-old Herndon man — getting charged with carrying a concealed firearm without a permit, and a resident reported on July 13 that her dog got sick from ingesting rat poison while in her backyard.

“It is not known how the poison could have gotten into the resident’s yard,” police said.

At the Westwood Country Club on July 7, a “disgruntled” employee was trespassed after “breaking several plates, shoving the manager, and placing several employees in fear.”

In addition, a resident in the 1100 block of Moorefield Hill Court SW called police on July 10 to report that his dog walker had seen another woman who claimed to be a dog walker enter his home around noon that day:

At 7:30 p.m., a resident reported an incident from earlier in the day when his dog walker observed a woman walk through the carport and into his home. The woman immediately left saying she had the wrong house. The dog walker provided the resident with the woman’s description and the tag number from her vehicle. Officers went to the woman’s home and she advised them that she is a dog walker and accidentally walked into a home thinking it was her client’s address then quickly realized she was at the wrong house.

Photo via Google Maps

Assault charges could be on deck for a Vienna man who allegedly chased and grabbed a boy during a youth baseball game earlier this week.

Vienna police officers were called to 133 Maple Avenue East at 8 p.m. on Wednesday (June 14) after getting a report of a man grabbing a juvenile at Waters Field (300 Cherry Street), according to the police department’s crime round-up for the week of June 9-15.

Identifying himself as being “with” the local Babe Ruth Baseball League, the man told police that the league has faced “an ongoing issue with the games being interrupted by juveniles.”

“The man explained there was a game in progress at Water’s Field when a group of boys ran onto the field and interrupted the game,” the Vienna Police Department said in the report. “He stated that he chased them off the field, grabbing one of them in an attempt to bring him to the police station.”

When contacted by police, the boys said they were at Vienna Inn (120 Maple Avenue East) with their soccer team when they decided to go to Waters Field and “climb the fence onto the ballfield.”

“They advised they did not realize they were interrupting a game until a man began chasing them,” the police recap says. “The father of the juvenile who was grabbed was advised of the incident and will decide if he wishes to pursue assault charges.”

In an unrelated incident, the VPD is investigating a spate of reported vehicle break-ins that occurred at the Westwood Country Club yesterday (Thursday) afternoon:

Grand Larceny 23-005642
Westwood Country Club
800 Maple Avenue, East
June 15 2:49 p.m.
A citizen reported someone entered his unlocked vehicle and stole his Titleist bag which contained clothes, a toiletries bag, and a therapy massage gun.

Grand Larceny 23-005638
Westwood Country Club
800 Maple Avenue, East
June 15 between 2:50 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.
A citizen reported she left her purse in her locked vehicle in the parking lot while dropping her son off at the country club. An unknown person smashed the window and stole her purse which contained U.S. currency, credit cards, gift cards, and other various paperwork and belongings.

Grand Larceny 23-005640
Westwood Country Club
800 Maple Avenue, East
June 15 3:49 p.m.
An employee reported someone smashed the driver’s side window of his vehicle and stole his wallet containing various identification, credit, and debit cards.

(Updated at 9:20 p.m.) Two members of Rep. Gerry Connolly’s staff were assaulted this morning by a Fairfax resident with a baseball bat.

The City of Fairfax Police Department and the United States Capitol Police (USCP) are investigating the incident at 10680 Main Street, Suite 140. The suspect has been arrested, while the victims were taken to a hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening, police said.

According to police, 49-year old Xuan-Kha Tran Pham entered Connolly’s Fairfax District Office in the Mainland Building around 10:49 a.m., carrying a metal baseball bat and used it to assault two staffers. One police officer also “sustained a minor injury and is receiving medical treatment,” Fairfax City police said.

Connolly wasn’t present at the time. The injured staffers included a senior aide and an intern who was on her first day of work, according to his office.

“Right now, our focus is on ensuring they are receiving the care they need,” Connolly said in a statement. “We are incredibly thankful to the City of Fairfax Police Department and emergency medical professionals for their quick response.”

Pham has been charged with one count of aggravated malicious wounding and one count of malicious wounding, according to police. He’s being held without bond at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.

“At this time, it is not clear what the suspect’s motivation may have been,” the USCP said. “Based on what we know right now, investigators do not have any information that the suspect was known to the USCP.”

Fairfax City police and the USCP are working with the FBI’s Washington Field Office on the investigation.

The Capitol Police says it has recorded an approximately 400% increase in threats against members of Congress over the past six years, with USCP Chief Tom Manger testifying before Congress that the world has become “more violent and uncertain” particularly over the past year.

“We are just extremely, extremely happy that this wasn’t worse,” a Fairfax City police spokesperson told NBC4.

As first reported by NBC4, before going to Connolly’s office, Pham allegedly smashed a woman’s car windshield with the baseball bat shortly after 10:30 a.m. in the Chantilly area. The woman was reportedly sitting in the car when Pham approached her and asked if she was white.

The Fairfax County Police Department obtained warrants for Pham charging him with property destruction and a hate crime, but he wasn’t located until the assault in Connolly’s office.

Connolly, a Democrat who represents Virginia’s 11th Congressional District in the House of Representatives, also has an office on Capitol Hill in D.C.

“I have the best team in Congress,” Connolly said. “My District Office staff make themselves available to constituents and members of the public every day. The thought that someone would take advantage of my staff’s accessibility to commit an act of violence is unconscionable and devastating.” Read More

A Manassas resident who fatally shot a man and hit a woman with a leaf blower at the Chantilly Park Shopping Center in 2019 has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and malicious wounding, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano announced Friday (April 28).

Steven Green, 55, faced a trial in March for the murder of 30-year-old Chantilly resident Miguel Angel Leiva Hernandez, but that ended with a hung jury.

With the jury about evenly split, no one on the victims’ side wanted to go through the experience of another trial, according to Laura Birnbaum, a spokesperson for the commonwealth’s attorney’s office.

“Having been through it and seeing how the evidence came out and how the jury reacted to it, there just wasn’t any appetite to do that again, so we ended up with this outcome,” Birnbaum said. “…This is guaranteed accountability. It addresses the incident, and all of the victims are happy with it.”

According to the commonwealth’s attorney, Green was cleaning the shopping center’s parking lot on May 24, 2019 when he got into “an altercation” with Myra Osorio Cordero outside a restaurant.

Green used his leaf blowers to send debris towards Osorio Cordero and, after they exchanged words, hit her in the face with one of the leaf blowers. When Leiva Hernandez saw Osorio Cordero bleeding profusely, he followed Green into the parking lot, where a physical struggle ensued and Green shot him once in the chest, killing him.

Osorio Cordero survived the encounter.

CA Descano announced today that Steven Green pleaded guilty to manslaughter and malicious wounding for the 2019 shooting of Miguel Leiva Hernandez. His March trial ended in a hung jury.

Green will be sentenced on September 1st. pic.twitter.com/mTJWsYlHyl

— Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Descano (@FairfaxCountyCA) April 28, 2023

According to a police report at the time, Green remained at the scene in the 14500 block of Lee Jackson Memorial Highway until police arrived. He was charged and tried for murder, malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Green claimed self-defense at the March trial in Fairfax County Circuit Court, according to NBC4.

To secure a guilty plea, prosecutors amended the murder charge to manslaughter and dropped the firearm charge. A sentencing hearing will be held on Sept. 1.

“It’s always a tragedy when a young person dies, and nothing can bring Miguel back to his family and loved ones,” Descano said in a statement on Friday. “As prosecutors, our job is to put on a fair trial, and we respect the original jury’s serious deliberation of the evidence in this case. Today’s agreement guarantees a just outcome for the community.”

Descano’s office also announced Friday that 22-year-old Lorton resident Ronnie Marshall had been sentenced to life in prison for shooting and killing Army colonel and doctor Edward McDaniel Jr. and his wife, Brenda McDaniel, a retired Army colonel and a nurse, at their home in Springfield in 2021.

An instructional assistant at an elementary school in Newington faces an assault charge after allegedly dragging a student by the arm.

Fouzia Masood Khan, a 59-year-old Springfield resident, was charged with simple assault yesterday (Thursday) for a Jan. 11 incident at Saragtoga Elementary School, the Fairfax County Police Department announced.

According to police, another school employee saw Khan “drag a student by their arm down the hall.”

“The employee immediately reported the assault to school administrators. Our detectives were notified on Jan. 13 and assumed the investigation,” the FCPD said.

Detectives with the department’s Major Crimes Bureau Child Abuse Squad served Khan with a “summons releasable warrant” yesterday morning.

Police say anyone with information about the incident can contact detectives at 703-246-7800, option 4, or submit a tip through Crime Solvers by phone (1-866-411-TIPS) and online.

FCPS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from FFXnow.

This is the second time this year that an instructional assistant employed by FCPS has been charged with assaulting a student. A woman working at Glen Forest Elementary School in Bailey’s Crossroads turned herself in on Jan. 3 after another employee reported that she’d assaulted a student with disabilities on Dec. 8.

Photo via Google Maps

Tempers ran hot at a hypothermia prevention shelter in Vienna on Friday, Feb. 3.

Police were called to the Church of the Holy Comforter (543 Beulah Road) — which was hosting the seasonal shelter — three separate times that evening to handle fights between residents, according to the Vienna Police Department’s highlights for Feb. 3-9.

By the end of the night, two people were arrested and taken to jail.

Suspicious Event 23-001081
Church of the Holy Comforter
FACETS Hypothermia Prevention Shelter
543 Beulah Road, NE
February 3 between 7:00 p.m. and 7:17 p.m.

Officers responded to the report of a fight between two individuals staying at the shelter. Neither party wished to pursue charges.

Arrest – Drunk In Public 23-001082
Church of the Holy Comforter
FACETS Hypothermia Prevention Shelter
543 Beulah Road, NE
February 3 10:25 p.m.

Officers responded to the report of a fight at the shelter. The staff advised an individual was acting disorderly and antagonizing the others in the shelter. Upon the officer’s interaction with the man, they detected signs of impairment.

Ofc. Reed arrested the 55-year-old man with no fixed address. He was transported to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center where he was charged with Drunk In Public.

Arrest – Assault 23-001083
Church of the Holy Comforter
FACETS Hypothermia Prevention Shelter
543 Beulah Road, NE
February 3 11:11 p.m.

Officers responded to the report of a fight at the shelter. The staff reported one of the residents was provoking another resident, began throwing chairs, and yelling profanities, resulting in a fight when the other resident tried to defend himself.

Ofc. Rodriguez arrested the 28-year-old man with no fixed address. He was transported to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center where he was charged with Simple Assault.

The fights mostly involved different people, though one individual was mentioned in two of the three incidents, according to VPD spokesperson Juan Vasquez.

The hypothermia shelter is operated by the nonprofit FACETS, which partners with faith communities to give people experiencing homelessness a place to spend the night each winter. It runs from the Sunday after Thanksgiving to April 1, changing locations weekly. Read More

(Updated at 4:50 p.m.) A man from Miami, Florida, pleaded guilty today to assaulting a flight attendant and interfering with the crew on a plane that was headed to Dulles International Airport in October, federal prosecutors announced.

Cherruy Loghan Sevilla, 24, exhibited “erratic and disruptive behavior” during a United Airlines flight from Miami to Dulles on Oct. 4, at one point preventing a flight attendant from getting to her jump seat and groping her, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said.

From the news release:

About an hour into the flight, Sevilla began to exhibit disruptive and erratic behavior, including wandering around the plane, running up and down the aisle, clapping loudly near the cockpit, and yelling obscenities. Sevilla refused to remain seated and laid on the floor in the aisle of the plane, preventing a flight attendant from walking up the aisle to her jump seat to prepare for landing. Suddenly, the defendant jumped up and lunged at this flight attendant, grabbing and twisting her right breast. A passenger, another flight attendant, and an onboard law enforcement officer attempted to pull the defendant off and subdue him. The defendant resisted and, in the struggle, twisted the arm of the second flight attendant.

As USA Today reported in October, the man told agents at the FBI office in Dulles that he took psilocybin — a psychedelic drug also known as “magic mushrooms” — before boarding the plane in Miami, according to an affidavit.

“This was not the first time Sevilla had consumed Psilocybin, and Sevilla said that he was not totally surprised he acted this way after consuming it,” an FBI agent wrote in the affidavit. “Sevilla stated that he was sorry for his actions.”

Sevilla has been scheduled for a sentencing hearing on April 21. He could face up to 20 years in prison, though federal crimes are typically sentenced for lower than the maximum penalties, according to the Department of Justice.

Stories of unruly and combative fliers have multiplied in recent years, as air travel has recovered from the initial months of the pandemic.

Though incidents have declined since March 2022, last year still had 823 reports of unruly passengers — the second-most recorded by the Federal Aviation Administration, behind only the 1,099 incidents reported in 2021.

Photo via John McArthur/Unsplash

A daycare provider from a Montessori school in McNair has been arrested for assaulting a child.

Wesal Houd Abu Issa, 42, of Herndon was arrested on yesterday (Wednesday) for allegedly restraining an 18-month-old to a chair using tape at Little Oaks Montessori Academy (12525 Dulles Technology Drive), according to Fairfax County police.

Police were alerted after an employee of the facility informed daycare staff and Child Protective Services a day after the incident on Dec. 8.

After investigating, detectives obtained a warrant for assault on Dec. 21.

The Fairfax County Police Department asks anyone with additional information to contact its detectives using the following methods:

We are asking anyone with information regarding these incidents to call our Major Crimes Bureau at 703-246-7800, option 3. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Crime Solvers by phone – 1-866-411-TIPS (866-411-8477), and by web – Click HERE. Download the ‘P3 Tips’ App “Fairfax Co Crime Solvers”. Anonymous tipsters are eligible for cash rewards. Please leave contact information if you wish for a detective to follow up with you.

Little Oaks serves kids in Northern Virginia aged 3 months to 6 years. The school didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

(Updated at 11:50 p.m.) An instructional assistant at Glen Forest Elementary School in Bailey’s Crossroads was allegedly seen assaulting a student with disabilities last month.

Fairfax County Police Department detectives served a warrant for simple assault to Meredith Capets, a 36-year-old Alexandria resident, after she turned herself in at the Adult Detention Center last night (Tuesday), the department reported this morning.

According to police, another Glen Forest employee saw Capets assault the student on Dec. 8.

“The employee immediately reported the assault to school administrators,” the FCPD said. “Officers were notified of the incident that evening. Detectives conducted numerous interviews.”

Detectives with the department’s child abuse squad obtained the warrant yesterday. After being served, Capets was released on an unsecured bond.

Capets was placed on administrative leave “immediately” after the school learned about the assault, Glen Forest principal Diane Herndon-Wilson said in a message to families.

“As principal, my primary responsibility is the safety and security of everyone who enters the doors of Glen Forest,” Herndon-Wilson wrote. “This is something I take very seriously. As educators, we are entrusted with the wellbeing of the children in our care every day. It deeply affects us when someone appears to have broken that trust.”

The FCPD says anyone with additional information about the case can contact its Major Crimes Bureau at 703-246-7800, option 3, or submit an anonymous tip via Crime Solvers by phone (1-866-411-TIP) or online.

This is the fifth incident reported in 2022 where an FCPS employee allegedly assaulted a student with disabilities. An assistant at Dogwood Elementary School was arrested for an assault in September, and a Marshall High School special education teacher was arrested last month for assaulting a student twice.

School bus workers who allegedly assaulted students in Fort Belvoir and Vienna last year are no longer employed by FCPS.

Photo via Google Maps