Email Archives
Subject: Recent Increase In Bethesda Robberies
Date Sent: February 23, 2012
Denise Gill, our Montgomery County Police (MCP) liaison has provided the following sobering report, which I thought you would want to hear:
The Bethesda area has recently experienced a spike in violent crimes, specifically armed robberies of persons and businesses. In the neighborhoods bordering Western Ave. (both sides of the line), there has been a marked increase in armed street robberies. Because of this spike, additional police resources have been deployed to the area to include uniformed patrols along with tactical covert officers.
This past Friday, officers observed a group of young black males approaching pedestrians in a manner that would attempt to corral the victim where he would have no escape and could be robbed. In both cases, the victim was paying attention to their surroundings, observed the approach of the suspects, and fled before becoming a victim of a robbery. These five suspects were stopped. All were juveniles and one was in possession of a pellet gun. Because this occurred on the D.C. side of the line, MCP will be following up the investigation and charging the suspects with conspiracy to commit armed robbery. Because there may be multiple groups committing these types of attacks, MCP will continue to commit resources to this area for the immediate future.
In the northern end of the Bethesda District, there have been a series of armed robberies of businesses, as well as of individuals where their cars were taken. Because of this spike, resources were pulled from other areas of the County to saturate this area in hopes of making an arrest or arrests. Last Saturday night, a suspect was observed casing a business near closing time. This suspect then robbed the business and was immediately arrested. He admitted to this robbery, as well as the robbery of several other businesses in this area. While this arrest closed many crimes in the area, it did not close them all and MCP resources will remain committed to this area for the immediate future.
The BCA Neighborhood Security Committee is addressing these issues from the perspective of our neighborhood. (I have asked the Committee to report on its activities at our March 8 meeting.) As usual, please report suspicious activity to the police non-emergency number, (301) 279-8000.
As a reminder, you can pay your 2012 dues via Paypal on our website or you can send a check to our treasurer, Bonnie Garrett, 6604 Broxburn Drive, Bethesda, MD 20817
Best regards,
Ted Garrett
President, Bannockburn Citizens Association