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Midtown Ponce Security Alliance
PO Box 7038 | Atlanta, GA 30357
info@midtownponce.org

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Notes from the Streets of Midtown

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

We are working to identify a very aggressive trans prostitute and possible drug dealer appearing in the area of Piedmont and Myrtle near the intersections with 3rd, 4th, and 5th. This individual, whom we have not yet identified, typically appears during the wee hours of the morning in that area. This one drives a dark blue Honda, tag number BXI 1926, and likes to park and meet people for short transactions. These transactions are often too short to be prostitution. He is known to throw rocks at people, threaten and menace area residents, and follow neighborhood watch with headlights on high beam. Please report this as a suspicious person to 911 if seen. Photo posted in gallery on this page.

Last week we received a report of someone appearing to be living out of a parked car on Argonne Avenue near 8th Street. It turned out that the car had a dead battery. After watching it for three days, APD put a five-day sticker on the car and it was removed a few hours later. But in researching the individual, we found that this white male has an extensive history of drug offenses and has served in both state and federal prisons. Hopefully it is a one-time thing, but in the past the presence of meth-head types has indicated the presence of ongoing drug activity nearby. Always let us know immediately if you are aware of someone apparently living in a car!

We have received word that a chronic prostitute and drug addict in the Ponce & Boulevard area has gotten off the streets hopefully for good. We were told that her parents came down from North Carolina to take her home, where she will go through a drug rehab program. We would certainly like to see more of this, but most street prostitutes do not cooperate for long with such efforts and have to be dealt with via police and courts.

One of the trans prostitutes was robbed recently during the early morning hours. This individual reported being “offered” a “ride” in the area of 3rd & Piedmont, and was taken to the area of 10th & Monroe to be robbed at gunpoint. The robber drove off, leaving the prostitute at that location. A little bit later the prostitute flagged down a neighborhood watch volunteer, who then called the police to come take a report. Afterwards, this individual went straight back to the 3rd & Piedmont area to solicit rides again, and has appeared in that area in the same way on several mornings since, at that location. The prostitute reported seeing the potential john cruising around for a little bit before the incident. This was an unusual robbery, as the suspect was believed to be drawn into the neighborhood by prostitutes. We will identify and learn more about this individual once the report is ready.

Tywong McCoy has been spotted around the neighborhood. On a recent Friday afternoon he was spotted smoking crack on the sidewalk on 6th Street near Piedmont. Another resident told us that he was fondling himself in front of her home on 8th Street. He has also been seen hanging around in the 10th & Piedmont area. McCoy was released from prison last year after serving a sentence for stalking a resident in Midtown. He also generated many reports of fondling himself and exposing himself to area women. Mugshot in gallery.

We have a report of someone walking around the neighborhood with an ax during overnight hours. Hopefully this will turn out to be nothing, but walking around with an ax at 1:30am could use a dose of explanation. Please report this individual to 911 if seen, and then write to us (with approximate time of 911 call and other details) so we can check up on it with our contacts at APD. Here is the report as it was posted to our Facebook page:

I have seen a tall thin black man around Glendale and 8th twice in the past week who is walking around carrying an ax. The first time was last Friday night (May 10) around 1:30am on Glendale Terrace. Luckily I was in a car and not walking. I saw him again at 10:00am this morning (May 15) going up to a house at the corner of 8th and Glendale. I was walking away from him but tried to look back to see if he was just knocking on the door or doing anything suspicious and when I looked back he was leaving the house. I’m not sure if he is a guy who does handy work around the neighborhood or if he is someone I should be concerned about; but the large ax is definitely disconcerting. If I see him again I will call Midtown Blue. Has anybody else seen him or know who he is?

We found that Andrew Arnett was transferred from a Gwinnett jail to the Department of Corrections, and was immediately assigned a parole date of this month. We immediately sent a parole opposition statement to the Parole Board, but are unsure if it will work. Although his latest conviction took place in another jurisdiction, he frequently appears in our area for drug-related purposes. To date we have never had an offender released that was the subject of our parole opposition statement. He maxes out in August. Arnett also has a new mugshot for our collection.

CAR BREAK-INS ON THE RISE

Car break-ins: the most chronic crime in Atlanta

Our contacts with APD have advised us that car break-ins have surged in recent weeks. When looking at the crime map for Midtown year to date, pretty much the entire MPSA service area except for Charles Allen Drive and Vedado Way are blanketed with dots for car break-ins. In the rest of Midtown the streets are not even discernible for the car break-in dots. On the one hand car breakins are historically the most frequent crime occuring in the neighborhood. They are also among the most difficult to catch, as the suspects can break into cars relatively quietly and easily.

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

Unless caught red-handed in the act, it is logistically difficult to watch for these. The culprits typically break into the curb side of the car rather than the street side, making it nearly impossible for anyone driving along – police or not – to readily see that a car has been broken into. What’s more: this problem is largely driven by habits of leaving valuables in cars especially in plain view.

There is an inkling of good news in all of this. APD investigators have identified several suspects, and asked us to share this list.

Demarco Presley has had 33 prior arrests. His criminal history includes various theft offenses, fraud, drug offensess, Disorderly Conduct, street prostitution [Cypress Street type from what we can tell], Robbery, many cases of Entering Auto and unauthorized person in parking lot. Most recently, he was arrested 2-12-13 for Entering Auto and Forgery, and released time served 2-23-13. APD reports that he was observed in the Midtown neighborhoods by an off-duty unit working an event at Piedmont Park, and is known to hang around Parkway & Parkway.

Roderick Goldwire has 27 prior arrests mostly for drugs, but also for Burglary, Theft by Taking, Entering Auto, Aggravated assault on Police Officer, Armed Robberies (2000-2002), among others.

Robin Brown has had 74 prior arrests according to APD, mainly property crimes. Loiters and prowls mostly in Midtown area – north of North Ave and as far east as Monroe Drive. His history includes several convictions for Entering Auto, two convictions for Theft by Receiving Auto, along with lots of alcohol violations, street prostitution [Cypress Street type], prowling, peeping Tom, and Unauthorized person in parking lot [Paybox pickers]. APD tells us that he had two armed robberies near the beginning of his criminal career (Released to probation on 12-7-12). APD reports no contact since his release to probation, but they are taking a close look at him given that theft from auto has been increasing in the Midtown neighborhood and he likes to work that area.

Falandus Gray has had over 40 prior arrests mostly for theft-related charges. He was also arrested on 3/02/2013 for aggressive panhandling on Spring Street, but was released immediately. According to APD, he is a good suspect for car break-ins happening in the area of the Varsity given that he is arrested chronically in that area. He has been arrested. APD also notes several arrests late in 2012 and is known to stay at the Peachtree-Pine “shelter.”

Marcus Perrino has 62 prior arrests ranging from violent crimes towards the beginning of his criminal career, to multiple theft related crimes in recent years. On May 2, 2013, Marcus Perrino was arrested at 607 Peachtree St At the time of his arrest, Perrino was in possession of items which were later determined to have been taken in two theft from auto reports, 634 W Peachtree St and 1072 W Peachtree St. CID has obtained arrest warrants on Perrino for theft by receiving. Based on his recent contacts with APD, it appears that he stays either at or near 477 Peachtree St (Peachtree-Pine “shelter”), but ranges out to Midtown and the neighborhoods to commit his property crimes. His recent history includes 4 theft by receiving auto, 2 auto theft, and multiple theft by receiving charges. His record also indicates a number of forgery arrests and theft of financial transaction cards, which are also indicative of theft from auto.

Terelle Lynch has had 37 prior arrests. APD is watching him for car break-ins in Downtown and Midtown. [MPSA Note: beat cops have been telling us about this individual for quite some time] He has been arrested in those areas this year for trying to pick a paybox and unauthorized person in a parking lot. He likes downtown up to Midtown – arrested on 6th st for warrant. He was been observed by undercover units working in the Midtown area, and is known to hang around on and near Parkway Drive and Boulevard.
o Various thefts
o Violent crimes
o drugs
o Multiple arrests for unauthorized person in parking lot
o Schemes devices – stealing from parking lot pay boxes
o Alcohol violations
o Disorderly conduct
o Enter auto
o Drugs
o Uses multiple aliases

MPSA Patrol Highlights – April 2013

During the month of April the patrol logged 90 hours of service. The MPSA Patrol assisted with 10 calls for service via 911, and took an additional 15 calls to the patrol hotline from members. The patrol and MPSA Board conducted out-of-town checks for 12 members.

4/4/2013 – Sgt Cooper found the Check Cashing Place on PDL and Blvd wide open. Code enforcement was notified and the building was secured. The building has now been torn down and a Dunkin Donuts is being constructed. The contractors were made aware of the vagrancy issue in the area.

4/6/2013 – Sgt Cooper responded to an MPSA call regarding vagrant activity in the woods behind the Church parking lot on Monroe Drive.

4/9/2013 – Sgt Cooper along with an MPSA Board member marked utility poles for street light additions for MNA. Three were found.

Entire Month – Sgt Cooper worked with Dax Porterfield of the Ponce Hotel to rid the hotel of unwanted folks. The place has since quietened down, according to neighborhood observers and nearby residents.

Entire Month – Sgt Cooper worked with Midtown Tire regarding car break ins. Sgt Cooper and a MPSA Board member cleared out an encampment where a vagrant was living. A possible suspect was identified and reported to the APD Zone 6 Commander.

Entire Month – Sgt Cooper and an MPSA Board member Steve Gower removed illegal signs from the service area.

OUR CRIMINAL PROFILES IN GENERAL

Where they are not coming from

Channel 2 ran a story on Monday during its newscast about a number of inmates at the Atlanta Transitional Center on Ponce with a sentence status of “life” with a background of (nominally) very dangerous offenses. After seeing Channel 2′s story we took another look at the place, and still believe that our long-standing observations still hold. But our research did turn up 30 offenders among that facility’s stated capacity of 257 with a sentence status of “life.” Those among the ones we found are in there mostly for murder, but also some armed robbers and rapists are among them. Only one was a minor (14) at the time of offense. Factoring out that one minor (now 32 years old), the average age at time of offense was around 27. While it may seem scary that this facility has 30 inmates currently incarcerated for murder, rape, and armed robbery, a mitigating factor lies in the fact that these inmates committed these offenses 20-30 years ago for the most part, with one case dating back to 1975. We have never known for that facility to house a Charles Manson or a Lawrence Singleton.

When searching for those with a sentence status of “Life, no parole” we get no hits among present and past inmates there. The only limitation in our information is that a facility search only turns up inmates whose latest institution is the Transitional Facility. Recidivists and violators would not turn up in this search criteria – those offenders would have a most-recent facility of somewhere else. Details and important data regarding recidivists, absconders (absconding from this facility is technically considered to be an escape), and re-assignment would have to come from more extensive research.

Other than the listed offense and calculating age based on data, nothing is known about the circumstances under which these crimes occurred. But in our ten years of operations, we have not known for inmates in that facility to cause trouble for the surrounding neighborhood nor have we known for any offenders to remain in the area after release from there, other than one unusual case that came with plenty of reassurance that this individual would offend no further.

Our experience and observations regarding the transitional center

The Transitional Center on Ponce / Photo from GA Dept of Corrections

The Atlanta Men’s Transitional Center on Ponce houses pre-release inmates for the Georgia Department of Corrections, who are technically incarcerated but are allowed to leave the facility to go to jobs out in the city. It is not like they are able to come and go as they please, and they live under supervision. Whenever they are not at work, they are to remain inside that facility. They go to their jobs following specific routes prescribed on a case-by-case basis. As we understand it, only very low-risk inmates get the privilege of being assigned to that facility. Inmates who violate the rules, or do not return promptly from work or other authorized leave, are quickly remanded back to a higher-security facility. Except for a brief stop at a convenience store (likely requires permission), there is no interaction between the Transitional Center and the surrounding community.

In the ten years we have been in operation, we have never had any issues with inmates at the Transitional Center on Ponce. Only one of the criminals we have indexed (currently over 300) has been known to have finished a previous sentence there – he has been out of the system for several years and has not re-offended or even re-appeared in Midtown. The inmates there always return to other areas of the state. Furthermore, at least one of our member businesses routinely employs inmates from the Transitional Center through a re-entry job program, and none of them have ever generated problems for the community. Despite watching this place closely for ten years like we do with other factors affecting the neighborhood, we just don’t have any dangerous or even problematic situations involving this place to report to you. As far as we can tell, the program at the Transitional Center is working as it should.

Most Common Criminal Profiles in the MPSA Service Area

1. Inmates released directly from medium and maximum-security facilities

We have problems with inmates being released from medium and maxim facilities directly into the community and then appear or (usually) re-appear at places like Ponce & Boulevard where they pursue a life of street drugs and the criminal activity going along with it. These criminals are not going through any kind of rehabilitative programs, and have no intentions of moving beyond a life of crime.

They leave prison and go straight to Peachtree-Pine, the Open Door Community, or a motel like the Savannah Suites [Check out the reviews!] or the Ponce Hotel, and from there they quickly snap back into their life of street crime that got them into prison in the first place. The fact that they immediately come back to a drug & street criminal culture like that in Bedford-Pine, at Ponce & Boulevard, or among the trans prostitute gang clearly reflects their intentions to continue a life of street crime. We are also seeing parolees leaving prison and re-entering one of these groups of criminals driving the need for the MPSA.

On this point we generally oppose early release of offenders whose sentence emanated from cases involving Midtown. Since they are generally released directly from medium and maximum security facilities, without a chance to adequately test their fitness for life beyond prison walls (via transitional programs), we are unable to feel assured that we will not have any further problems with these offenders. In fact our experience has shown that the majority of Midtown-related inmates quickly resume a life of crime that got them locked up in the first place. In order to better protect Midtowners, we work to stop the release of such offenders back into the community.

2. Fulton County’s Drug Court and lax sentencing patterns

The failures of Fulton County’s Drug Court program very negatively affects conditions in the neighborhood. Too many Drug Court criminals slip away from the program only to return to Ponce & Boulevard and resume their same old criminal way of life. Our index of known criminals is full of those who have played the system by way of the Drug Court, and it is that segment that causes most trouble for us, by far. Fulton County tends to recycle chronic offenders through these programs, and often despite advanced stages of criminal living. In researching criminals coming to our attention, we often find references to drug programs despite very long criminal histories (Usually by Judge Downs or Judge Lovett).

We have also seen scores of criminals in Midtown who were sentenced to probation running concurrently with existing sentences. These offenders are also sent into court-mandated rehab programs over and over. We can certainly understand probation and rehab programs for first-time offenders. However we find it highly inappropriate to apply these kinds of sentences to those who have clearly demonstrated incorrigibility. As a result, the greater community continues to suffer the results of these criminals’ dedication to a life of crime.

Notables among these kinds of criminals:
While these are for the most part obviously not as serious as murder, rape and armed robbery, these are the kinds of offenders most intensively afflicting Midtowners. Many of the street prostitutes on our watch list remain chronic criminals in large part because of Fulton County sentencing practices. Also some of the robbery suspects in incidents earlier this year had been through Drug Court. Here are some examples from our actual experience with street criminals, and the presence of these kinds of criminals synergizes into an inordinate volume of patrol and public security needs for the neighborhood:

Daniel Holt burglarized a home in the neighborhood after having served three prison sentences and having been recycled through the drug court program.

Donald Rayfield, was imprisoned for a burglary just across the Beltline and was seen loitering on Ponce again within a week of release from prison. Previously he headed straight to Ponce after being released from prison in South Carolina, and went to jail on average of about every 45 days. He is currently in Dekalb County jail on auto-theft charges. The car belonged to someone living just south of our service area. http://www.midtownponce.org/ptag/donald-rayfield

Jackie Sue Hunter served a prison sentence for possession of firearm by convicted felon, and upon release immediately checked into the Ponce Hotel and resumed her life of street prostitution at Ponce & Boulevard. We continue to see her on Ponce regularly despite a judicial banishment from most counties in Georgia.

Kenneth Lamb, a three-time rapist who served 20 years during his latest prison sentence, headed straight for the drugs on Ponce. From there he started his menacing conduct, and has walked away from all court-mandated rehab programs resulting from several criminal cases since his release from prison.

Michael Blackmon was paroled from a sentence for trafficking methamphetamines. and appeared in Midtown almost immediately. His life of drugs on parole escalated into a burglary in the neighborhood. Despite being on parole for trafficking methamphetamines, Judge Downs sentenced him to drug rehab in 2011 on a meth charge. A few months later, he burglarized a house in Midtown. Again, Judge Downs only sentenced him to probation running concurrently with existing sentences. He did get his parole revoked and is now back in prison serving the remainder of his original sentence.

Jonathan Wells has been processed through Fulton County’s drug court program, and went on to burglary and other crimes. He was among the “Three Burglateers” in 2008 and did serve two years in prison. Upon release he came back to Ponce, and since then has been arrested on drug and theft charges. Judge Dempsey sentenced him to a residential treatment program in a case after his three prior prison stints. He was arrested this week for shoplifting, and last week he was seen by neighborhood watch prowling around on St. Charles Avenue during the overnight hours.

Andrew Arnett is another criminal that has been playing the system in Fulton County for years. Every time he is sentenced for a felony he ends up being sentenced to rehab and probation concurrent with existing probation. And every time his criminal activity becomes worse. He was finally sentenced to incarceration in a Gwinnett County burglary case, but that sentence runs out in September. Given that he likes to be near Gay bars (he had been a problem for most of the ones on Ponce), he will likely re-appear in our area. For that we stand a high risk that his next offense will take place right here in Midtown.

Lee Arthur Kynard, has for years, been in and out of jail for car break-ins and other offenses. Judge Downs put him through Drug Court in 2008, despite plenty of criminal history going into this. Kynard went on to breaking into more cars – he was arrested several more times afterwards. It was not until his last case that he was finally sentenced to a prison term (46 months). Atlanta Police believe that he was driving car break-ins along 10th Street last year.

Street Criminal update 4/24/13

Here are some folks that look good in those orange jail uniforms…

Midtown Meth Dealer sent to Prison

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

Heyward Hagenbuch, convicted meth dealer (GA Dept of Corrections)

We are happy to report that a drug dealer we have been watching for quite a while has finally found his way to prison. Heyward Hagenbuch was sentenced last year to ten years imprisonment for Sale and Trafficking of Methamphetamines. Hagenbuch was arrested in May of 2012 when he attempted to make a $650 sale of methamphetimines to an undercover officer. According to the police report narrative, Hagenbuch texted the police decoy to meet him in the parking lot of Krispy Kreme on Ponce, where he was arrested when he produced the drugs. At the time of this arrest, his stated home address was on Ralph McGill Boulevard, but he had previously been known to live in different locations within the MPSA service area. At one of those addresses, neighbors kept us abreast on criminal activity. He was eventually arrested on a warrant in another jurisdiction. He has an extensive history of drug arrests in multiple jurisdictions across Georgia and Florida. The parole board has not set a tentative parole date, but we will certainly monitor his case and take appropriate action if it turns out to be an unduly short prison sentence. His max date is February 2023, according to Department of Corrections records.

Trans Prostitute Gang

Joshua McFee (Fulton County mugshot)

Joshua McFee, known as “Chloe” on the street and who also keeps a high profile among the trans prostitute gang, was recently arrested when he tried to purchase goods at Walgreens with a fake $100 bill. He has a history of public indecency and cashing stolen checks, among other things. Every time he is released from jail he returns to the neighborhood to bring us more criminal activity. He was already on the watch list we shared with you earlier this year, and we would like to see him and his fellow trans criminals “sent down the road,” which is street jargon for getting sent to prison. Since his release from jail on 4/20 he has been seen walking the streets of the neighborhood at night.

Antonio Martinez Hunt (GA Dept of Corrections)

Antonio Hunt – So far we seem to have been successful in averting a premature release of another transvestite criminal. We sent a letter to the parole board opposing the release of Antonio Martinez Hunt, who “went down the road” after a conviction for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. That arrest came out of a trespass incident on Myrtle Street when he was making himself at home on some stranger’s front porch. Unfortunately he has a max date of July of this year, so this neighborhood is faced with the prospect of once again having a street prostitute known to carry a gun prowling around the neighborhood – very soon. [Previous: http://www.midtownponce.org/index.php?s=antonio+hunt]

Christopher Stockton (GA Dept of Corrections)

Christopher Stockton, another trans prostitute that used to hang around Ponce & Penn at times, went “down the road” after being convicted for burglary in Coweta County. Since last year he has been serving his third prison sentence, and has a max date of February 2016. We will monitor his parole date, which has yet to be set. [Previous: http://www.midtownponce.org/p728.html]

Armaine Britt (Fulton County mugshot)

Armaine Britt, another trans prostitute coming into the neighborhood every night, was arrested last week after throwing a rock at a car and cracking a windshield. This one was already on our watch list. The victim was conducting neighborhood watch work, when he came upon Armaine Britt lying in wait on someone’s porch with a rock. After canvassing the area for an hour, this criminal was apprehended and booked into the Fulton County jail. The prostitutes coming into the neighborhood at night are very territorial, and the SOAP Ordinance would provide another tool to get rid of this gang. MPSA is still working on getting this legislation passed.

Ponce & Boulevard

Donald Rayfield aka ‘Ray-Ray’ (Dekalb County mugshot)

Donald Rayfield, a street hustler who has been on our radar for several years, was arrested in Dekalb County on theft by receiving (Auto). According to a police report, an officer making a traffic stop found the vehicle he was driving to have been reported stolen. Rayfield remains in the Dekalb County jail – Judge Hunter of Dekalb Superior Court signed an order denying bond on April 8th. He was previously sent to prison for a burglary just across the Beltline from us. Both before and after his last prison sentence and he keeps a high profile among the drug culture at Ponce & Boulevard, but he gets around too. He came under our radar after being released from prison in South Carolina and coming to Ponce. Prior to that he had spent nearly all of his adult life in prison for armed robbery – he’s clearly not fit for life outside prison walls, and neighborhoods like ours experience the results of his state of mind.

Eric Hair (Fulton County mugshot)

Eric Hair, another street hustler and druggie among the Ponce & Boulevard drug culture, was arrested recently for possession of meth. Police spotted him on a bicycle without operating a headlight at night – neighborhood observers had just seen him at the Ponce de Leon Hotel. He has a long criminal history of drug offenses and forgery, and was paroled from prison in 2011. Shortly after his release, he started hanging out at Ponce & Boulevard again, and visiting certain people at the Ponce de Leon Hotel (We have intel that he is staying at one of the motels in the Cheshire Bridge/Piedmont Circle area, but appears here for drug-related purposes). Fulton County recycled him through the drug court program as they notoriously do, but once they released him Gwinnett County charged him with probation violation (his assigned probation office is there), and we are under the impression that Gwinnett County takes these criminals more seriously than Fulton County courts.

Stan Spradlin (MPSA field photo a week before his latest arrest, coming out of the Ponce Hotel)

Stanley Spradlin, another criminal frequently hanging around with the Ponce & Boulevard drug culture, was arrested recently for burglary and entering auto in the Virginia Highland area. About the same time a woman woke up to find Spradlin had entered her apartment through a window and then left with items when confronted. The victim recognized him as the one who gave her a ride home the night before from the Ponce de Leon Hotel where she had been visiting a friend. Several witnesses reported seeing two males loading items into a black Thunderbird, and it was found that culprits had just broken into several cars. With the information, Police immediately dispatched a unit to the Ponce de Leon Hotel and found Spradlin and another male unloading the black Thunderbird. On the police report narrative Spradlin gave the Ponce de Leon Hotel as his address.

Spradlin was released from prison at the beginning of this year, after having served a stint for a burglary in Virginia Highland. Since his release from prison he has generated suspicious person reports after going door-to-door in that area, and has also been hanging around Ponce & Boulevard. His accomplice, a Ben Elder, was charged with misdemeanor theft by taking.

Tommy McGuire, aka ‘Diamond’ alleged pimp operating out of the Ponce Hotel (Fulton County mugshot)

Tommy McGuire aka “Diamond”, another long-term guest at the Ponce de Leon Hotel was arrested for pimping and possession of Cocaine on April 10th. According to sources on the street, he has been working out of the Ponce Hotel to “manage” his girls. Our Community Prosecutor told us that the pimping incident itself occurred somewhere in the Fulton Industrial Boulevard area. According to the police report in this arrest, McGuire told an undercover that he had 21 women working for him in different places around the city. He was seeking to bring an undercover female officer posing as a prostitute under that umbrella. Once he was put under arrest, police found 9.1 grams of crack cocaine and nearly $7500 in cash in his pocket. Within 48 hours he was released from the Fulton County jail. McGuire was convicted last year in Dekalb County for burglary, and was already on probation for that and another felony conviction.

MPSA NOTE: Except for Spradlin and Hagenbuch, all of these criminals are known for involvement in street prostitution, and each illustrates the need for the SOAP Ordinance and other strategies to rid Midtown of these criminals.

Dogwood Festival Beverage Booth a Record Breaker!

We set a record for tips this weekend – $1275. In the next couple weeks we will also receive a percentage of the sales (amount to be determined later). This will fund an extra 80 hours of patrol coverage in the near future. We would like to thank all the volunteers for making this possible! Special thanks also goes out to the organizers of the Dogwood Festival for giving us this opportunity every year. It will help make the neighborhood a little safer!

Here are some pictures from this year’s beverage booth:

SOAP UPDATE & More Notes on Street Prostitution

SOAP Ordinance Update

A street prostitute speaks with a john in a parked vehicle. Image source: Wikipedia

To date there have been two work sessions in the City Council’s Public Safety Committee on the proposed SOAP ordinance. Representatives from MPSA were in attendance at both sessions giving the only support for the legislation. Activists from several organizations turned out in full force for both work sessions in protest of the banishment provisions. At the last work session, the proposed ordinance was put on hold indefinitely, and the Mayor’s office will put together a work group to take an in-depth exploration into the various approaches to the problem of street prostitution. It is worth noting that at the end of the last session Councilman Bond explained that the city does not provide social services, and is not in a position to do so. Those are provided by the county and he advised those in attendance who wanted to see social services provided for prostitutes to approach county commissioners on the issue.

See MPSA’s comments in this AJC OP-ED piece http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-forward/2013/02/27/soap-and-prostitution/

As of this writing the participants in this work group have not been named, but we expect that groups representing neighborhoods afflicted with street prostitution, including ours, will be represented on this work group In any case we remain firmly insistent that the proposed SOAP ordinance will, at very least, include significant banishment provisions.

More Notes on Street Prostitution

Street prostitution takes many different forms around the city, and even in Midtown. Some niches of the street prostitution market, what we call the high-visibility types,take on a more intense level of blatancy and visibility, characterized by loitering on street corners waiting for/flagging down “rides” and direct solicitation, like the transvestite prostitutes. The rent boys on Cypress Street also fall into the high-visibility group, along with the white females that used to openly solicit at Ponce & Boulevard.

Others, what we call low-visibility types, engage in street prostitution mainly by spontaneous opportunity, like the male hustlers walking along Monroe Drive between Cheshire Bridge and Ponce who will take advantage of a “ride” when it comes up, but their mainstay is other crime like burglary and theft. Those types always have their eyes open for their next opportunity for drug money, be it through prostitution or a house to break into. With the latter the solicitation is less direct and and up-front. Many of the criminals featured in Eye on Midtown fall into the low-visibility type and are not specifically labeled as street prostitutes. The many we have identified have made their mark with us with other (usually more serious) criminal activity.

In other words, street prostitution in a given place including Midtown has to be sliced two ways for accuracy: Geographically and by modus operandi. Regardless of how one sorts out street prostitutes, we have consistently found these two main characteristics across the board among the many street prostitutes coming into the neighborhood over the last ten years:

Street drugs drive street prostitution, and without drugs there would simply be no street prostitution. Where ever you find street prostitutes, drug dealers are always nearby. We have never known it to work any other way in Midtown. The US Department of Justice also acknowledges that street prostititution and drugs are often interlinked.
All variants of street prostitutes are jacks-of-all-trades when it comes to criminal activity, and do so to support a drug habit. We see this over and over in their criminal histories of those we have identified and tracked. This wide range of criminal activity includes car break-ins, burglary, john-rolling (prolific source of stolen checks and credit cards), theft, street scams, peddling stolen goods, drug dealing, drug running, and in some cases robberies. Street prostitution is probably the most convenient of those “trades,” as it yields instant cash for drugs.

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

With time the street prostitutes, like the other street criminals causing trouble in the neighborhood, become deeply entrenched in a life of street drugs and the criminality that goes with it. Those entrenched in street prostitution have to be pried from the environment in which their drug addiction flourishes in order to move past a life of street crime. By imposing banishment on those on probation for prostitution, a convenient means of funding a drug habit can be severed. Cases where Midtown criminals have been sentenced to drug rehab have shown that they will quickly return to a life of drugs. By imposing banishment and making them liable for arrest by virtue of mere presence greatly facilitates uprooting them from a life of street crime.

Those still living in the grips of drug addiction are always looking for that “one more”, and the convenience of getting that “one more hit” by picking up “rides” seriously undermines any chances of rising above life on the streets. An ordinance like SOAP will help greatly in driving a prostitute to the point where there is nowhere to go but into rehab or treatment program, and onward to a more productive and meaningful way of life. We certainly would like to see street prostitutes move beyond this way of life, but at very minimum they must discontinue their negative influence upon the surrounding community. The banishment provision of the SOAP ordinance holds the most promise of applying the necessary pressure by prying them away from the destructive way of living.

Some older pictures from our files of street prostitution…

Street Prostitutes on our Watch List

After months of observations, we have compiled a watch list of chronic transvestite & transgender prostitutes coming into the neighborhood on a very frequent basis, and in some cases daily. We have submitted the full list to APD for further processing and strategy planning to effectively address these street criminals. Below we have presented the specific criminals on this list.

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

We researched the named individuals in preparation for the watch list (we have omitted the three unnamed from the website version) and found, as expected, that other unrelated criminal activity always accompanies street prostitutes. Working to get rid of them will almost automatically eradicate the portion of the crime they bring into the neighborhood on a nightly basis.

The many reasons we have crime and disorder in the neighborhood have names, including these street criminals who insist not only on imposing their criminal way of life on this neighborhood, but do so in such a high-profile way. We are planning our strategies for dealing with these particular criminals (and the many more of course), and in the coming months will take additional measures to counter their detrimental affect on our neighborhood. Their ongoing criminal and nuisance activity has no place in our vision for the thriving neighborhood we call home.

Here are some of the street criminals on the prostitute watch list:

1. Almost every night, Armaine Britt can be seen marauding around the neighborhood and soliciting. He also appears during the day and evening hours especially at Ponce & Piedmont, and Ponce & Myrtle. He spends alot of time in the area around Peachtree-Pine “shelter.” He was arrested during an undercover operation in December. According to the report, he solicited an undercover officer as he loitered in front of people’s homes on Piedmont & 5th. His criminal way of life extends beyond street prostitution – he has had previous cases for shoplifting, public indecency, battery with visible physical harm, and probation violations. Every time he is released from jail he hurries back to the neighborhood with his criminal way of life.

2. Joshua McFee is among the transvestite street criminal gang. He was picked up last September during an undercover vice operation. According to the police report, McFee approached an undercover vehicle in the 200 block of Ponce de Leon Avenue and asked for a ride. Once inside the vehicle, he initially pursued a sexual transaction for $20. In the course of the conversation McFee directed the undercover officer to go to the Stratford Inn, where $60 would buy him 30 minutes. At that point the undercover had cause to charge him with solicitation.

Like his fellow street prostitutes, his criminal and nuisance activity does not stop there. In December an officer on routine daytime patrol discovered McFee and two others engaging in sexual activity in full public view on Currier Street , one block from the Peachtree-Pine “shelter.” Last April police were called to a bank in the area, where McFee was attempting to cash a stolen check for $190. The account from which the funds were to be withdrawn belonged to a College Park man who had reported his checkbooks missing the day before. That police report also noted that earlier in the day McFee had cashed additional checks for $125 and $195. Fulton County records also show probation violations and another prostitution case. McFee continues to appear in the neighborhood on a nightly basis, and has been seen by MPSA observers servicing johns on the public sidewalk and behind people’s homes.

3. Bernard Armour is also on our radar, and comes into our neighborhood to loiter and solicit johns. Last September he was picked up during an undercover vice operation. He entered the undercover vehicle from the street, and directed the decoy to the Stratford Inn where a $60 transaction would take place. He got handcuffs instead of the money. His criminal background includes lots of burglary, theft by receiving (auto), and criminal damage cases. He is also another one of these revolving-door criminals in Fulton County – despite his criminal way of life the Department of Corrections shows no history for him.

4. We are also monitoring Jeremiah Wilson, another known prostitute frequenting the neighborhood. Last October he was arrested by the vice unit when he approached an undercover vehicle and asked to be allowed inside. According to that police report, he then solicited the undercover officer for $40 in exchange for a sexual transaction. He was arrested without incident. Other notables from his criminal history include a drug arrest in Renaissance Park. According to the police report dated 3/31/2012, two officers on routine patrol observed Wilson and another smoking crack during the 6pm hour. The officers approached the two individuals, and observed one of them throw down what was later determined to be crack cocaine onto the ground. The officers also noted finding crack cocaine on the bench on which they were sitting, along with a hot crack pipe. Both were arrested for possession of cocaine and drug-related objects.

In a November incident officers noted Wilson in a police report for “engaging in illegal narcotics activity in a known drug area.” The responding officer approached Wilson and demanded that he open up his clinched hand. That exposed one hit of suspected crack cocaine. He was arrested on a felony charge for cocaine possession. This incident occurred at 464 Courtland Street, behind the Peachtree-Pine “shelter” and down the block from Crossroads Ministries, the “home” address noted for Wilson in this police report (Crossroads Ministries operates an address service intended for homeless folks in order to facilitate applications for benefits and assistance). Wilson can be seen begging from customers at area businesses, trying to get into cars with people as they are stopped at the red light, and loitering around the Piedmont & 3rd area.

5. Marquette Matthews is also on our watch list and appears frequently in the neighborhood. He not only has been picked up during vice stings in the past, but brings with him quite an array of criminal activity. The Georgia Department of Corrections notes three prison stints for aggravated assault and criminal damage in the second degree. Fulton County records show cases of drug offenses and prostitution.

6. We’ve also got an eye on Jermaine Jordan, an old-timer on the transvestite prostitution scene. He has criminal history for drug offenses and prostitution. A 2010 Cobb County case shows a conviction for prostitution. He was fined and sentenced to 12 months probation. His co-defendant, a white male now around 69 years old, pleaded nolo contendere to cocaine possession in the case. Jordan still appears regularly in the neighborhood and likes to wait for “rides” on Myrtle Street during the wee hours of the morning.

As an aside, Jermaine Jordan was among the three transvestites that made the big mess on Myrtle Street last summer. The other two were Armaine Britt and Bernard Armour. Photo of the mess in the slide show below.

7. Last but certainly not least, Lamar Coleman is not only on this watch list, but an active court watch case for us at this time. We have attended one hearing for him so far, but there are more to come. We will be on hand to deliver a community impact statement once he is convicted. Because of the intensity of the street prostitution problem, we have advised our community prosecutor that this is a high-priority court watch case for us.

Dangerous Assault Suspect Still in Jail

We did some more research on Mathew Corley, the suspect in an attack on a woman on Peachtree Street on December 31, 2012, and found that his history is more serious than imagined.

On October 13th, 2012 Corley entered a business at Ansley Mall and demanded to use the phone. When the store clerk told him it was against policy to let people use the phone, Corley became very belligerent and stated that he needed to call 911. According to reports, Corley became increasingly irrational, stating things like “Vampires were trying to rape his wife” and was using heavy profanity. When the store manager asked him to quieten down and leave the store, Corley screamed “Who the [heck] are you? I am Christ, I’ll knock you the [heck] out.” And then Corley hit him hard in the face and left the store. As witnesses called 911, they kept a visual on him as Corley continued hanging around Ansley Mall until police were able to intercept him.

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

The victim was left with a laceration as a result of Corley hitting him in the face. The police report noted that Corley was arrested on charges of Battery. Corley was immediately taken to the mental health unit at Grady, but it was not feasible to move him to the jail until five days later (the police report specifically mentioned that he was not injured at the scene, and that they had to place a spitting mask on Corley for the protection of the police officers). The booking entry for this incident also notes a diversion program, and Corley was released back into the community three weeks later.

A month after being released from jail on the Ansley Mall incident, on December 9th, a resident in the 900 block of Piedmont was awakened during the 6am hour by someone smashing in his front door. The incident report noted two victims – one who had his front door smashed in, and another who had visible abrasions to the head. In speaking to one of the victims, we learned that Corley was yelling nutty things similar to those described in the Ansley Mall incident. Corley was taken to jail on criminal damage charges, and was released a week and a half later. The resident who had his front door smashed in told us that Corley was a complete stranger. The victim noted in police report with the abrasions, who was visiting the resident, declined to press charges. Corley remained in jail until 12/22, and less than ten days after that, he assaulted the woman on Peachtree Street as we told you about earlier.

In our research, we found that he has 12 bookings in Fulton County alone, some with reference to warrants in other jurisdictions. We are still looking to obtain more incident reports involving Corley especially on the aggravated assault charges. He has no entries at the GA Department of Corrections despite many previous cases for serious offenses.

As of this writing Corley remains in the Fulton County jail for the attack on December 31st, ineligible for bond according to public records. Fulton County courts keep recycling him through diversion programs intended for first-time offenders, and then released him back into the community. We have advised our community prosecutor that we need to court-watch this dangerous individual because folks in the community continue to get hurt because of it. We received word from our community prosecutor that his latest cases are being handled through mental health court, and we are unsure if we will be able to deliver a community impact statement.

Fulton County Mugshots:

Street Criminal Watch: Dane Coleman

In reviewing and updating our files, we find that Dane Barry Coleman had a run on criminal activity last year, and now he is back on the streets again. He’s quite an all-around street criminal – over the last several years we have noted Coleman for camping on private property, prowling around the neighborhood, drug activity, shoplifting at area businesses, breaking into cars, and even burglarizing residences.

On the morning of 9/07/2012 a resident found someone sleeping in his car and called the police. Responding police officers identified the intruder as Dane Coleman, and the owner of the car advised police that items in his car were strewn about and that he did not own a backpack found in the car at that time. Upon closer inspection, the backpack contained items belonging to the owner of the car. Coleman’s backpack also contained other items not belonging to the owner of that car, including a GPS device.

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

Police were able to identify the owner of the GPS device by hitting the home button, which pulled up an address on the same block as the location of the incident under investigation. After a little bit of calling around, the owner of the GPS device was quickly identified. She came outside to meet the officer and confirmed that her car had been entered. She also confirmed that items missing from her car, including the GPS device, and those were all inside of Coleman’s bag. The police report noted that Coleman had gained entry into the vehicle in which he was sleeping by prying the window open, but the other victim believes that she left a door unlocked.

Coleman was immediately arrested on two counts of entering auto with intent to steal, and two counts of theft by receiving. A month and a half later he was recycled through the drug court for the umpteenth time, where Judge Lovett sentenced him to probation running concurrently with existing probation for a Midtown burglary in 2011 conditioned upon entry into a drug rehab program (he has had this sentence several times already). Add to it that Coleman has served six terms in the Georgia prison system for various criminal offenses. A month prior to that, he was arrested on a shoplifting charge at an area grocery store, when he allegedly ordered a sandwich at the deli and then walked out of the store without paying for it. We do not know how that misdemeanor case played out in court.

He is a classic example of why we need a patrol in the neighborhood. The lenient sentencing patterns in Fulton County courts only exacerbate his entrenchment in a criminal way of life. And since his last case we are once again left to wonder how long it will be before we he will come to our attention again. Your ongoing support for our patrol program helps to protect the neighborhood against these types.

Mugshots:

Parole Watch: William Jeffrey Reese

In reviewing old files we find that another Midtown burglar has been given a parole date for later this year. His full sentence runs until 2018.

William Jeff Reese burglarized a residence on Greenwood Avenue in April 2008. According to the victim, he ransacked every room in the house and filled two suitcases with as much as he could stuff – including cell phones, laptop, cash, and jewelry, and other heirlooms. Their daughter, who walked in on the burglary in progress, was especially shaken after having been robbed just a few weeks before. He was seen by neighbors walking with the suitcases on St. Charles Avenue, but managed to get away.

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

Then the next day the victims received a phone call from DeKalb County authorities. Reese had been caught red-handed while burglarizing a home in the Brookhaven area. He had in his possession upon arrest the victim’s cell phone and jewelry in his pocket. He was booked on a number of unrelated charges and eventually sentenced to ten years imprisonment.

Results of our research show that Reese has been a criminal all of his adult life, as reflected by many jail bookings and several prison stints. This incorrigible criminal initially refused a plea bargain of only ten years, thereby risking up to 30 years imprisonment. Once the victims and detectives testified, he resorted to the plea bargain. Later on, his sentences from Fulton County were merged with his DeKalb convictions for reasons of judicial economy.

Five years hence, at rougly the mid-point of his sentence, we face the specter of having yet another criminal returning to the community. We plan to write a parole opposition letter for this offender. In drafting this letter, we would love to hear from Midtowners as to what comes to mind when it comes to the possibility that a criminal might be released back into the community. Please send your thoughts on this to info@midtownponce.org.

As an aside, he was known as “Jazzy Jeff” among the street people hanging around Ponce & Boulevard. He is currently in prison on a number of unrelated convictions in Dekalb County along with burglary. He had two prior prison stints going into the current one. He has been in prison or jail most of his adult life.

Previously reported in Eye on Midtown about this burglar:

2008: Suspect apprehended in Greenwood Avenue burglary
5/19/2009: Another Burglar Gone Bye-Bye

Mugshots:

MPSA PERSPECTIVE ON ROBBERIES IN THE SERVICE AREA

In light of the recent high-profile robberies we took a closer look at robbery trends in and around the MPSA service area. Street robberies comprise our most dangerous public safety challenge, as a robbery is but a step short of a homicide.

Previous trends

Robberies are a step away from a homicide…

In the first few years of MPSA operations, the robbery suspects tended to be on foot, with incidents occurring largely in one of two scenarios. The most common was that the perps struck on Ponce, or in the lower third of the service area, and then fled on foot into the Bedford-Pine area. The perp was typically someone that spent time in the area – youths from Bedford-Pine and street people. Proactive efforts led in large part by the MPSA have pretty much eliminated this trend by addressing street people activity in the Ponce corridor, driven by the broken-window principle that a reduction in blatancy and public disorder will lead to a reduction in overall crime for the area. In the other scenarios, thugs would pace up and down in the Oak Hill section of Piedmont Park casing potential victims as they walked home along 10th Street. Routine enforcement of the park curfew and improved lighting have eliminated this segment of the robbery caseload.

During the first few years of MPSA operations we generally saw around 5-7 robbery counts per month, with occasional spikes to around 10, and never a zero or one-count month. As for modus operandi many of the incidents involved knife or strongarm (where the perp wrests the goods from the victim without using or displaying a weapon) rather than a gun. We no longer have detailed stats from the early years of MPSA, but gun/non-gun ratio was probably somewhere around half-and-half. This contrasts sharply with current trends, where guns are used most of the time. The park types and the Ponce types described above generally used knives or strongarm tactics.

Where we are now

Geographic distribution of robberies and muggings – all of 2012 and the first few weeks of 2013.

In looking at trends since January 2012, we are finding that the geographic concentration of incident reports has shifted away from Ponce to the upper reaches of the service area. Nowadays street robberies tend to occur in the upper half of the service area (above 5th Street), with a concentration fanning out from the intersection of 10th & Piedmont area. The other key trend is that Midtown robberies nowadays normally involved suspects using vehicles as a crucial part of their modus operandi. They rove around town looking for victims. The suspects do not normally come from around here. Robbery incidents in the last couple of years usually involved the use of a gun, with knifepoint and strongarm robberies being much more of an exception. We do not routinely hear about knifepoint robberies any more.

Robbery counts inside the MPSA service area are typically around 2-4 incidents per month, with occasional zero or one-count months. In the last two years there has been only one month with a double-digit count of 10 (October 2011), whereas before we launched the MPSA patrol double-digit counts were almost routine.

As we worked to clear all that muck out of the service area, we exposed another segment of the robbery caseload: those perpetrated by criminals roving around town in vehicles., as reflected by:

Credit cards among the loot are often used at convenience stores in relatively far away places like Southwest Atlanta and East Point shortly after the incident. Cell phone with some form of tracking app usually lead police to places well away from Midtown.
Criminals found later, in other parts of town, with goods taken during robberies in Midtown. This usually happens in conjunction with other incidents, when police make an arrest for another criminal incident and peg them to a previous robbery.

In nearly all of the robberies for the last few years, the suspects quickly flee the area in a vehicle and often strike in multiple neighborhoods before police catch up to them. Sometimes they drive around and jump out of the car to rob a victim, and in other cases they park and walk around looking for victims, and then flee the area in a vehicle once they strike. In reading a good sampling of robbery report narratives from 2012, we find these circumstances to be most striking:

In many reports the victim was walking home or back to their car after having patronized one of the businesses at 10th & Piedmont, or after passing through that intersection as they walked home from Midtown MARTA station. Somewhere along the way the perpetrators began casing the victim and struck at best feasibility.
In several of the reports the victim is struck upon arriving home and parking on or near the street. As the victim parks their car and gathers things to take inside, the dome light disorients them and enables the perpetrators to move in with little or no notice. As the victim exits the vehicle the perpetrators strike.
The majority of the incidents occurred in late evening, especially 9pm to midnight, and not in the wee hours of the morning (though that is the next most common timeframe).
The majority of the incidents since January 2012 occurred in areas closer to 10th Street than those closer to Ponce. This is likely because pedestrian traffic is more abundant, and the streets are calmer than a busy street like Ponce.

We certainly do not think that roving bandits are a new trend because we have always had robberies perpetrated in this way. It’s just that moving Midtown toward a safer and more orderly neighborhood involves the task of peeling off one layer of criminal and nuisance activity after another, only to make another layer more visible.

Where we go from here

Now that we have shaved robbery trends down to this layer of roving criminals, it becomes our task to identify and isolate patterns of crime incidents including street robberies, and from there, contribute to the development of more effective strategies for targeting them. MPSA will certainly continue working largely from the broken-windows mindset in order to maintain the progress we have made in the last ten years, but roving bandits cannot be addressed effectively working strictly from this school of thought. With continued support from the neighborhood by way of membership we can sustain our progress in recent years so that things do not revert to previous conditions.

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

This is where our court watch program comes into the picture. Even the most effective police presence can only do so much to protect the community. Real-world policing is not like movies and TV dramas, where the credits start rolling up the screen once they finally catch the crook and the paddy wagon drives off. Once the police put the criminal in jail, it is then up to the courts to finish the job. It is the objective of our court watch efforts to make all parties in the criminal justice system – the prosecutors and judges – aware of the adverse impact wrought upon the community and urge them not to merely flush cases through the system as quickly as possible. Though our court watch efforts we also seek to show how people in the community continue to get hurt and victimized because of these deficiencies.

In looking at crime patterns across the board in the MPSA service area. we are seeing serious deficiencies in the Fulton County court system. Whether high level phenomena like robberies and burglaries, medium-level problems like the transvestite gang with all their street prostitution, drugs and other criminal activity, or low-level things like vagrant activity on Ponce, we are finding that far too many criminals are slipping through the cracks. In any of these categories we do not have any first-time offenders to speak of. In some of the recent robbery incidents the suspects should have been dealt with long ago, and not recycled through drug court and first-offender-type programs. Too many of those perpetrating robberies in Midtown and elsewhere in Atlanta have long and complex criminal histories, But no criminal histories in the state prison system. And these deficiencies continue to manifest themselves in the community through things like the robberies sprees we hear about all to often…

At the website version of this post we have posted summaries of police report narratives from the six incidents in the first few weeks of 2013 (this does not include the February 14th incident, so more will be added to the official stats!). While one was a business, the rest were pedestrian robberies reflecting much of the foregoing. From there we have also linked another document with the 2012 itemization and selected police report narratives.

We close this with a personal safety tip: disable the dome light in your car so that it does not automatically turn on whenever you open the door. Turn it on manually only as absolutely needed, but otherwise fully off. Keep a mini-flashlight in the console to find things at night. Especially if you normally park on the street, take a second to look around before getting out of the car to assess your surroundings.

Related:

More letters urging support of the proposed SOAP Ordinance

Quite a few Midtowners have written to city council members in response to our call for action on the proposed SOAP Ordinance. We share with you some more notable excerpts (PDF version with the full version of these letters in separate file). We need folks to continue writing to City Council urging support for this ordinance. Please send an email to atlantacouncil@atlantaga.gov (this will reach all City Councilors and the Council President) and be sure to copy us at info@midtownponce.org so we can gauge community support for this legislation.

Some older pictures from our files of street prostitution…

Selected Excerpts (For full letters click here)

***

The shear number of repeat offenders involved in these criminal acts, and the popularity of these red zones among the cruising johns has raised serious alarms among local residents and law enforcement. As Midtown residents, we continue to dial 911 whenever we witness these crimes, yet despite a serious decline in this kind of criminal activity over the past couple decades, the few remaining repeat offenders refuse to ebb. Midtown Blue and the Midtown Ponce Security Alliance both have countless stories of repeat offenders who have plagued the area for years and refuse to yield even in the face of incarceration. Serious times call for serious measures, which is why I support SOAP legislation. I believe that by removing drug addict’s ability to fund their habit, and removing them from the vicious cycle that consists of “turn trick, use, repeat,” they will be more inclined to get out of that life and hopefully seek help in addressing their substance abuse problem.

***

This legislation has worked in other progressive cities and can work here. I would argue rather than being cruel to the offenders, it is cruel to the victims in the neighborhood not to have legislation forbidding those who have no business here other then criminal activity. Why should my family and I be subject to harassment by the same transvestites who are locked up over and over again? Is that the image of Atlanta you are trying to protect?

***

I am a resident of Midtown and am very very concerned about the state of affairs happening here. We desperately need this SOAP Ordinance Legislation. We have lived in Midtown for over 10 years and are very upset at the progressive deterioration of our neighborhood. We live at Peachtree Lofts on the corner of Peachtree and 7th and there isn’t a day that goes by that we cannot even walk around our building without the appearance of drug dealers and prostitutes. The drug dealers seem to be on every corner and in between. Because of the patrols on Cypress, the dealers have moved to 8th and 7th and even boldly and blatantly hanging out to do their deals on Peachtree.

***

As a 15 year resident of Midtown, I know well from first hand observations that many of the quality-of-life issues affecting the area stem from the seemingly unchallenged prostitution – In my part of Midtown, we are plagued with transvestite prostitutes and it is to that unique anomaly that I refer in this email. If you’ve been reading the letters sent to you and the Council, then you are well aware of the normal complaints: Used condoms scattered about, human excrement on the sidewalks, crack and / or meth baggies found in close proximity of the [transvestite prostitutes]‘ normal perches, car break-ins, etc. The correlation of an increase in car break-ins, or drug distribution, and increased [transvestite prostitutes] presence is undeniably strong and positive. I’ve actually seen, on many occasions, a [transvestite prostitutes] serve as a look-out while a street criminal broke into a car. I’ve seen on many many occasions [transvestite prostitutes] using drugs purchased from a car circling the block. I have personally experienced the harassment they level on anyone they suspect of calling the police on them.

***

In the 9 years I have lived here, my husband and I have been the victims of innumerable crimes at the hands of the prostitutes that work in our neighborhood. We have suffered multiple car break-ins (as have our guests), have been forced to clean up everything from litter (they actually throw food containers over our fence into our yard) to bodily excrement, used condoms and drug paraphernalia, and have been awakened (or kept awake) at all hours of the night due to the prostitutes’ yelling and singing and the loud music coming from the cars of the johns and pimps. I call 911 each time there is an incident and receive prompt and professional responses from the APD, but they seem powerless to actually keep these individuals out of our neighborhood. Further, I am fearful of retribution each time I call 911 – these prostitutes have been around long enough to know which cars belong to which houses and have been known to vandalize homes and cars in retribution for calling the police. There does not seem to be anything we can do as residents to dissuade them from working our corner – we have ensured that the property is well lit and even our dogs barking at them has no effect (and I fear for my dog’s safety as throwing large rocks seems to be the prostitutes’ weapon of choice). Please help the residents of Midtown – and the Atlanta Police Department – by passing the SOAP ordinance.

***

The full batch of letters in this this PDF document

YTD Robbery summaries as of 2/10/2013

YTD robberies through 2/10/2013

Here are some summaries of police report narratives from the six incident this year alone (this does not include the February 14th incident, so more are coming to the official stats!). While one was a business, the rest were pedestrian robberies reflecting much of the foregoing. We will update this page when new reports come in. These only include MPSA service area, while the map covers a larger area.

02/04/2013 130351638 / 400s 10TH ST NE

Previously reported – More Details:

02/04/2013 130351638 / 400s 10TH ST NE

At approximimately 3:30pm the victim went to the Midtown Blue office to make a police report. He reported that as he was walking home the night before, a “younger” black male approached him and robbed him at gunpoint near 10th & Taft. The suspect then ran west on 10th Street and entered a tan or silver vehicle that then drove west on 10th. As part of the investigation police investigators reviewed public security camera footage at Midtown Blue, but were unable to pinpoint such a vehicle druing that time frame frame. The victim lost a cellphone during the incident, unfortunately the phone does not have a tracking app.

02/03/2013 130342139 / 650 PONCE DE LEON AVE NE

The victim was robbed at gunpoint at the bus stop in front of the CVS drug store across the street from Ponce City Market during the 8pm hour. The suspects gave over a bookbag containing a cellphone, MP3 player, and wallet. The suspects, two black males, then ran east on Ponce with the loot. Later in the evening, a car was in a wreck in the 600 block of Eastlake Drive. Police were unable to locate the occupants of the wrecked car, but found the stolen bookbag inside of it. The victim of the robbery was advised to pick up his bookbag at the APD property hold.

02/03/2013 130341991 / 400s 8TH ST NE

During the 8pm hour on 2/03/2013 a police unit was reported to have taken place on 8th Street between Charles Allen and Monroe Drive. The two victims were walking from a residence near the 8th & Argonne to Midtown Promenade when they were approached by four black males as they passed Grady High School. One of the suspects pulled out a gun, and all four suspects demanded belongings. The victims pulled out their belongings and dropped them onto the ground. The suspects also demanded to know where the car was that went with the keys among the items dropped onto the ground. The police report does not indicate whether the car was later taken. The victims advised that they were artists, remember the suspect faces well, and “could draw them on paper.”

01/13/2013 130131974 / 400s 10TH ST NE

During the 9pm hour two victims were robbed in the 400 block of 10th Street. They had parked their car on Charles Allen Drive and were walking around to a friend’s residence when three black males yelled from behind, “Hey! Wait! Come back!” The victims kept walking but when they approached their friend’S residence the three black males surrounded them and robbed them at gunpoint. According to one of the victims, one of the suspects appearing to be around 14 years of age showed a long-nose handgun tucked in shirt. Among the loot were the keys to a victim’s car, which was shortly thereafter found to have been taken by the suspects. According to the police reports, APD was looking at two “possible suspects,” and we find that these two names are in the jail logs on incidents that apparently occurred later.

01/10/2013 130102766 / 10TH & PIEDMONT AVE NE

Responding officers spoke with the store clerk, who advised that a black male – about 5’10″ in height, wearing a purple LSU skull cap, gray pullover jacket, blue jeans, black pants, black gloves, and a black scarf – came into the store at approximately 9:22pm, approached the register, and demanded the money as he showed her a handgun tucked in his waistline under his pullover jacket. The suspect also wanted the money in the safe, but the store clerk did not have access to it. The suspect tucked the bag with money under his waistline with the gun, and walked out of the store. Security camera did capture the suspect, and Midtown Blue later advised that they had footage of the possible getaway vehicle from public security cameras.

Also during this incident, Sgt. Cooper and MPSA Board member Steve Gower coincidentally walked into the store about a minute after this suspect fled, as the store clerk was on the phone with 911. A witness believes that the suspect may be the one who fled in an Audi without a tag, and then MPSA pulled into the same parking space less than a minute later. It was not understood that a robbery had occurred until we reached the store.

Valentine’s Day Robbery Spree (updated)

UPDATE ON VALENTINE’S DAY ROBBERY SPREE (2/19)
Since our bulletin sent last Friday, APD has given us clearance to release photos and mugshots of the offender. Right now we have one name: 23-year-old Dennis Stallings. It comes as no surpise that we found extensive criminal history on this offender through public record searches. He was paroled from prison in December on a full sentence running until August 2014. According to police sources, he immediately began defying the terms of his parole by not charging his ankle monitor, and parole officers had not known his whereabouts since December 19th, a week and a half after his release. He was sent to prison in 2009 for a number of charges including Armed Robbery, Auto Theft, Aggravated Assault. Prior to his first prison stint, he had been in the Fulton County jail at least seven times for these kinds of serious offenses. This is a clearly incorrigible criminal who will stop at nothing. We hope that he will receive new prison sentences that will protect the greater community well beyond 2014, when his current sentence for major criminality runs out.

We do not have names on the remaining suspects, and do not know if arrests have been made.

Mugshots and photos:

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

Previous post: During the early morning hours of February 14th, a group of three thugs roving in the Midtown and Ansley Park areas robbed three individuals at three different locations. Later in the day police tracked down much of the loot from these robberies when one of the victims was able to track down his iPhone using a GPS app. Police moved into the location, and apprehended two individuals in possession of the stolen goods.

We have received the police narratives, but have been asked to hold off with the mugshot because police may need to present a photo lineup to the victims.

Two suspects were named in the reports, and so far only one appears in the jail logs. We do not yet see that the one suspect in the jail logs was actually involved in the robberies – he only has a charge for theft by receiving stolen property. Atlanta Police reported finding some of the loot from the February 14th day robberies in his possession. In addition to the charge for possession of stolen goods, jail records show that they have initiated a parole revocation (he was on parole for a full sentence expiring in August 2014).

The police have linked two more robberies in addition to the three Midtown/Ansley Park robberies based on the stolen goods that APD reported finding in possession of the one suspect we know about.

As an aside, it comes as no surprise that this perp is very well known to not only the police, but also to Fulton County courts.

Midtown Patch has written two articles about this string of robberies. We have also uploaded a PDF file with the robbery narratives. All of those are linked below.

Midtown Patch: Arrests Made In Valentine’s Midtown Armed Robberies
Midtown Patch: Trio of pre-dawn armed pedestrian robberies in Ansley, Midtown neighborhoods
MPSA: Police Report narratives to 2/14/2013 robberies. Please note that this was hastily put together for expediency in getting the word out.

Internal notes: File #291

Letters to City regarding SOAP Ordinance

Quite a few Midtowners have written to city council members in response to our call for action on the proposed SOAP Ordinance. We share with you some notable excerpts (PDF version with more of these letters in separate file).

#1: I’ve had a prostitute stab a neighbor in the chest with scissors on my front porch, had my husband attacked by a band of 7 prostitutes, been threatened by a pimp, had our cars repeatedly broken into and once rammed in retribution for calling police, found used condoms, drug paraphernalia, fouled toilet paper and human waste on our property.

#2: I am a Midtown resident who wanted to express her support of the SOAP ordinance, banning prostitutes from our neighborhood once they are caught and on probation. We have seen crime waves over the years here in Midtown, which are partially connected to prostitutes, who also bring drug deals and other crimes into our area.

#3: For those of you who are not exposed to these street walkers on a regular basis, let me explain why it is a problem that needs more effective enforcement tools. First, most of these people are not quiet and reserved. They are aggressive and often intimidating to those of us who are attempting to enjoy our neighborhood. When one of my neighbors attempted to chase away a prostitute at Fourth and Penn, he was hit on the head with a rock concealed in a purse. This is occurring in a neighborhood that has seen a tremendous influx of families with children. Second, used condoms and tissue are routinely left in the street, or on the sidewalks, or in the alleys. These aren’t things that children should have to be exposed to. Third, prosititutes apparently fill their time between tricks eating, and discard all of their trash on the streets and sidewalks. I frankly get tired of seeing the piles of trash they leave at their regular hang-outs.

#4: We continue to experience a terrible, terrible prostitution problem in this neighborhood. Many times I have walked outside my front door and have witnessed sexual activities taking place, and involving these prostitutes (and, of course, have called 911). The police are very responsive, but the problem continues to occur and utilizes valuable resources of the City. We have used condoms littered on the sidewalks and belligerent prostitutes walking the streets at night. There is no question in my mind that drug-use by these prostitutes is occurring as well.The SOAP ordinance may very well be the answer to solving the prostitution problem in my neighborhood.

#5: [Our customers] have recounted countless stories of being accosted, verbally and physically, and often it has been from a repeat offender. We have called the Atlanta Police Department frequently over our history and have always received prompt, courteous and professional assistance, often resulting in the arrest of an individual that is more times than not recognizable by the responding APD officer. I am here to tell you that all too often, that very same individual is right back in our neighborhood repeating the same offenses that resulted in their arrest.

#6: We subscribe to the theory that we are better than this, and that we as citizens of Atlanta, must take pride in our great City including recognizing when to say, enough is enough!

PDF file with these letters: http://www.midtownponce.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/soap-letters1.pdf

We still need for folks to write to city council members expressing support for the SOAP legislation and sharing community members’ points of view regarding the long-standing problem of street prostitution in the neighborhood. Please send an email to atlantacouncil@atlantaga.gov (this will reach all City Councilors and the Council President) and be sure to copy us at info@midtownponce.org so we can gauge community support for this legislation.

Also, there will be a work session for the city’s Public Safety Committee on Monday (2/11) at 1:30pm, in Committee Room #2 at City Hall (55 Trinity Street). We need a good showing at this meeting. This work session will focus entirely on the SOAP Ordinance. From there it goes to the regular Public Safety Committee meeting the next day for a recommendation to City Council. After that, City Council will likely vote on the Ordinance at its next meeting. We will follow this closely, and report on its progress accordingly.

Slide Show: Street Prostitution in Midtown

RELATED POSTS AND RESOURCES:

Street Criminal & Prostitute: Lamar Coleman

An example of why we need the SOAP Ordinance…

Lamar Coleman – mugshot from latest arrest for cocaine possession while prostituting in the neighborhood.

Lamar Coleman, a transvestite prostitute and street criminal, was arrested recently when police discovered crack cocaine in his possession. One of the officers patrolling the neighborhood observed a car driven in violation of the cruising ordinance, and made a traffic stop to cite the driver accordingly. Once the car was stopped, the officer recognized the passenger of the car as one of the transvestite prostitutes. When the officer asked, the driver could not name the passenger and admitted that he picked “her” up when “she” flagged him down. The officers also noticed a strong odor of marijuana coming from Coleman’s person, and extracted him from the vehicle to pursue probable cause to search for the Marijuana. Instead, the officer found suspected crack cocaine (Coleman admitted that he had just smoked the Marijuana with his fellow street criminals, but no longer had it).

The discovery of crack in this case reflects one of the most problematic aspects of street prostitution. Coleman is among the most resolute and persistent of the transvestite gang, and he comes into the neighborhood almost every night without fail to ply his trade. Word on the street has it that he is quite a shark at picking up johns. Observers note that his high-profile presence makes a pronounced difference in intensity of street prostitution and disorder.

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

He was released from jail on a signature bond within 24 hours, and seen in the prostitution area the very next night. Street prostitutes are invariably involved with drug activity, and their presence draws the drug dealers cruising around during the night. Because Coleman is among the more blatant and persistent of the transvestite band of street criminals, we are monitoring this case very vigilantly through the court watch program. Banishment or incarceration of this criminal would produce a distinct improvement for the neighborhood. He also serves as a perfect example of why Midtown needs the SOAP Ordinance.

Mugshots and field photos:

Street Criminal: “Peanut”

Scott Thomas Patrick, known on the street as “Peanut”, was arrested in December for Entering Auto, possession of tools for the commission of a crime and possession of a knife during commission of a crime. The incident took place in the 700 block of Ponce. Since day one of MPSA, Peanut has been an issue for MPSA with a whole host of criminal and nuisance activity along Ponce and elsewhere. He most often loitered in the Ponce & Boulevard area. Fulton County jail records reflect another revolving-door street criminal with numerous bookings under various aliases, which is not to mention even more arrests under city ordinance violations. His latest of several prison stints ended last August after serving two years for Entering vehicle and possession of crime-related tools. In less than three months he was arrested again for the same thing. Previous criminal history includes robbery, assault, entering auto, drug offenses, and theft.

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

He has been an issue for several neighborhoods including Midtown, Old Fourth Ward, and Virginia Highland, though in recent years he has kept a low profile in part due to prison sentences. Judge Lovett presided over his latest case and sentenced him to another round of drug rehab despite his demonstration of profound incorrigibility. He remains in jail awaiting his next opportunity to abscond from drug rehab and return to his life of street crime. Judge Lovett’s sentencing tendencies beg the question of how much burglary and car break-ins do afflicted neighborhood like ours need to endure? Had we known about the court case ahead of time, we would have issued a community impact statement pushing for banishment of this street criminal.

Mugshots (Fulton County jail unless otherwise noted):

Note that he can vary in appearance and influence of street drug use…

More Details on Robbery at Juniper & 8th

During the 1am hour on February 4th, two victims were robbed at gunpoint by a group of four thugs in a vehicle. This occurred at 8th & Juniper. Among the loot was an iPhone with a tracking app, which quickly led police to track down the culprits several miles away. Police moved in on the culprits at a convenience store on Northside Drive, and at that point One of the suspects pulled a gun and attempted to shoot one of the police officers in the head. (is that correct?) The gun did not fire because the round was defective. A brief struggle took place, but all four suspects were quickly brought under control, and hauled off to jail. Midtown Patch wrote more about the incident, and the police report is worth reading (both of these are linked below).

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

We researched these four thugs, and found that all of them have extensive and messy criminal histories (messy in that we had to wade through scores of aliases and name (mis-)spellings). They all show scores of arrests and cases for repeated serious felonies. Brandon Lockett had 12 arrests in Fulton County alone, and Department of Corrections records do not show any incarceration history for him. Each time he was arrested, Fulton County courts put him right back into the community to do more harm. Suspect Dajuan Gladney also had almost a dozen prior cases in Fulton County for burglary, armed robbery, auto theft, and ID theft (just to name a few), and never saw the inside of a prison. The third suspect, Quentin Dooley, was actually on parole for a conviction in Cobb County. He also has a well-rounded criminal history including armed robbery and drug dealing. The last suspect, Montrella Colzie, has a history of auto theft and car break-ins and served a very brief prison stint in 2010. He has a history similar to his fellow thugs in this case.

All too often we find that offenders have been recycled over and over through the drug court program and are very often given probation to run concurrently with existing probation. With time, too many offenders become more dangerous, and some of the judges in Fulton County continue to release them right back into the community with no net consequences to speak of. The offenders in this case should have been dealt with long ago. And now here we are with yet another group of roving violent criminals.

More Details:

PDF file of robbery narratives
Midtown Patch article: Midtown Pedestrian Robbery Results in Arrests

Mugshots from Fulton County Jail:

MPSA internal notes: file #289

Gunfire near Grady High School

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

Last Tuesday and Wednesday several emails circulated around the neighborhood regarding gunfire at Grady. We requested official information from our police contacts, and received these police reports (we have not had a chance to process and summarize it and wanted to expedite getting the information out to the neighborhood):

On 2/5/13 at 9:57 p.m. I. SPO Bunyan and Ofc. Zemaitis responded to a call at Charles Allen Drive and 10th Street. There we met SW who reported someone was shooting inside the park. According to S, she had just walked out of the Grady High School premises at 929 Charles Allen Drive when she observed a black male standing on the opposite side of the school entrance inside the park. S said she heard several gun shoots and saw the black male pointing his hand in the air. At the end of his hand she saw fire which made her realize that he was actually firing a pistol. S described the suspect as a short black male wearing a gray pants, black jacket and a black skull cap. She was unable to give the suspect direction of travel as she was hiding behind a car for safety.

Narrative added to police report on Wednesday: February 6 2013 at approximately 2000 hours: On Wednesday, February 6 2013 at approximately 1810 hours I Officer A Doan responded to 587 Virginia avenue in reference to a bullet that was found lodged in the wall at the location. Upon my arrival I was met by the victim Mr.T. Mr. T stated that he had arrived at the location on Tuesday, February 5 2013 at approximately 2200 hours. Mr. T stated that he had then went to bed and got up and left the location on Wednesday, February 6 2013 at approximately 0820 hours and did not notice anything unusual. Mr. T stated that it was when he returned home at approximately 1430 hours, he noticed a hole in the north facing exterior wall of his apartment and then a hole through an adjacent wall.

Mr. T stated that he then followed the direction of the projectile to the front door, which was scarred and then the south interior wall, where he then found the projectile lodged inside this was wall near the front door. I did observe the entry hole of the location and subsequent holes to where the projectile was lodged. I was also advised by SPO Bunyun, that on the previous night at approximately 2145 hours, he had worked a shots fired call in the area of 10th street and Monroe drive. I notified Sgt Lester, Unit #3593 and Zone 5 CID Investigator Wareham, Unit #5532 of the incident. ID Tech A. Johnson, Unit #7330 also responded to the scene and processed the scene by taking photographs of the damage as well as the projectile. I then retrieved the projectile from the wall and placed it into property as evidence as well as a written victim statement from Mr. T.

Related Email circulating around the neighborhood:

I was wondering if anyone was aware of or heard multiple gunshots fired in the vicinity of Grady High School last evening. My husband and I heard the gunshots at approximately 9:45 pm but initially thought they might have been fire crackers (a bit of shock I suppose). We then observed police vehicles respond to the area. As a school bus and other vehicles left the Grady parking lot near the stadium, we observed a team of people – including officers- with flashlights checking the grassy field in Piedmont Park next to 10th Street, directly across from the street entrance to the rear Grady stadium parking lot; it appeared as if they were looking for shell casings.

We live in a residential building next to Woody’s. We discovered today that Atlanta Police and the APD Crime Scene Unit have been in our building. Apparently, a bullet entered the exterior wall of a 3rd floor unit and ricocheted through the unit. Luckily, no one was home at the time and there were no injuries.

We do not have further details at this time and are uncertain whether the incident involved the event at Grady High School.

CALL TO ACTION: PROPOSED SOAP ORDINANCE

CALL FOR ACTION: WHAT’S NEEDED FROM MIDTOWNERS

Our mission for a safer and more orderly neighborhood critically needs support in two ways at this time.

action

1. Write to City Council

We need you to write to to all Council members and the City Council President expressing support for SOAP legislation and sharing community members’ points of view regarding this long-standing problem of street prostitution in the neighborhood. There is also some resistance among City Council members on the adoption of these new procedures so we need your support. See more information below.

Please send an email to atlantacouncil@atlantaga.gov (this will reach all City Councilors and the Council President) and be sure to copy us at info@midtownponce.org so we can gauge community support for this legislation.

Some things to keep in mind:

Please do not merely forward this eblast to city councilmen – they have already received it. Write your own email explaining your thoughts and how street prostitution affects you and your surroundings.
Please alert other community groups to this important issue.
We have uploaded a copy of the proposed legislation here
More details and food for thought linked below

2. We need a strong showing of Midtowners at the Public Safety Committee meeting

We need folks to attend the City Council’s next meeting for the Public Safety Committee on Monday, February 11th. This will be largely a work session to discuss the proposed SOAP Ordinance. There is some resistance to this proposed legislation among city council members, and Midtown residents need a strong showing at this meeting to emphasize certain critical needs in our neighborhood. The official public notice is as follows:

PUBLIC SAFETY AND LEGAL ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE WORK SESSION: Staying Out of Areas of Prostitution (SOAP) Ordinance

13-O-0025 An Ordinance by Public Safety and Legal Administration Committee to amend Chapter 106, Article IV, Division 1, Section 106-127, entitled “Solicitation for an Illicit Sexual Act,” to mandate a sentence of a term of probation for a first conviction of a violation of Section 162-127, and to mandate banishment from geographical areas within the City of Atlanta defined as “Areas of Prostitution” during the time of said probation; to require banishment from “Areas of Prostitution” during the probationary period mandated for a second violation of Section 162-127, should the sentencing court decline to banish the offender from the corporate limits of the City as currently allowed; to remove superfluous sentencing language; and for other purposes.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013, 1:OO P.M. TO 2:30 P.M.
COMMITTEE ROOM #2 / CITY HALL, 2nd Floor / 55 TRINITY AVE. / ATLANTA, GEORGIA, 30303

RELATED POSTS AND RESOURCES:

About the proposed SOAP Ordinance

IN A NUTSHELL: The SOAP Ordinance would give Police and MPSA Patrol a more powerful tool in driving out street prostitution afflicting certain parts of the neighborhood…

SOAP – what it is:

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

Legislation, known as SOAP (Stay Out of Area – Prostitution) is in the works to more effectively address the problem of street prostitution throughout the city. The SOAP legislation would banish those convicted of prostitution and directly-related offenses from areas noted for a high incidence of prostitution. This banishment would be in effect for the duration of a one-year probation period. Upon a second offense, the offender would be banned from the entire city during the period of probation. Those found in prostitution areas or in city limits, respectively, in violation of the banishment would be arrested on sight. In other words, their mere presence in a prostitution area after an arrest during a vice sting would, in itself, constitute a violation of city ordinance.

Other comparable cities like Seattle have implemented SOAP ordinances to combat street prostitution. This is very similar to SODA (stay out of drug area) and PEO (Parks Exclusion Orders) laws in Seattle and other cities.

Why we need this:

Midtown critically needs this ordinance in order to get rid of certain chronic criminals. All too often APD makes arrests during vice stings, only to see the offenders return right back to where they were arrested perhaps after serving a brief jail time.

With time they become increasingly more difficult to deal with because repeated arrests for prostitution require more turnover among vice detectives than is feasible. The prostitutes know who the vice officers are after one or two arrests, and officers working vice detail have to go through special training.

The SOAP legislation, once passed, will provide police officers with another tool to reduce policing needs in the longer run. It certainly will not be a silver bullet, but will yield one more powerful tool to enhance and maintain a good measure of public safety and order.

How the SOAP legislation would help street prostitutes:

Since illegal drugs drive street prostitution, the mere presence of street prostitutes presents a prolific factor in their involvement in drug activity draining the quality of life in a given community. Any hope of recovery from drug addiction requires first and foremost that the addicted prostitute removes him/herself from an environment in which street prostitution and other enabling factors occur.

Being able to get away with “just one more” seriously undermines any chances of rising above life on the streets. Driving a prostitute to make a choice between jail and rehabilitation very effectively removes them from a life of street crime. We certainly would like to see street prostitutes move beyond this way of life, but at very minimum they must discontinue their negative influence upon the surrounding community. It gives the offender one last opportunity to shape up or ship out. SOAP legislation holds the most promise of accomplishing this objective, and thereby contributing to a win-win situation for all concerned.

Where the SOAP legislation stands now:

The proposed legislation, put together by Councilman Michael Julian Bond, first went through the Public Safety Committee and received a favorable recommendation. But when it went before the full council, it was pulled from the agenda and sent back to the Committee for more work due to opposition from some City Council members. Specifically, councilors Ivory Young, Yolanda Adrean, and Aaron Watson felt that such banishment would be too cruel. So the paper was sent back to the PS-LA Committee to be discussed more on February 11th. This is where the community needs to make a good showing.

Gallery: Street Prostitution in Midtown

RELATED POSTS AND RESOURCES:

Notes on Street Prostitution in Midtown

Just beneath the surface of the nuisance activity presented by street prostitutes lie much more serious problems for the afflicted community.

Specific issues lingering:

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

Street prostitution brings a host of problems into the neighborhood extending well beyond the nuisance and blight of street prostitution itself. Street prostitutes are invariably involved with drugs, and are instrumental in driving other forms of criminal activity in the neighborhood.

Inside the MPSA service area, a band of transvestite prostitutes comes into the neighborhood on a nightly basis and blatantly engages in a wide range of criminal and nuisance activity. This includes considerable drug activity and draws considerable cruising traffic at certain times.

Every once in a while street prostitutes crop up at Ponce & Boulevard, though we have made considerable progress over the years in that area. Those variants, both male and female, are still around in small numbers, but are not nearly as visible as ten years ago.

Outside but near the MPSA service area, male hustlers still loiter around the Cypress Street area.

How street prostitution drives drug activity:

Drug activity routinely appears in one of two scenarios. Most commonly, a prostitute will buy drugs immediately after turning a trick. The prostitute is dropped back off by the john, and then the drug dealer comes along and takes the prostitute for a spin around the block. This keeps drug pushers cruising around the area.

In the other scenario buyers come looking for prostitutes to buy drugs. The prostitute works as a middleman between the dealer and the end buyer. It works something like this: the buyer takes the prostitute for a ride (may or may not involve sex for hire) to give money, drops off the prostitute who then calls a drug dealer to go for a ride, and then returns to the area with the drugs and waits to be picked up by the buyer. The prostitute makes a kickback in the process.

Much of the cruising traffic seen during certain hours is actually drug traffic driven by street prostitutes. Johns normally do not cruise around very long – they make a pickup and then are gone again. The ones driving around for extended periods – more than about 20 minutes – are likely involved with drugs.

Other aspects of street prostitution

Street prostitutes, particularly the transvestite prostitutes, come into the neighborhood on a nightly basis and aggressively assert territory. Particularly the transvestite prostitutes exhibit many traits of gang activity. Residents have been harassed and assaulted by these criminals. Prostitutes are territorial not only toward residents and business owners, but also among themselves, as reflected by occasional quarrels and fights.

Occasionally weapon stashes are found in areas afflicted by street prostitution. In one instance last year, one of the transvestite prostitutes hurled a machete into someone’s yard when they saw police coming along (it was recovered and is now in MPSA custody). Prostitutes often carry knives and blades, and will stash them in shrubbery.

John-rolling occurs with some regularity. The johns are vulnerable, and have little recourse when being victimized by a prostitute. Most of this is not reported to police unless absolutely necessary (like a carjacking). When it is reported, then it is usually reported with different circumstances and locations than it actually occurred. A john who is carjacked runs the risk of being denied insurance coverage because it occurred as they were engaging in criminal activity themselves. This phenomenon certainly brings other criminal elements into the picture.

And last but not least, prostitutes blight any community afflicted by their presence. Residents do not particularly enjoy watching strangers having sex in cars in front of their homes. The lawlessness of their pursuits contributes greatly to a chaotic atmosphere attracting additional crime in the neighborhood.

In short, street prostitution is much more than a broken window that invites more crime into the neighborhood…

Gallery: Street Prostitution in Midtown

RELATED POSTS AND RESOURCES:

Tree Down on 9th Street

During the 3am hour a tree at 265 9th Street spontaneously fell and landed on the street. Fortunately there were no casualties though several cars were damaged during the incident. As the tree fell it ripped out the utility lines leading into the building next door, and pulled out part of the siding in the process. By 4am Georgia Power was already on the scene along with the Atlanta Police Department. Because of the size of the tree 9th Street will remain closed to traffic between Myrtle Street and Argonne Avenue until workers can clear the tree away, during which time a handful of residents will be stranded at home. It will likely take into the afternoon before Georgia Power can restore electricity to the handful of residents in the dark at this hour.

Update: City of Atlanta removal crews are still working on the scene at 10:30am. Contrary to how it appeared at 4am, the tree actually fell across the neighbors’ yard. Power remains out for a handful of residents in the immediate vicinity, and will likely take a while to restore. As you can see in the last picture, it also pulled a little bit of the siding from yet another house two doors down from the base of the tree. That portion of 9th Street remains closed to traffic, and residents at the middle property will be stranded until the trunk of the tree is removed.

Photos from the scene:

Menacing Street Criminal: Nakia Graham

We’ve got yet another one hanging around the neighborhood…

Nakia Graham – latest mugshot (Fulton County jail)

On Friday 1/04 Atlanta Police arrested a menacing individual in the 800 block of Charles Allen for prowling. According to police accounts, he was following the victim as she walked around the neighborhood. The victim stated that when she started to walk faster the suspect would do likewise, and would make the same turns as she sought to get away from him. The victim reported the individual to 911 as she was being stalked, and luckily managed to meet up with a neighbor in the process. Police units responded immediately and quickly located the frightened woman. Upon canvassing the area they spotted the suspect, idenitifed as Nakia Graham, as he turned up a driveway and then hid as if seeking to avoid police interception.

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

Graham has been hanging around the neighborhood for quite some time, and has been on our radar for several weeks. Earlier in the day some residents ran him off of a property on Monroe Drive where he was camping on the porch of a vacant house. They later dismantled his campsite and hauled off his bedding to a dumpster later in the evening. In the days leading up to the arrest the police had seen him loitering around the neighborhood, but absent of a suspicious person call from a resident in the area there was not much the police could do at that point. In the weeks leading up to Christmas he was reported prowling around the neighborhood. Last month he was found to be squatting another vacant house on 6th Street after a resident flagged down the MPSA Patrol and reported the situation. With the owner’s help that house has since been secured.

Graham also has some criminal history, and has been known to the police for quite some time. In 2007 he struck a victim over the head with a rock or brick, causing a gash to the victim’s eyebrow, with intent to cause serious injury. Afterwards, police had to chase him until they were able to corner him on the Downtown Connector. He was booked on aggravated assault, but was held only six months until one of the judges released him to participate in a support group at a homeless shelter. In other words, this is Fulton County justice as flimsy as it comes. In April of 2008 he was arrested again for aggravated assault, and he was finally sent to prison where he belongs. He was released last March, and and quickly began was causing trouble again in the area. His criminal history also includes a significant number of cases in Dekalb County involving Burglary, Peeping Tom, Indecent Exposure, and Battery.

Nakia Graham was arrested Friday on the misdemeanor charge of prowling, and was released within 24 hours. He’s out there somewhere, and women walking around the neighborhood are especially at risk. Please study his mugshots, and call 911 fif you see him acting suspiciously in any way. He epitomizes the need for us to maintain a neighborhood patrol.

Parole Watch 1/07/13

We really don’t need these criminals back in the neighborhood…

We are watching a handful of inmates in the prison system who were convicted of Midtown-related offenses. Once incarcerated, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles sets a tentative parole month which we monitor closely for known Midtown-related inmates. Among them are the following (mugshots below):

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

1. Antonio Martinez Hunt has a tentative parole date set for March for a full sentence running until July. He was arrested last July when a Zone 5 officer patrolling the beat spotted him trespassing on the front porch of a Myrtle Street home, just shamelessly making himself at home on somebody else’s property. The officer recognized him immediately since he was among the transvestite street criminals plaguing the area with their nightly street prostitution, drug activity and other crime. He was even in drag, “dressed for work” when he was intercepted. He was found to have an active warrant, and upon the resulting arrest the officer found a loaded pistol in his possession. He was therefore charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was later convicted for this and sentenced to five years, of which to serve one year with the rest probated.

He had previously been convicted of a number of criminal offenses going into this incident, and had even been in prison once. His involvement with the transvestite prostitute gang warrants the effort to avert his release, and the fact that he is known to carry a gun as he pursues a life of street crime in our neighborhood compunds his profile even more. Any unnecessary release from prison would negatively affect the overall safety and quality of life in our neighborhood. In light of all this we are pushing for the Parole Board to deny parole to Mr. Hunt, and wish his fellow street prostitutes would take note of his example.

2. Timothy Kozak was convicted in 2008 for several burglaries in the Midtown and Virginia Highland area. He was among the “Three Burglateers” who were arrested in the act in August 2008. Sgt. Cooper was working for us, and was part of the police response. Kozak later admitted to several other burglaries in the area – among them the Camden Midtown Apartments, the Virginia Highland Church and various residential locations in Midtown, Old Fourth Ward and Virginia Highland.

Kozak was sentenced as a recidivist to twenty years, of which he is to serve ten, with the balance of his sentence to be served on probation with conditions including banishment from our area and drug treatment. Going into his 2008 burglary spree, he had a very long criminal history in Georgia and New Jersey, and had served in prison in both states. Kozak has a tentative parole date of January 2014, for a full sentence that runs until 2018. We will decide in the coming months whether to issue a parole opposition statement, but we are thinking that an early release would be a very bad idea. He is currently serving his sentence at Rogers State Prison in Reidsville.

3. Daniel Lee Holt, convicted of a 2011 burglary on Myrtle Street, has a maximum release date of March 2014. The parole board still shows his tentative parole date of “No Decision”, but would likely be set for later this year. He is currently serving his sentence at Johnson State Prison in Wrightsville.

4. Michael Blackmon – was convicted for an October 2011 burglary on 6th Street. He was already on parole for trafficking methamphetamines, and a Fulton County judge gave him a sentence to run concurrently with his existing parole-revoked sentence. He maxes out in August 2015, but has a tentative parole date of January 2015. He is currently serving at Autry State Prison in Pelham. Luckily we still have plenty of time to address his case.

Mugshots of these criminals:

Patrol Highlights – December 2012

December was a slow month for us. It is quite routine for us to cut back patrol coverage in December for budgetary reasons, and luckily patrol needs reduce with cold weather. The bulk of our renewals have traditionally been in the Spring, and the warmer weather intensifies patrol needs. Due to particularly severe financial constraints this winter, primarily due to above normal expdenditures this past summer dealing with transvestite prostitutes, Sgt. Cooper was the only officer patrolling during the closing month of the year. We will bring back other officers as we are able to collect funds to pay them. It is very important to keep memberships active and help us by recruiting your neighbors.

Highlights from Sgt. Cooper’s patrol log:

Sgt Cooper spoke to the new owner of the vacant house regarding recurring problems with his newly-acquired property. The owner boarded up the house soon afterwards, and plans to redevelop the property.
A severe water leak was discovered at a house on Mentelle, where the owner was out of town. With the help of a neighbor, the water was shut off.
Five juveniles were served with criminal trespass warnings at a member business.
As a routine measure, Sgt. Cooper met with certain property owners about renting to tenants with criminal patterns. A couple of grateful property owners have moved forward with evicting criminally-inclined tenants who have been on our radar for quite some time. Problem tenants is one area where we have made tremendous progress over the years, but we still monitor jail logs, the parole database and the sex offender registry.
Also during the month Sgt. Cooper secured several package deliveries by keeping them safe until the homeowners were back home. We also conducted a fair number of out-of-town visits, though we imagined more members would take advantage of this.

Below is the patrol summary for 2012:

Month	Arrests	911 Calls	MPSA Calls	OOT Visits	Patrol Hours
Jan	3	9	5	8	187
Feb	11	10	10	9	168
Mar	7	17	16	19	166
Apr	9	13	12	11	220
May	14	19	10	19	206
Jun	12	14	7	15	212
Jul	17	16	9	14	222
Aug	15	18	16	17	204
Sep	8	13	10	18	190
Oct	16	10	6	10	171
Nov	7	6	11	15	127
Dec	1	8	6	15	87
TOTALS	120	153	118	170	2160

Recent Prison Releases

Three Midtown-related inmates have been released from prison in the last couple of months, but so far have not been seen or reported in Midtown. Please let us know if you see any of these individuals. Those are:

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

Candice Hughes was convicted in 2009 for an attempted robbery and ensuing brutal assault on another female behind the Ponce de Leon Hotel. She has plagued the Ponce area for many years with criminal activity, including street prostitution, drug activity, and violent conduct toward members of the community. She maxed out in November, but had a tentative parole month earlier in the year. We sent a parole oppostion letter, and later received word that this serious offender would not be paroled. She served until the end. Hopefully she understands that she is not wanted in Midtown.

Tywong McCoy became a serious problem for the neighborhood in 2007, when he would expose himself to women walking around the neighborhood. He would often fondle himself as he watched women doing yard work, walking dogs, etc. In some cases these women had their children with them. He also squatted in sheds in various parts of the neighborhood, and there were signs that he was doing drugs and masturbating to porn magazines. He was later convicted of aggravated stalking after months of court watch efforts and case building on the part of APD and the Fulton DA’S office. Our parole opposition letter helped to avert an early release, but his full sentence expired in December.

Stan Spradlin, who was caught red-handed burglarizing a house in Virginia Highland and later convicted for that incident, had a maximum release date of January 1st of this year. While the incident took place on the other side of the Beltline, this offender spent a significant amount of time in our neighborhood hanging out mostly among the drug culture at Ponce & Boulevard.

Community Menace: Mathew Todd Corley

Subject spit in victim’s face and tried to snatch her cell phone.

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

See also update on 3/03/13

On 12/31 Police were dispatched to the 800 block of Peachtree Street in response to an attempted robbery call. Upon arrival the (female) victim reported that a white male walked up to her and spit in her face, and in a very menacing manner. When she pulled out her cell phone to call for help, the subject grabbed her and tried to wrest the cell phone from her. A tussle ensued, but she was able to fend him off. As the subject walked away he cursed and threatened the victim. Police units canvassing the area intercepted the subject at 10th & Piedmont and brought him back to the incident location, where the victim positively identified the accused.

31-year-old Mathew Todd Corley was arrested on charges of Battery, Attempted Robbery, and Criminal Damage. Our research shows extensive arrest and criminal history for assault. In a 2007 Dekalb County case, he was ordered to undergo a 12-week anger management program. His history clearly reflects a continuing menace to the community. Since then he has continued to engage in violent criminal offenses in multiple jurisdictions including Fulton County. Given that his profile bears resemblance to the Ricky Love case, another violent individual who for years attacked and terrorized people in the Midtown community, we have designated him as a high-priority court watch case. He remains in the Fulton County jail as of this writing, and is ineligible for bond according to online records.

Fulton County Mugshots:

Research notes: first name appears in records as Mathew and Matthew. 1981 DOB. File #285

Robbery Suspect With Significant History Apprehended

Personal Safety Basics: check to see who’s knocking before opening the door!

CRIMINALS UNWANTED

We would like to share with you a recent police report from an incident just south of Midtown (we have condensed it):

On 12/27 police units were dispatched to the 300 block of Piedmont in response to an armed robbery call, and promptly met with the two victims in the incident. According to the police report, the victims opened the door to their apartment without checking to see who was knocking. Upon opening the door, the suspect barged into the apartment with a gun. In the process the suspect also robbed the victims of an iPhone and a MacBook Pro laptop.

The victim had a tracking app on his iPhone, and the police were able to track it in the area of Renaissance Parkway. Police canvassing the area quickly located a suspicious person who attempted to flee upon seeing officers. They found that the suspect had in his possession the MacBook Pro laptop and the iPhone, but were unable to recover a handgun that would have been used in the robbery. Police brought the victims to the scene of the arrest, and they positively identified the suspect as the one who homejacked them.

Atlanta police immediately booked Antwan Creighton into the Fulton County jail on charges armed robbery, burglary, obstruction, and carrying a weapon during the commission of a crime. The victims recovered the items taken during the home invasion.

In our research we discovered that Creighton has very siginificant criminal history. He served 15 years in the Florida prison system for a rash of robberies in the Miami area. He was released last February from prison, and noticed that he was in close supervision until he maxed out (signifying a dangerously problematic inmate). Since his release, he has been booked into the Fulton County jail three times. We find it disturbing that, despite his criminal history, Fulton County judges continue to release him back into the community. This violent and dangerous person has no business being allowed on the streets of any community.

Fulton County mugshots:

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Notes from the Streets of Midtown

CAR BREAK-INS ON THE RISE

MPSA Patrol Highlights – April 2013

OUR CRIMINAL PROFILES IN GENERAL

Street Criminal update 4/24/13

Dogwood Festival Beverage Booth a Record Breaker!

SOAP UPDATE & More Notes on Street Prostitution

Street Prostitutes on our Watch List

Dangerous Assault Suspect Still in Jail

Street Criminal Watch: Dane Coleman

Parole Watch: William Jeffrey Reese

MPSA PERSPECTIVE ON ROBBERIES IN THE SERVICE AREA

More letters urging support of the proposed SOAP Ordinance

YTD Robbery summaries as of 2/10/2013

Valentine’s Day Robbery Spree (updated)

Letters to City regarding SOAP Ordinance

Street Criminal & Prostitute: Lamar Coleman

Street Criminal: “Peanut”

More Details on Robbery at Juniper & 8th

Gunfire near Grady High School

CALL TO ACTION: PROPOSED SOAP ORDINANCE

About the proposed SOAP Ordinance

Notes on Street Prostitution in Midtown

Tree Down on 9th Street

Menacing Street Criminal: Nakia Graham

Parole Watch 1/07/13

Patrol Highlights – December 2012

Recent Prison Releases

Community Menace: Mathew Todd Corley

Robbery Suspect With Significant History Apprehended

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