[from MPD Officer Matt Morris]
We had a small awards ceremony today in which myself, Officer Sean Hill and Officer Pernell Blount along with Kevin Blackwell received achievement awards from Chief Lanier.
The basis for the award was in November 2008, Mr. Blackwell was walking his dog near the church at 32 Grant Circle. He heard the security alarm going off and saw a male subject exiting with a large bag over his shoulder. Mr. Blackwell, being a member of the church knew that there shouldn't be anyone in the church at that hour and did not recognize the man as a member either. The subject then ran across the street into the Grant Circle park with Mr. Blackwell chasing him. Mr. Blackwell caught the man and held him until myself and the other officers arrived.
Intially we could only arrest the man for Unlawful Entry. But knowing the area was having a burglary problem we did a follow up investigation over the next couple days and were able to determine that the bag the man had in his possession contained various items that had been stolen from inside the daycare center of the church. We were able to add the charge of Burglary 2 to the subjects original charges. With this arrest were were also able to close several burglaries as well.
The Chief of Police honored Mr. Blackwell for his heroism and dedication to the community and the officers for the dedication to the community and for removing a dangerous subject from the community and making the Petworth area safer.
What would be in a church daycare that would be worth breaking in to steal?
Posted by: jb | September 02, 2009 at 02:12 PM