According to the City’s Crime Summary at http://www.gaithersburgmd.gov/crime/, City Police officers arrested two Hispanic men in conjunction with a strong-arm robbery on New Year’s Eve:
Strong Arm Robbery
Sunday, December 31, 2006
A male stopped a city officer at the city police station and advised that he was beaten and robbed behind Diamond Drugs in Olde Towne. A lookout was initiated for 2 Hispanic males, one with a shaved head and the other in all dark clothing. Officers stopped two suspects matching that discription on Brookes Ave and Rt 355. A show-up was conducted and the victim positively identified the two individuals. They were taken into custody and transported to CPU for Strong Arm Robbery. The victim, who had a swollen lip and lacerations about his face, was treated at the scene by F/R and transported to Shady Grove Hosp. Def. #1 CASTILLO, Mauricio A. H/M 09-23-86 No fixed address
Def. #2 GRANADOS, Jaime H/M 09-29-79 No fixed address
According to my interpretation of the sometimes-cryptic court records, Mr. Castillo and Mr. Granados both have extensive police records. Just this year, Mr. Castillo appears to have spent the months of April, July, September and October in jail (*) for charges including theft, assault, resisting arrest, assaulting a police officer, DUI, CDS (controlled dangerous substances), various alcohol violations, and disorderly conduct. Most of the charges were either dropped or suspended, although he did plead guilty to the DUI (for which he received a $1000 fine and a year in jail, both suspended with probation), and disorderly conduct, for which he received a month in jail, which worked out to time served. As of November 17, there were charges pending for trespassing and an open container violation, and an FTA (”failure to appear”) warrant had been issued on December 28.
Mr. Granados has also been in and out of jail at least since July of 2005. Charges have included assault, resisting arrest, assaulting a police officer, trespassing, disorderly conduct and various alcohol violations. On June 23 of 2006, he was arrested for trespassing. In July, an FTA warrant was issued, and he was picked up on August 23. He sat in jail until September 25, when charges were dropped and he was released. About three weeks later, on October 10, he was charged with 2nd degree assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. This time, bail was set at $17,500 and he sat in jail until December 21. He plead guilty to the 2nd degree assault, received a year in jail, was given credit for 43 days served and probation for the remaining 321 days of his sentence, and then released. Yesterday’s arrest came just ten days after he started this probation.
Update: The court records for the arrest of Mr. Castillo are now up. He was charged with robbery, second degree assault, and theft of less than $500. Bail was set at $30,000. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for January 26. There does not yet appear to be any new record for Mr. Granados.
Update 2: I found a previous incident report for Mr. Castillo on the Montgomery County website:
On 08-30-06 at 6:10 p.m. a loss prevention officer from the Rugged Warehouse located at 230 N. Frederick Avenue contacted police in reference to a shoplifting that had just occurred. The loss prevention officer chased two male subjects who had conspired to steal clothing from the store. A police officer located and arrested one subject for the shoplifting. He was later identified as 23-year-old Rodrigo Turcios of the unit block of N. Summit Drive in Gaithersburg. The security guard continued to follow the second suspect, 19-year-old Mauricio Adalberto Castillo of unknown address. Castillo attacked the security officer with a box cutter, but was disarmed. He then began to run. Police caught up to him, but he resisted arrest, kicking and punching three officers who tried to take him into custody. The officers managed to subdue Castillo, and he was processed and charged with Theft < $500, Common Law Conspiracy to Commit Theft, 1st Degree Assault, two counts of 2nd Degree Assault, 2nd Degree Assault against a Law Enforcement Officer, and three counts of Resisting Arrest.
According to the court records, Mr. Castillo spent the following two months — September and October — in Jail. The disposition of all the charges listed above is “Nolle Prosequi” — they all were dropped. It was during this time he was in jail, however, that he appears to have plead guilty to DUI — one of a pile of traffic charges from March 10, 2006 — for which he received the $1000 fine and one year jail sentence mentioned above. It is unclear if this plea was somehow connected to the Rugged Warehouse charges having been dropped.
Update 3: I see now why the record wasn’t showing up for Mr. Granados — this one is listed under the name “Grandos”, which is also listed as an alias in previous court records. Mr. Grandos/Granados was charged with same crimes as Mr. Castillo — robbery, second degree assault, and theft of less than $500 — but his bail was set at $50,000. Having missed this spelling of his surname, I had not previously noticed one of his other escapades. On June 14, 2006 Mr. Grandos was arrested for having stolen a credit card and theft of an amount less than $100. He was released on his own recognizance, but on June 20th an FTA warrant was issued. The warrant was served on July 6th, with bail set at $2,500. He spent the next 32 days in jail. He plead guilty to the theft charge, was given a $500 fine and a 90-day jail sentence. The fine and the 57-day balance of his jail term were suspended with probation before judgment. (from the Maryland State Courts FAQ: “This is a common resolution in many District Court trials. The defendant is found guilty or pleads guilty. However, the final entry of judgment is technically suspended. This gives the defendant an opportunity to request expungement of his record upon successful completion of the conditions or probation.”)
Update 4: Yes, the Granados/Grandos timeline is confusing. The way it appears to have gone is this:
- On June 14, 2006, Mr. Grandos is arrested for theft. He’s let go on his own recognizance.
- On June 20, 2006, an FTA warrant is issued.
- On June 23, 2006, a citation is issued for trespassing.
- On July 6, 2006, he’s picked up on the FTA warrant and put in jail.
- On August 8, 2006, he pleads guilty to the theft charge and is given the fine & 90 days and released with PBJ.
- On August 17, 2006, another FTA warrant is issued for the trespassing charge.
- On August 23, 2006, he’s picked up on the FTA and put in jail again.
- On September 25, 2006, the trespassing charges are dropped and he’s released from jail.
- On October 10, 2006, he’s arrested for assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, and put in jail again.
- On December 21, 2006, he pleads guilty on the assault charge and is given a year’s probation with credit for 43 days served.
- On December 31, 2006, he’s arrested for robbery, second degree assault, and theft of less than $500 and put in jail with bail set at $50,000.
Again, this is all based on my reading of the court records, which could be flawed.
Update 5: Sebastian Montes writes about this incident in this week’s Gazette:
The city is not attributing the crimes to day laborers.
‘‘That’s not what we’re looking at, we’re looking at whether there are criminals committing crimes,” said City Manager David B. Humpton. ‘‘Whoever they are, if they’re committing crimes, we’re going to go after them.”
Coming on the heels of a rape on East Diamond Avenue on Dec. 17, the crimes have some residents of Olde Towne worried.
‘‘You’re stupid if … rape and two armed robberies three or four blocks from your house don’t worry you,” said Dan Searles, who has lived on Walker Avenue for nine years.
Humpton said the crime rate in Olde Towne is not at the point of needing extra police attention, and that city police have not alerted him ‘‘to any major problems,” based on specific trends.
‘‘Unfortunately, you have thefts and robberies all different times of the year,” he said. ‘‘There is no indication from the police that that’s happened yet. … They caught two of the guys, what more do you want?”
Lovely. Yes, they caught the two guys. And let them go. And caught them. And let them go. And caught them. And let them go. And caught them. What more do I want? Is it that hard to figure out? Also, I note that in the Tuesday night Council meeting, Mr. Humpton pointed out, while explaining that there is crime all over Gaithersburg, that recently an officer in the City had to discharge his weapon, and it wasn’t in Olde Towne. Gosh, that makes me feel so much better. Yes, I realize that the “they” who caught them and the “they” who let them go aren’t the same, and that the latter “they” don’t report to David Humpton. But at some point the repeated downplaying of crime starts to wear pretty thin. Just because there may be no place in the city that one can safely walk around at night does not make anyone feel any less abandoned.
*The court records have several entries for a Mauricio A or Mauricio Adelberto Castillo, all with a birthdate of 09/23/1986, with two addresses in the Girard St area and one record showing his address as “unknown”. The Police report above states that Mr. Castillo has “no fixed address”. However, the court records, covering a nine-month period, variously give Mr. Castillo heights of 5′6″, 5′7″, 5′9″, 5′10″, and 6′1″, and weights ranging from 140 to 175 lb. So either there are five different Mauricio A. Castillos in Gaithersburg all sharing the same birth date, or the heights and weights are not precisely measured for the court records. Mr. Granados’ height also varies somewhat, from 5′6″ to 5′8″, with one possible typo at 4′6″ and 180lb.
PLEASE, I have such a problem with anyone referring to TOTAL SCUM BAGS as “Mr.” Mr. is a term of respect.
This will continue until we demand a change (and I mean WE as in thousands of us). Our county is run by people who have declared us an “undocumented immigrant” sanctuary. Our city is run by people who prioritize babysitting over crime fighting. And each and everyone of us who doesn’t write a letter, attend a public meeting, call a radio station, and otherwise make our dissatisfaction known, is a partner in the decay.
There is no leadership focus on these problems. Our elected and appointed officials wait for it to go away. But it gets worse. And we do nothing.
I suggest that we march outside the courthouse and demand that there be a consequence for bad behavior. Look at all the media attention that the day laborers got when they protested. We should show up at Mayor and Council meetings. Our voices are silent. We type crap into blogs and the city and county officials smirk, knowing that almost no one read this.
The ball is in our court. What are you going to do?
I heard a really interesting anecdote. It seems if you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water it will jump out and save itself. But if you put it in a pot with cool water and then put it on a burner it will stay there until it boils to death. We are all sitting here watching the thermometer slowly rise and convincing ourselves that doing nothing is the best decision.
Clark,
It has and will continue to be the editorial policy of this blog to use such courtesy titles in all cases.
Silentrider says: “We type crap into blogs and the city and county officials smirk, knowing that almost no one read this.” How do you know this? Where can I find out how many people read blogs, especially local ones?
I cannot tell you that I have polled our leaders. But I can tell you that if you watch what they do, their choice of what they act on and what they chose to ignore is equivalent to my hyperbole.
I believe, in my limited amount of exposure to the ones we believe are acting in our best interest, that there is a patronizing attitude toward citizens who call for a response to the problems caused by illegal immigration.
Look at what we experienced in Gaithersburg.
You may challenge me on the data, but I challenge you on the outcome.
And in closing, I do not think that there is an evil conspiracy at work. I believe that having the same people working inside of government for decades isolates them from reality. in the absence of ground truth, they are free to construct their own realities based on hypothetical assumptions for which we will pay in the future.
Gaithersburg homeowner,
While I am sure that the publisher of this site has far better numbers than what I am about to give you, according to Alexa traffic rankings, gaithersblog.net today has reach of 0.15 per million users. That is a three-month average. To put that in perspective, gazette.net’s reach is two orders of magnitude above, 17 per million users; washingtonpost.com reach, in turn, is two orders of magnitude above gazette.net’s, 3,435 per million users. Not bad, I think, when you consider that those other two websites are both products of the same giant media conglomerate and gaithersblog.net, for all we know, is the work of one person.
On a different comparison, for instance, gaithersblog.net’s reach is on the same order of magnitude as the city government’s website, gaithersburgmd.gov–0.15 versus 0.4 per million users, respectively. And, though rare, there have been spikes when gaithersblog.net’s reach has exceeded that of the city government’s website.
For Alexa, reach is the number of people who would see a site if you took a random sample of 1,000,000 Internet users.
Thank you, Diego. While you are at it, can you give us a heads up on the Lotto number? ;-)
The question is, “How does blog readership overlap with voting?”
In Gaithersburg, with some 27,000 registered voters, only about 1 in 10 vote for city officials in off year elections.
If we want their attention, we must put their reelection in jeopardy.
As a relative newcomer to Gaithersburg, I can only make a limited comment on what I see as the attitude of the city government, but once I learned of the increasing crime in the city and began researching exactly what city government was proposing to do to curb it or stop it, I was shocked to learn the answer: not much.
Full disclosure: I currently live in Olde Towne because my girlfriend lived there and we haven’t been able to move away yet, but I’ve lived in other, high-crime areas, like the Route 1 area of Alexandria and Johannesburg, South Africa (now THERE is a high-crime area with some real stories to tell).
The thing is, though, as hopeless as those situations appeared to be, especially in South Africa, the cities there were at least doing something about it, or making the appearance of doing something about it. It was high on city council agendas, policing was stepped up, and I even saw improvements in those areas while I lived there.
Now Olde Towne, as bad as it is getting, is not quite there just yet (though the rape on Diamond sounds alarmingly close to South Africa), but just look at any of the agendas posted right here on Gaithersblog and I think it becomes manifestly obvious that, even if the city government is aware of the problem, they do not place it high on their list of priorities. I’m not going to speculate on why this is, but I do think the people need to speak up.
Just read the updates. How do these criminals continue to plea out, get charges dropped, and get back out on the street to reoffend? What is going on with the justice system in this city?
I think it is time to pay close attention to who the judges are in these cases. They obviously do not live in Gaithersburg, not that it should matter. We need to show up in court and hold the judges feet to the fire and not let them get away with letting these criminals back out on the street with nothing more than a mild spanking. I’m told that when the lenient judges have a bigger audience they are less likely to let the criminals off so easy. Can Gaithersblog find out the schedule and location for the hearings and inform the public so that we can attend with pen and paper in hand? Thanks in advance.
So here is a question that I just thought of:
“What direction has the City Government given the Police Department regarding illegals when they are stopped for other crimes?”
Should we ignore people who are breaking federal laws?
Irrespective of those who say that the only crime they are committing is trying to find a job, who else among us has the RIGHT to pick and chose which laws we obey?
I believe that we need to request that the Mayor and Council, and by extension the City Manager, define a clear position on this issue. If we break the law we get arrested. Like if we don’t pay our taxes or run stop signs. When then are other allowed to flaunt our laws over and over again?
Lose respect for one law, lose respect for them all.
Humpton said the crime rate in Olde Towne is not at the point of needing extra police attention, and that city police have not alerted him ‘‘to any major problems,” based on specific trends.
Astounding. That cements my decision to get out of this city.
The best part is that this is the same man who is spending a fortune to build a swimming pool on the west end of town. The budget for that pool could fund a 50% increase in police for over a DECADE!
When the heck did Gaithersburg become a theme park? Should we change the name to Gaithersland? Our elected and appointed officials are running the city like it’s Disneyland in more ways than one! These albatrosses lose money every year. And the Parks and Recreation budget dwarfs that of the Police.
When you go to the City’s web site and you look at what they think reality is, its all about music, plays, and fun.
I don’t know about anyone else, but that is NOT a governmental function! That is for private industry not tax dollars.
Humpton is leading the Mayor and Council by the nose to spend $45,000,000 this year. And we need to beg for a outside funding for more police.
It is time for action. Please don’t leave. Fight for sanity. We must retake our city. Let’s change the form of government. As long as the Mayor’s job pays only $15,000 no one will run against him. But if we took the $200,000 pay away from the Manager and put that in the Mayoral pay, how many people would consider running.
Gaithersburg is too big to have the man running it not answer to the voters.
I’d rather not leave, but unfortunately I live in Olde Towne, and I’m just plain tired. I’m tired of having to not leave my apartment at night, tired of worrying that I’m going to get jumped taking my trash out, tired of worrying that someone is going to attack my girlfriend. I’m by no means a small guy and I’ve been threatened and yelled at by people in my own complex; I don’t dare venture any further than that, nor to use public transportation after a certain time of day.
Then I read comments like this from city personnel, and…well, it’s getting to be like my time spent in South Africa, and I don’t want to return to that place.
Silent Rider wrote…..”
“What direction has the City Government given the Police Department regarding illegals when they are stopped for other crimes?”
I believe that we need to request that the Mayor and Council, and by extension the City Manager, define a clear position on this issue”.
These are good questions. Who will stand up at the next Council meeting and ask them?
[…] More violent crime in Olde Towne (update 5) 15 gaithersburgisgreat, crimnos, SilentRider, crimnos, SilentRider […] […]
Crimnos,
While I agree that we are becoming a third world country, there is one difference, our City Manager is paid over $200,000.
I guarantee you that if these crimes were in Humpton’s beloved Kentlands or the Mayor’s neighborhood, there would be helicopters flying overhead, SWAT teams stalking around…
But you see, we are a third world country, the government exists for the benefit of the Katzes, Humptons and Leggetts. We are the rabble.
They are counting on us to be good sheep. Think not for David art thinking for you. So, Gaithersburg, are you waiting for your daughter to be raped, your son shot, what’s it take?
Why are you all so concerned with the hispanic people who commit crime in Gaithersburg? Have you all forgotten about the black’s and white’s that commit crime. I read the updates, and you need to check yourselves before you put false statements out about people. First of all Mauricio is not homeless, ad he did not rob that man. That man who claimed he was robbed, was actualy trying to break into cars in the neighborhood, and happened to be caught by Mauricio while he was attempting to break into Mauricio’s girlfriends car. Mauricio and his friend chased the man all the way to old town. The only thing they took from him was the girlfriends wallet (which contained her I.D!!) and they did beat him up. If I was Mauricio, I woud sue the hell out of you all.
You all need to stop. Nobody does anything about the real criminals. What about the man who attached me? I gave the description to police (A white male 5′9 brown hair, brow eyes.) They told me that there was nothing that could be done, after they found out the man was white, and not hispanic. I had an officer respond to my house, and treated me like I was nothing, and a criminal, when in fact I was a victem. I made a complaint on the officer, and now everytime I leave my house, I get harrassed, and racialy profiled by police. If they weren’t so busy being racists, then maybe the crime rate would drop. They only care about the color of a person’s skin. First it was only black’s that did all the crime. I see the people have a new scapegoat, the Hispanic’s. I want all the blacks that were being wrongly accused to give it up to the hispanic’s. They are taking attention away from you.
From what I can tell of the court records, Mr. Castillo’s case was forwarded to Circuit Court in late January. The schedule shows a disposition hearing scheduled for this morning (3/27), with a bond review scheduled for this Friday, and trial scheduled for July:
The charges remain 2nd degree assault, robbery and theft under $500. Maryland Rule 4-252 is part of the pretrial procedures in Circuit Court, entitled simply “Motions in circuit court”; thus one can’t from this schedule deduce what is the precise topic of the May hearing.
Mr. Granandos’ case has also been forwarded to Circuit court, with the same three charges. His upcoming schedule is as follows:
The fact that neither of these trials have reached a conclusion means that both of these men continue, under our system of law, to be presumed innocent of the charges before them.
Lanea and L. Buckly,
This is not a racist blog contrary to your perception. But it is true that the recent influx of people who do not obey our country’s laws and don’t respect our culture and behavioral norms is upsetting. There is a huge push for us to ignore law breaking. We don’t break the law. I pay all my taxes, work hard, and don’t get arrested repeatedly. This is not because I am white, it is because I follow the rules.
Whether a law breaker is white, black or Latino is of no consequence to me. Personally, I think that they Enron/Worldcom criminals should have been executed so that the punishment is proportional to the damage of their crimes.
But when people are arrested over and over again there is something to pay attention to there. One time MIGHT be a cop who has a problem, but long rap sheets are hard to argue with.
And regarding the fact that cops can’t do anything if a perpetrator is white, that is bull crap. We have a diverse police department. The statement might have been we can’t do anything without more identification information. I am a white guy with brown hair and brown eyes. That is about 75% of white guys.
But if you feel that you were not well served by that officer, go to the station and ask for one of the many Spanish speakers there to get you to someone who can help you.
You are in a country that respects your rights more than any other in the world. If you don’t like it here you got a problem. But treat this country with respect and you will get it in return.
First of all, I am not “spanish speaking”, and I speak enlish very well. After all, English is my first language. I would, however; expect YOU to assume that I was not an american citizen. Do not assume that I did not understand what that cop said to me, and do not try to downplay the fact that I was a victim, and I was not given the assistance I required. The fact is, you sit there on your high horse and pretend to report the truth, but you only report what you WANT your readers to believe. Do not ever jump to the conclusion that I misunderstood what was said. As you can clearly see in this post, I have a very good grasp of the english vocabulary.
What happened to the cop that cursed at me, and threatened me, and harrased me? Well, he is still walking around town, driving a new Dodge Model Police car, with a badge and a GUN! What about that. Perhaps if I lived in Kentlands, or someplace like it, I would have gotton the assistance I needed. Assult and robbery, even if it is just attempted, is still a crime. Aparently crime in Gaithersburg has been reserved only for hispanic’s,and Black’s, but not Caucasin perpitraitors. It’s a crying shame.
Are you all kidding me? you are arguing over bs? Crime is crime whether it’s committed by a black, a hispanic or a caucasian. Now what the City of Gaithersburg is doing in terms of the rising problem….is pathetic. I grew up in Gaithersburg…but I watched it deteriorate so I sold my house in Old Town and got out of dodge. Gaithersburg is becoming a slum. It is no longer safe and the price of homes is ridiculous. Being hispanic myself (and a U.S. Citizen), I am ashamed of what the increasing hispanic population has done to the City of Gaithersburg. The stupid bs that some of these people did in my neighborhood was always explained away by “in my country…..” and my response was always…”That’s just it…you’re not in your country anymore…you’re in mine!” Take care of it and respect it don’t ruin it for everyone else. I read this blog almost every day and am saddened that the city I grew up in and loved is so horrid and scary now.
First, let me say that I am an immigrant, too. So the controversy is not about immigration. It is about the fact that the USA is a country that is predicated on respect for and obedience to the law. We don’t have dictators here, no one is above the law. Although the system is not perfect and it takes too much time to fix every problem, it is the best system out there. If it weren’t, why is everyone sneaking in here?
But that is the point. Sneaking in here is illegal. Some citizens who obey the law are not happy to see foreign nationals come to our country and tell us which laws they want to obey and which they want to ignore. You see, as soon as it is optional to obey laws…if we are allowed to pick our own laws and break others, we are not the United States any more.
So for all of the people, largely Hispanic, who tell us that no one is breaking a law…you are just trying to get an honest job….cut it out.
What is the status, for example, of illegal immigrants in Mexico? Surprise, surprise, surprise…illegal immigration is a FELONY in Mexico!
While I would do that same thing if I were living in a country that doesn’t care about me and without any hope and a future there…that is sneak into the US. Please stop insulting our intelligence and telling us that there is nothing illegal about being an “undocumented immigrant”.
The problem is that our political system has been taken over by extremists on both sides. Left wing lunatics battle right wing lunatics. The battleground is littered with the bodies of the middle-class taxpayers. There is a rational solution to the problem. But that will require working together in an HONEST fashion. So to start out, let’s stop lying about legal and illegal.