TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 2010


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B5 Fentys take ‘full responsibility’ for bicycles swiped from garage


Officer guarding home followed protocol in June 3 theft, family says


by Nikita Stewart


Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and his family took “full responsibili- ty” for the theft of two bicycles from his open garage earlier this month and said Monday that the police officer guarding their Crestwood home followed proto- col.


On June 3, thieves stole two


“inexpensive” children’s bikes and replaced them with two mountain bikes, according to a statement released by the D.C. mayor’s office Monday. “The youngsters involved took off im- mediately after the swap,” the statement read. “The Fentys take


An evidence technician with the Prince George’s County police dusts for fingerprints at the BB&T branch in Bowie. An off-duty officer foiled the attempted robbery of a man headed to the bank to make a deposit.


WILLIAMSON/THE WASHINGTON POST


MICHAEL S.


full responsibility for the open ga- rage.”


A report called a “Preliminary


Public MPD Document,” obtained by The Washington Post, said that officer Wilson Liriano was watch- ing a surveillance monitor at the Fenty property when he saw a suspect riding a bike inside the garage shortly before two other suspects entered the garage. They stole the children’s bikes, and first lady Michelle Fenty told po- lice that the two bikes left behind did not belong to the family. The theft and Liriano’s identity were first reported Monday by the Ex- aminer, which said it obtained police records labeled “not for public distribution.” Fenty’s delay in publicly ac- knowledging the theft earlier and a policy that prevents officers on duty from easily patrolling the mayor’s property renewed con- cerns about Fenty’s secrecy,


which have included questions about not being more forthcom- ing with his public schedule and out-of-town travel as well as shunning police protection. The mayor has said his travel and family outings are private. Kris Baumann, who heads the


local Fraternal Order of Police, said he learned about the in- cident Saturday when the union was informed by police brass that Liriano was being investigated and would possibly be disciplined for allowing the theft. Baumann said officers are re- quired to continuously monitor surveillance cameras from a guard booth at the Fenty property and must immediately contact the commanding officer of the ex- ecutive protection unit when there is an emergency. The unit’s policy does not allow officers to adequately patrol the 17th Street NW property, because officers


risk being disciplined for leaving the booth, Baumann said. He added that two officers assigned to the mayor’s home have been disciplined since June 2008. “This was a huge miss for the


mayor. He could have said this happened. . . . Instead, he tried to hide it,” said Baumann, whose union has endorsed Fenty’s lead- ing primary rival, D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray. “How do you go from not commenting and acting like this didn’t happen to taking full responsibility for it in 24 hours?”


Sal Lifrieri, an expert in gov- ernment protection who was as- signed to Rudolph W. Giuliani when he was mayor of New York, said every politician is different. “It really runs the gamut from very high-tech security, like the White House . . . to the guy who wants absolutely nothing and drives himself,” he said.


Married couples and children also represent a special chal- lenge. “It’s very difficult in family situations to provide protection, because it becomes intrusive,” Li- frieri said. Last year, Fenty was criticized for an unannounced trip to Du- bai, which later led to him ex- plaining that he had accepted $25,000 from the United Arab Emirates for the week-long fami- ly vacation and that China had provided $11,300 for his trip to Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics. He was also faulted last year for allowing a friend, who was not a government employee, to drive a city-issued Lincoln Navigator, in violation of city law. Three months later, he was involved in a fender bender with a Nissan Pathfinder while driving with his then-9-year-old twin sons and in- fant daughter. Fenty quietly


abandoned his driving detail in 2007, choosing to chauffeur him- self in the Navigator and a city- issued Smart Car. It was unclear whether the sto-


len bikes belonged to the twins, but a police report valued each at $300. In June 2008, the Fentys’ un-


finished garage door was vandal- ized with graffiti, causing $50 in damage, according to a police re- port. Baumann said the officer on duty was written up for “der- eliction.” In December, a different officer received a 15-day suspension and was transferred after a neighbor was able to approach the mayor, said Baumann. The officer is ap- pealing the decision, Baumann said, who added that officers who work at the mayor’s property “are terrified to leave the booth” for fear of disciplinary action. stewartn@washpost.com


Trial looks at knife in Wone death Prosecutors use friend


to try to undercut defendant’s account


by Keith L. Alexander


How did Joseph Price find the knife that he and his two co- defendants say was used to stab Robert Wone to death in 2006? The knife was protruding from


Wone’s chest, and Price had to pull it out, according to testimony Monday at Price’s trial. Testimony resumed Monday after a week’s hi- atus.


Officer, would-be thief shot in struggle by Matt Zapotosky


An off-duty police officer was shot in the leg and a suspect was shot in the hand in a struggle for the officer’s gun after an attempt- ed robbery outside a bank in Prince George’s County on Mon- day, authorities said. The officer and suspect are ex-


pected to survive, police said. The injured suspect and a second suspect, both males, are in custo- dy. Police are searching for a third suspect who fled. They did not provide the suspects’ names. The incident occurred just af- ter 10 a.m. outside the BB&T


branch at Old Chapel and Laurel Bowie roads in Bowie. It started when a suspect ap- parently tried to rob a man tak- ing money to the bank from a nearby gas station, police said. The off-duty Prince George’s County police officer spotted them struggling. The suspect ran and jumped into a vehicle, said Lt. Tammy Sparkman, a police spokeswom- an. The officer blocked that vehi- cle with his, and the suspect jumped out and ran.


At the same time, a Bowie


State University police officer pulled up and apprehended the driver.


That was only just the begin-


ning, though. The Prince George’s officer caught up with the suspect, and soon both were grappling for the officer’s gun, police said. The officer’s gun dis- charged — it is unclear how many times — grazing his own leg and hitting the suspect in the hand. The injured suspect then tried to jump into another vehicle, a green Mazda, that came onto the scene but could not hang on, Sparkman said. The Mazda left, and the man was taken into cus- tody. That driver remains at large.


zapotoskym@washpost.com


Man charged in trooper’s death has long history of drug arrests


trooper from B1 Williams’s arrest over the


weekend and Milton’s on Mon- day brought relief to the law en- forcement community, which was stunned that someone would ambush a police officer over such a minor dispute. Brown wasn’t in uniform, but he was wearing his badge around his neck and was steps from his marked cruiser when he was killed. “This is a bittersweet moment for all of us,” said Terrence B. Sheridan, the state police super- intendent, “in that a young trooper was cut down way before his time.”


The altercation Brown was working off-duty as


a security guard at the Apple- bee’s on Donnell Drive when he escorted out a man in a blue shirt who had been acting belliger- ently, police said. Law enforce- ment sources said the man was urinating inside the restaurant and possibly had a dispute over a bill. Police said the man in the blue


shirt, whose picture was released to news outlets, was Williams. Police also identified Milton as a suspect, and he “admitted being on the scene and participating in the murder of Trooper Brown,” according to police charging documents. The documents do not say who pulled the trigger. Law enforcement sources said it was Williams. Milton’s main role, the sources said, was providing the gun.


Williams fired six times, sourc- es said, and two of the bullets struck the trooper. One hit him in the ankle; the other made its way past his bulletproof vest and pierced his heart, the sources said. Brown never had a chance to draw his gun. No one answered the doors at the homes of Williams and Mil- ton on Monday. Police said they have recovered the semiautomat- ic handgun used in the killing,


connecting it to the slaying through ballistics testing. They would not say how they found it. A law enforcement source said police served several search war- rants in connection with the case and have seized large amounts of drugs and money.


Criminal records


Both Williams and Milton, also of Seat Pleasant, have crimi- nal pasts. Court records show that Williams was on parole at the time of the shooting, and po- lice said he was held over the weekend on a violation of his pa- role. A spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said Williams was paroled on July 23, 2008, related to drug charges in Prince George’s. Until December, Williams had been supervised under Mary- land’s Violence Prevention Ini- tiative, a program Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) established to cre- ate a zero-tolerance policy for criminals considered most likely to commit further violent crimes. Under that program, warrants are often issued if those on pro- bation or parole miss just one scheduled meeting with a case manager. Late last year, however, Wil- liams was ratcheted down to a level called intensive supervi- sion. Instead of three face-to-face meetings a week, and mandatory phone interviews, Williams was required only to check in twice a month. In the first 10 months after his release, he made dozens of re- quired meetings, stayed em- ployed and passed drug tests, and his supervision was lessened by one notch. He continued to impress his agent and other re- viewers in the parole and proba- tion department, including maintaining the same job for a heating and air conditioning company, and left VPI late last year. In March, Williams missed one of his two monthly meetings


with his agent, but under his new, lower level of supervision, that was no longer a violation for which the state would typically seek a warrant. When he was found and questioned over the weekend, Williams was initially booked for missing the March meeting and for some traffic vio- lations. Court records show numerous drug arrests and convictions from 2003 to 2006, and police have seized tens of thousands of dollars in drugs and money from his home. In 2006, Williams also was


charged with attempted murder for apparently firing a gun at a police officer on New Year’s Day. A witness who knew Williams identified him as the attacker from a photo array, but on the day the case was to go to trial, the state dropped the charges when its witness did not appear in court, according to prosecutors and Douglas J. Wood, Williams’s attorney in the case. “A lot of times in these Jan. 1 shootings, guys are outside firing into the air, carousing,” Wood said, adding that there was no evidence that the officer could identify Williams. Milton’s most serious convic- tion was in August 2004, when a circuit court judge in Prince George’s sentenced him to four days in jail and supervised pro- bation after he pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment and a handgun violation.


According to a police charging


document, Milton was with his girlfriend in the bedroom of their Seat Pleasant apartment when he accidentally shot her in the leg with a handgun. The girl- friend said the March 24, 2004, incident was an accident, accord- ing to the charging document. zapotoskym@washpost.com castanedar@washpost.com


Staff writers Aaron C. Davis, Maria Glod and Rick Rojas and staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.


MARK GAIL/THE WASHINGTON POST


Joseph Price and his two lovers and housemates are charged with covering up for Robert Wone’s killer.


Scott Hixson, a neighbor and friend of Price’s, testified that Price told him about the fatal stabbing just moments after Price was ques- tioned by detectives. Hixson picked up his friend at the D.C. po- lice violent crimes branch just hours after Wone’s body was found inside Price’s home in Northwest Washington. Monday was the 14th day of the


trial. Price and his two lovers and housemates — Dylan Ward, 40, and Victor Zaborsky, 44 — are charged with covering up for Wone’s killer. Prosecutors have charged the men with tampering with evidence, conspiracy and ob- struction of justice. They face a maximum of 38 years in prison if found guilty on all counts. Prosecutors said they hope to close their case by Wednesday.


Although it isn’t a murder trial, it has been just as complicated, with thousands of exhibits, includ- ing 4,000 documents and 250 pho- tographs. Some participants said they expect the trial to last into July. Prosecutors said they hope


Monday’s testimony about the knife would expose additional contradictions in the men’s ac- counts of what happened the night Wone was killed.


During his questioning by de-


tectives, Price said he saw the knife lying on Wone’s stomach and simply removed it. In testimony Monday, Detective


Gail Russell-Brown said Zaborsky told her that the knife was lying on Wone’s stomach and that Wone’s hands were over his chest. Prosecutors have argued that the knife found at the scene was planted by one of the three men or someone the men knew and that the actual knife used to kill Wone is missing. The complex and often sensa- tional details of the sex life of Ward, Price and Zaborsky also sur- faced again Monday. Hixson, 44, said that although


he knew that the three men were in a three-way, committed rela- tionship, Hixson had separate sex- ual encounters with Price and Ward, before and after Wone was killed. Under cross-examination by Price’s attorney Bernie Grimm, Hixson talked about how Price, Ward and Zaborsky had a sexual


encounter with another man, a friend of Hixson’s. Hixson de- scribed the relationship between Price, Ward and Zaborsky as “very progressive.” The men and their attorneys


have argued that an intruder broke into their home at 1509 Swann St. NW, on the evening of Aug. 2, 2006, and stabbed Wone to death. The three have since moved from that house. Price agreed to allow Wone to


stay at his home after Wone worked late at his job as general counsel at Radio Free Asia. Wone stayed there to avoid commuting home to Oakton, and Price and Wone had scheduled a breakfast business meeting the next morn- ing. Wone arrived at the house about 10:30 p.m., and authorities estimate that he was killed be- tween 11 and 11:49 p.m. when Za- borsky made a frantic call to 911. Defense attorneys have argued


that authorities prematurely abandoned their investigation af- ter learning details of the three men’s relationship and concluded that they were involved in Wone’s death. The men said they believed someone scaled a seven-foot fence in their backyard and came through their back door, which Price said he may have left un- locked the evening of the attack. Assistant U.S. Attorney Glenn Kirschner called longtime bur- glary expert and former D.C. po- lice officer David W. Sargent to the stand. Sargent said most burglar- ies occur during the day when the occupant isn’t home, or late at night when occupants are asleep. Sargent said the intruder theory is unusual because there was no sign that anything was taken. Even when a rape, assault or murder oc- curs during a burglary, the attack- er often takes something while es- caping, he said. Nothing was sto- len from the house, and Wone’s wallet, Blackberry and watch were found by his body. “There was no ransacking,” Sargent said. Prosecutors have said they be-


lieve Price’s younger brother, Mi- chael, 38, killed Wone, but they have not charged him with any crimes associated with Wone’s at- tack. On Tuesday, prosecutors plan to present additional evidence of Michael Price’s alleged involve- ment and plan to call his domestic partner to the stand. alexanderk@washpost.com


Retired Army officer held in deaths officer from B1


drove to Fort Belvoir, which is a short distance from the family’s Lorton apartment.


“She was such a nice lady,”


Cathy Kidwell, a neighbor, said of Hyon Yi. “Hardworking. I always saw her going to work.” About Joy Yi, Kidwell said, “I can’t imagine someone would do that to that lit- tle girl.” Joy Yi was a freshman at South


County Secondary School, also a short drive from the family’s apartment, Fairfax schools offi- cials said. It could not be determined


Monday where Hyon Yi worked. Roger D. Sombat, a real estate


agent who rented the two-bed- room apartment to the Yis last year, said that the family had planned to move into a house re- cently but that the deal fell through. Relatives could not be reached to comment yesterday.


According to postings on his


Facebook and LinkedIn pages, Kenston Yi graduated from Cleveland Heights High School in suburban Ohio in 1979. Army rec- ords show that he enlisted that year in field artillery. Yi graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point


in 1986, school officials con- firmed. Yi wrote that his West Point degree was in computer sci- ence. He wrote that he had ob- tained master’s degrees from Central Michigan University in 1996 and the National Defense University in 2006. Army records show that Yi


worked as a major for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon until his promotion to lieutenant colonel in 2003 and that he worked in various information technology posts in the Washing- ton area until his retirement last year. Most recently, Yi worked for the National Guard Bureau in Ar- lington County on the staff of the chief information officer, a bu- reau spokesman said. Real estate records indicate


that Yi and his wife were some- what active in buying and selling houses in Northern Virginia in the past decade, with some suc- cesses followed by more-recent reversals. Police declined to com- ment on whether the family’s fi- nancial dealings might have had any role in the homicides. Records show that from 2000 to 2004, the Yis bought three properties in Fairfax and then sold them, sometimes in less than two months, for a profit of more than $293,000.


But in 2005, they bought a house in the Lake Occoquan area of Prince William County for $964,000 and then sold it three years later for $950,000. A Lor- ton house they bought in 2004 was sold in October 2009 at a $55,000 loss. And the family still owns a Centreville townhouse that was purchased for $432,500 in 2005 and that is now assessed at less than $300,000. Gerald L. King, who served


with Kenston Yi when both were executive officers in the Army in Korea, was shocked by news of Yi’s arrest. “I’ve never seen him really angry. I’ve not seen him ag- gressive in any way at all. He’s not physically a big guy. I can’t con- ceive what could have led to this.” Kenston Yi only recently joined


Facebook, apparently as part of an assignment for a class, and he posted a photo of himself with his wife and daughter as his profile picture. “Hey


Facebooking


friends,” Yi wrote in his last post, March 13, “am still little lost in this space . . . will have to get a fresher tng [training] from my 9th grade daughter.” jackmant@washpost.com


Staff researcher Meg Smith and staff writer Josh White contributed to this report.


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