Wards of city held in burglary in tony NW neighborhood

Packed suitcases sat on the enclosed porch of a two-story, white-painted brick home in the affluent Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest Washington, the scene of a brazen burglary attempt early last week by D.C. youths.

Claire Heintzman, a social worker from Vancouver, British Columbia, and her mother were preparing to catch a flight back to Canada on Wednesday after visiting her sister and brother-in-law who live in a house in the 3800 block of 47th Street. She said they were asleep in the early morning hours Monday when the home was burglarized.

A police report said Andre Dicks, 19; Rico Carr, 21; Antoine Carter, 17; and Andre Reid, 20, entered through an unlocked back door and took cell phones, wallets and computer and stereo equipment.

Answering a call reporting the suspicious activity, a dozen Metropolitan Police Department cars soon were on the scene as officers spotted the youths, some of whom wore ski masks and tried to run and hide in the bushes. Eventually, police arrested the four youths and recovered the familys property. A police report mentions an unidentified fifth accomplice, whose status is unclear from the report.

Ms. Heintzman declined to comment on the details of the burglary, aside from complimenting the way law enforcement reacted to it.

“I can say we are extremely pleased with the police service,” she said.

After their arrests, sources within the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services confirmed for The Washington Times that Dicks is a DYRS ward of the city and that Carr was awaiting commitment. Court records show Reid has prior arrests for unauthorized use of a vehicle and assault, and previously was convicted of receiving stolen property and gun possession.

The thwarted burglary attempt stands out for adding to the emerging trend of youths under the supervision of DYRS traveling from crime-ridden parts of the inner city to commit robberies and burglaries in suburban and affluent parts of the city and surrounding counties - sometimes with deadly consequences.

In October, Deandrew Hamlin, 18 and a DYRS ward, was arrested in the District and charged with driving a Jeep stolen from Sue Ann Marcum, an American University professor found dead in her Bethesda, Md., home in what police say began as a burglary attempt. So far no murder charges have been filed.

In April, three DYRS wards were charged with killing popular D.C. school Principal Brian Betts, 42. He was found April 15 fatally shot in an upstairs bedroom of his Silver Spring, Md., home. His credit cards were taken and used fraudulently. His sport utility vehicle was stolen and located days later about 14 miles away in the District.

While no one was hurt in last week’s burglary attempt, an examination of the criminal records of the youths involved showed, in some cases, escalating patterns of violence among them and the people they associate with.

In 2008, Carr and three other youths were arrested and charged with unlawful entry and attempted theft after they were caught breaking into a house on the unit block of Q Street in Northwest, the same block where Carr lives. He pleaded guilty and received a 90-day suspended jail sentence and 180 days probation, which the court later revoked and ordered him to serve 90 days in jail under the Youth Act.

Two men identified in court papers as his accomplices in the 2008 theft were Jamal Wilson and Jeremy Risper, both of whom were minors at the time.

Just last month, 19-year-old Wilson was fatally shot through the heart. Risper, also 19 at the time, was charged in the homicide. Wilson, Risper and another man charged in Wilson’s killing, Kwan Kearney - a 19-year-old who police say also killed a high school student days before Wilson was fatally shot - were all wards of the city.

In May, Carr also was arrested for unauthorized use of a vehicle and receiving stolen property after he and a group of boys were found riding in a 2007 Mercedes Benz in Northeast Washington that had been reported stolen. He pleaded guilty in July to the vehicle charge. A presentence report advised the court that he was “an impressionable young man who used his idle time negatively,” though it was noted that he showed “a lack of maturity and impaired judgment.”

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