FBI IN STERLING WEDNESDAY

FREEZE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM TO 9 AM EDT MONDAY (take in the plants)

>>> SATURDAY MEETING BIG SUCCESS

Yesterday's meeting at the community center was a great success. 60 of your felllow Sterling Americans turned out and many of them volunteered for either neighborhood watch or the Sheriff's auxiliary. Sterling had 3 active neighborhood watches. We may have ten active neighborhood watches after yesterday with every neighborhood covered.

>>> COORDINATORS NEED 4 MORE

The Sterling District Neighborhood Watch will need some more members. So let me know if you want to join these new Neighborhood Watches and I will refer you to on to them.

>>>Clean up planned on Sterling Boulevard November 8

Sterling Boulevard Cleanup, Saturday, November 8, 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers needed. Meet at Park View Recycling Center (400 W Laurel Ave.) to receive orange bags, safety vests, and instructions. Please bring gloves.

>>>FBI COMES TO STERLING WEDNESDAY

>>>Gang Response and Intervention Team and Gang Unit Meeting
WHEN: October 22, a Wednesday, from 7 P.M. to 9 P.M.

WHAT: Presentations by Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents,
GRIT and Loudoun County Sheriff's Office Gang Unit

WHERE: Sterling Community Center in the gym
Next to the Firehouse

The FBI will brief citizens of the types of Gangs in operation in the Northern Virginia area (NOT JUST MS 13 anymore).

Congressman Frank Wolf has worked with the FBI by funding the No. Va. Gang Task Force and he has asked the FBI to come to Sterling as a result of his, Wolf's visit last week.

These two county groups will give a briefing on gang activity and how the county responds to the problem and can guide you on what to look for and how to respond in each case. Good introduction to responding to gang related crime.

>>> BARRICADE AT BUDGET STORAGE IN STERLING
A man is in custody after barricading himself in a self-storage unit in Sterling for nearly six hours on Saturday.

Loudoun Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the Budget Self Storage in the 21600 block of Cascades Parkway shortly after 3 PM for a check the welfare call. Employees with the storage company reported that a man had been living in a self storage unit. The man was reportedly acting erratically and they were concerned for his well-being.

>>> LOUDOUN DEPUTIES ARREST NORTH CAROLINA PREDATOR

A North Carolina man has been charged in an Internet predator operation conducted by law enforcement authorities in Virginia.

Gary A. Prieb, 29, of Charlotte, NC, allegedly engaged in an online conversation starting in August with a person he thought to be a 14-year-old female. Prieb initiated the conversation in a chat room.

>>> CHECKPOINTS YIELD BIG RESULT FOR STERLING

Members of the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office Community Policing Unit arrested a convicted felon Wednesday and recovered four handguns and narcotics.

Billie G. Walker, 34, of Sterling, VA, is charged with four counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, two counts of illegal possession of felony narcotics, maintaining a common nuisance, and distribution of narcotics. Members of the Community Policing Unit conducted a search warrant on a home in the 200 block of North Lincoln Avenue early Wednesday morning.

The arrest and search warrant stems from information the agency received during a recent driver’s license checkpoint in Sterling. A total of nine felony charges and six misdemeanor charges were a direct result of the recent checkpoint. As a result of these cases a large amount of U.S. currency was seized as well as crack cocaine, heroin, marijuana and ecstasy.

>>> SHOPPING CENTER OWNERS & MANAGERS TAKE NOTE
>>>> BUSINESS WATCH FORMED IN LOUDOUN
As part of National Crime Prevention Month the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office is announcing the agencies Business Watch Program and a new Neighborhood Watch Newsletter.

The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office Business Watch Program was started in 2008 and modeled after the tremendously successful Neighborhood Watch program. The program is intended to curb crime and unlawful activity that may be taking place in commercial-business areas. The program takes a community approach to addressing crime in and around businesses. In a sense, a shopping center, mall, and any group of businesses regardless of size are a "community". This community can control/deter the crime that takes place within and around its location.

>>>>COMMUNITY QUESTIONS STERLING PARK SHOPPING CENTER
Citizens have long lamented the lack of attention given by one shopping center to its appearance and structures.

Its the scene of some criminal incidents this year and in recent years. A letter listing some recent problems has been sent by both Congressman Wolf and, separately, Sterling Planning Commissioner Helena Syska asking for corrections to safety issues and years of neglect by owners of the Sterling Park Shopping Mall.