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<H1>Police look at N. Baltimore stickup spree</H1>
<DIV class=subheadline>Man is sought in N. Baltimore robbery string</DIV>
<DIV class=byline>By Gus G. Sentementes and Chris Yakaitis</DIV>
<DIV class=titleline>Sun reporters</DIV>
<DIV class=date>July 7, 2006</DIV>
<P>
<DIV class=text>Baltimore police are searching for a man who they believe is
responsible for a spree of brazen home invasions, armed robberies and
carjackings that have occurred over the past two months targeting residents in
North Baltimore neighborhoods.<BR><BR>Armed with a handgun and wearing a mask or
a do-rag to conceal his identity, the robber has typically accosted people in or
near their homes at night, sometimes in inclement weather, and entered
residences through unlocked doors, police said.<BR><BR>In some cases, the man --
described by police and witnesses as shifting between polite and threatening --
has forced victims into their cars, ordered them to drive to nearby ATMs and
withdraw cash, and then dropped them off in other city neighborhoods.<BR><BR>In
one of the more daring robberies, the man held four women at gunpoint for more
than an hour inside their Guilford home last month. The occupants said he then
forced one to walk in driving rain to a bank machine and a grocery store to get
cash, while he threatened her roommates with a gun.<BR><BR>The break-ins and
bold stickups have set off a ripple of fear across neighborhoods such as
Guilford, <A
href="/entertainment/visitor/bal-guide-charlesvillage,0,6833564.htmlstory?coll=bal-local-headlines">Charles
Village</A> and Ednor Gardens.<BR><BR>A college professor who lives in Guilford
said he was held up at gunpoint near his home, forced to take off his pants and
then ordered to drive to a bank machine in <A
href="/entertainment/visitor/bal-guide-charlesvillage,0,6833564.htmlstory?coll=bal-local-headlines">Charles
Village</A>. After giving the robber more than $1,200 in cash, the victim said
he was dropped off in Reservoir Hill about 11 p.m.<BR><BR>"It frightened the
hell out of me," said Richard W. Bourne, 63, a law professor at the <A
href="/entertainment/visitor/college/bal-hl-ubalt,0,2358678.story?coll=bal-local-headlines">University
of Baltimore</A>. "I don't think he wants to hurt anybody, but he's playing with
fire. He's going to kill somebody or he's going to get killed."<BR><BR>Police
have been busy responding to residents' concerns and are drawing up plans to
catch the man, which they declined to discuss yesterday.<BR><BR>Maj. Michael
Pristoop, commander of the Northern District, said one man is believed to be
linked to at least five incidents in his district and one in the Northeast.
Detectives are also investigating the possibility that the man might be
connected to several armed robberies in the Central District, mainly in the <A
href="/entertainment/visitor/bal-guide-boltonhill,0,1750529.htmlstory?coll=bal-local-headlines">Bolton
Hill</A> area, Pristoop said.<BR><BR>"We're deploying maximum resources in an
effort to prevent further incidents," Pristoop said. He said it is possible that
the man is a drug addict in need of cash to fuel his habit. The man told a
carjacking victim in <A
href="/entertainment/visitor/bal-guide-charlesvillage,0,6833564.htmlstory?coll=bal-local-headlines">Charles
Village</A> this week that he needed the money for drugs, police
said.<BR><BR>"What we're hoping is that citizens who know their community the
best will see something out of place, either a person or car, or see suspicious
behavior from a person that they do not recognize, and that they will call the
police," Pristoop said.<BR><BR>Will Gibson, a vice president of the Oakenshawe
Improvement Association, said he has not seen a crime wave on this scale since
he moved to the neighborhood in 1994. "It's happened fast, all within the past
month and a half," he said. "It has been kind of shocking."<BR><BR>One of the
earliest incidents, police believe, occurred May 30 on St. Martins Road in
Guilford, where a woman was robbed at gunpoint. Later that day, police believe
the same man confronted a couple about a half-mile away in Ednor Gardens, a
neighborhood east of Guilford. The man forced the couple, who live in the 3600
block of Kimble Road, to drive to an ATM and withdraw cash, and then stole their
car, police said.<BR><BR>Police said they believe that the man struck again more
than three weeks later. On June 25, police said, he robbed Bourne about 9 p.m.,
just as a major rainstorm began to buffet the Baltimore area. Bourne said he
surrendered two billfolds before being told to drive in his underwear to the
Bank of America drive-through ATM in <A
href="/entertainment/visitor/bal-guide-charlesvillage,0,6833564.htmlstory?coll=bal-local-headlines">Charles
Village</A>.<BR><BR>The next night, again in the rain, police said, the man
walked into a Guilford home through an unlocked door and held up four women at
gunpoint for more than an hour.<BR><BR>Two days later, on June 28, police said,
he surprised a <A
href="/entertainment/visitor/college/bal-hl-loyola,0,961676.story?coll=bal-local-headlines">Loyola
College</A> student as he walked back to his condominium in North Baltimore's
Homeland neighborhood. At gunpoint, the man forced the student to surrender
money and other personal effects, according to police.<BR><BR>Then, on Tuesday
evening and early the next day, police said, the man might have committed two
robberies at gunpoint. The first occurred about 11:50 p.m. in <A
href="/entertainment/visitor/bal-guide-charlesvillage,0,6833564.htmlstory?coll=bal-local-headlines">Charles
Village</A>. A woman who parked her car in an alley in the 3000 block of St.
Paul St. was accosted at gunpoint by a man who wore a mask. He forced her into
her car and ordered her to drive to the Bank of America ATM two blocks away --
the same one used in the robbery of Bourne -- and withdraw cash. He then dropped
her off in downtown Baltimore and kept her car, police said.<BR><BR>Police said
they are investigating the possibility that the man might have committed another
armed robbery in the same vicinity early the next day, after he dropped the
woman off.<BR><BR>Victims said they're disturbed by the frequency of the crimes,
which seem to have accelerated in the past two weeks. Bourne said he was stunned
that the man would invade a home a few doors down from his the next
night.<BR><BR>"If he's doing that many robberies, then he has a drug problem or
he owes somebody some money, or both," Bourne said. "Or he's just compulsive and
madder than a hatter."<BR><BR>
<DIV class=story-email>gus.sentementes@baltsun.com
chris.yakaitis@baltsun.com</DIV><!-- CUTLINE TEXTLaw professor Richard W. Bourne was robbed at gunpoint June 25 near his home in the North Baltimore community of Guilford, one of several stickups police believe were committed by one man. <P> <P> CUTLINE TEXT--><!-- ART CREDITGene Sweeney Jr. [Sun photographer] <P> <P> ART CREDIT--></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>