Montgomery Village man arrested for Wheaton auto theft

Montgomery County police have arrested a Montgomery Village man they say stole a vehicle in the Connecticut Avenue Estates neighborhood in Wheaton earlier this month. The car was stolen from a home in the 12200 block of Berry Street over the night between August 4 and August 5, 2024. Police say the vehicle was left unlocked. The car has since been recovered.

Herson Rosales, 34, has been charged with felony unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, felony theft, misdemeanor unauthorized removal of a motor vehicle, and misdemeanor possession of a controlled dangerous substance. Court records indicate he remains held without bond. A trial has been scheduled for September 23 in Montgomery County District Court in Silver Spring.

Break-in at COMSAT building in Clarksburg

Burglars have certainly been busy in the Clarksburg area recently. Montgomery County police responded to a report of a burglary at the COMSAT building at 22300 Comsat Drive on August 4, 2024. Officers responding to the scene found evidence of forced entry. However, they found no indication that anything was removed from the building. As such, it's entirely possible that the burglar(s) were urbex explorers curious about what is inside the abandoned architectural gem off of I-270, designed by the famous Cesar Pelli. 

The suspect(s) broke into the building sometime between 3:30 PM and 7:35 PM, police believe. Developers have charged their puppets on the Montgomery County Council with preserving this site for redevelopment as residential housing, so the Council has expended zero effort to attract an aerospace or biotech tenant for the property. The building is clearly historic and of high architectural significance, but the Council and Planning Board have fought all efforts to preserve it.

Break-in at Clarksburg Premium Outlets

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a burglary at the Clarksburg Premium Outlets mall at 22705 Clarksburg Road on August 8, 2024. Officers responding to the call "in the early morning hours" found evidence of forced entry at the Salvatore Ferragamo store. Merchandise was taken from inside the store. If you have any information about this incident, call police at (301) 279-8000.

Hangry Joe's opens in Germantown

Hangry Joe's has opened its latest Montgomery County location this morning. The Nashville hot chicken chain cut the ribbon at 11:00 AM at 19730 Germantown Road, at the Shops at Germantown Town Center. If you order at least one entrée or combo meal today, you'll get a FREE Mega Sando chicken sandwich on your next visit. Operating hours at this location are 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM Sunday through Wednesday, and 11:00 AM to 10:30 PM Thursday through Saturday.

Mason's Lobster Rolls opens in Gaithersburg

Mason's Famous Lobster Rolls has opened at 201 Boardwalk Place at Rio Lakefront in Gaithersburg. Look for it near Chipotle.  Mason's offers Maine and Connecticut-style lobster rolls. They have several Washington, D.C. locations, as well as one at National Harbor in gorgeous Prince George's County. 

Gaithersburg man dies in Montgomery Village shooting

A shooting in Montgomery Village yesterday morning has left a Gaithersburg man dead, Montgomery County police announced today. The adult male victim has not yet been identified, but officers have arrested the man they say was the shooter. Officers responding to the shooting in the 19300 block of Club House Road at 11:38 AM found the victim suffering from several gunshot wounds. They attempted lifesaving measures, but the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

Detectives determined the identity of the alleged shooter shortly afterward. By 12:15 PM, 20-year-old Oliver Alexis Perez Fierro of Montgomery Village had already been taken into custody. A search warrant executed at Perez Fierro's residence led to the discovery of items linking him to the shooting. 

Perez Fierro has been charged with 1st-degree murder, and the use of a handgun in the commission of a felony. He is currently being held without bond. His mugshot has not been released.

Police believe the incident was related to a dispute between the alleged shooter and the deceased victim. There is not believed to be any danger to the community at this time. Detectives are attempting to contact family members of the victim, and expect to release his identity after they have been notified.

Virginia destroys Montgomery County, Maryland on 2024 Fortune 500, Global 500 lists

Montgomery County and Maryland continue to find mis-fortune in the world of business, as Virginia - and Northern Virginia in particular - have completely wiped the floor with both in Fortune magazine's 2024 Fortune 500 and Fortune Global 500 lists. The magazine published the latter list this past Friday. For 2024, seven Virginia-based companies rank in the Global 500; Maryland has only one: Lockheed Martin. 

This past May's Fortune 500 list, which is limited to American companies, was equally bad for MoCo and the Old Line State. Virginia has 24 Fortune 500 firms, more than half headquartered in Northern Virginia. Maryland has just four. Montgomery County remains down to only two, after Discovery fled to Knoxville and New York City in 2019. 

Perhaps the most humiliating aspect of Discovery's exit was that the Montgomery County Council was not engaged with the company's leaders at all, and was laser-focused on outlawing the use of animals in circuses during the very days that New York and Tennessee were sealing their deal with Discovery.

Montgomery County not only has failed to retain, much less grow, its stable of Fortune 500 companies in recent years, but hasn't attracted a single major corporate headquarters in over a quarter-century. "We don't need the Lockheed headquarters," former County Councilmember Nancy Floreen infamously declared in 2010. The Council's wish could come true: Lockheed recently announced it is shrinking - not growing - its footprint in Montgomery County, selling off its Rockville campus. 

Lockheed seems intimately aware that MoCo's elected officials are putting all their effort into helping their developer sugar daddies continue to transform the County into a bedroom community, rather than attracting and keeping high-wage jobs and corporate headquarters like theirs. The aerospace firm is marketing its Rockville campus as a site for townhomes, not corporate offices or research facilities. If that pitch isn't "peak 2024 Montgomery County," I don't know what is. Of course, even former County Executive Ike Leggett sounded the alarm that we were becoming a bedroom community before he left office, an incredible moment of political bravery and candor that surely did not sit well with the Montgomery County cartel.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin hasn't released a statement yet regarding the Fortune Global 500. But he did issue a press release to announce $126 million in State grants to fund preparation of business-ready sites across the Commonwealth. It's important to remember that the paradigm of Virginia crushing Montgomery County and Maryland in economic development predates Youngkin and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. The issue isn't necessarily partisan, either. While Montgomery County's Republican residents have been denied any representation on the County Council through clever gerrymandering of Council districts since 2002, Virginia's booming business growth and 21st-century corporate HQ haul have come under one GOP and two Democratic governors. And several of America's top states for business have Democratic governors.

In contrast, Montgomery County and Maryland continue to self-sabotage their own "fortunes" in economic development. We have to be honest that this sabotage has been fully intentional. A new Potomac River crossing could have long ago given us direct access to Dulles International Airport, the only airport in the region with the flight frequency and global destinations demanded by CEOs and top executives. We've never completed our master plan highway system, when so many large companies are rightly focused on logistics, and seek states that invest in infrastructure like Virginia has. "Business-ready sites? What's that?" Most of our County elected officials have been tasked by their developer sugar daddies to convert as many existing or planned office and retail properties to luxury housing as possible. And they are delivering, as a quick drive around the Montgomery Mall, Wheaton, Germantown, Tower Oaks, or King Farm areas in recent years will reveal.

As a result, our County economy has been moribund since shortly after the MoCo cartel seized a majority of seats on the Council in 2002. The destruction of our business sector that began in December of that year has only accelerated over time. They're laughing at us in Arlington, Fairfax, Herndon, Manassas, and Richmond. But as more and more of the region's highest regressive tax burden shifts onto the shoulders of Montgomery County residents, the only smiles here are on the faces of the MoCo cartel, and the elected officials they totally control.