Boarder Pleads Guilty
<bt>Jose L. Mercado-Jordan pleaded guilty this week to sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl on several occasions in 2001.
Mercado-Jordan, 56, of the 8300 block of Uxbridge Court in Springfield, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual battery during a hearing in Fairfax County Circuit Court on Monday, Aug. 29.
From April 2001 to March 2002, Mercado-Johnson rented a room at a residence in Annandale where the assaults took place, according police reports and evidence from Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Kathryn S. Swart.
After the family asked Mercado-Jordan to move out, he continued to contact the girl by phone and at her bus stop, said Swart.
The victim, now 12 years old, reported to police that Mercado-Jordan approached her at her school bus stop in May 2005 and had approached her at the bus stop on more than one occasion, said Officer Bud Walker, spokesperson for the Fairfax County Police Department.
When Judge Jane Marum Roush asked if he had any questions he wanted to ask the court, he said, “I’m just a normal person, I’ve never had charges like this.” When Roush asked if he understood that a conviction might cause him to be deported, Mercado-Jordan said he did.
Mercado-Jordan, who is currently jailed at the Adult Detention Center, is scheduled to be sentenced in October. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.
Nearly 67 percent of all sexual assaults are against juveniles, with one-third committed against youth under 12 years old and one in seven committed against children under 6 years old, according to statistics posted on ChildSafeNet's Web site.
See www.childsafenet.org.
<sh>Library Arrest
<bt>Richard H. Robinson was arrested on Friday, Aug. 23, for exposing himself to two children in public libraries, according to Fairfax County Police reports.
Fairfax County Police charged Robinson with two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child.
According to police reports, Robinson was in the Kings Park Library on the morning of Thursday, Aug. 18 when he exposed himself to a 12-year-old girl from Annandale. Five days later, Robinson was in the George Mason Library on Little River Turnpike and exposed himself to a 9-year-old girl from the Fairfax area. The girl alerted library staff, who called police.
<sh>Man Arrested in Springfield Carjacking
<bt>Fairfax County Police arrested a suspect in a carjacking incident. On Thursday, Aug. 25 around 10:45 p.m., Andre Murray, 29, of the 2700 block of Francisco Way in the Hybla Valley area, was driving a stolen red 1994 Lincoln Continental on Richmond Highway when a police patrol spotted him. According to police reports, the officer stopped the vehicle and arrested Murray, who had carjacked the Continental from an 18-year-old Springfield man on Wednesday, Aug. 24 around 9 p.m.
That Wednesday, the victim was driving the Continental on Beverly Park Road near Hooes Road in the Springfield area when Murray got into the car using the passenger door, said police reports. The victim stopped the car and tried to flee, but the suspect punched him the face and stole personal property from him, said police spokesperson Rich Henry. The victim escaped from the car and called police using his cell phone, said Henry. Murray drove away westbound on Hooes Road toward Rolling Road. According to police reports, the victim had minor injuries but did not go to the hospital.
Murray is charged with robbery, possession of stolen property, felony habitual offender and driving under the influence, said police reports. He is being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center without bond.
<sh>Exposure at Walmart
<bt>On Friday, Aug. 19, around 6:30 p.m., a man exposed himself to children at the Walmart store at 5885 Kingstowne Blvd. in the Kingstowne area, according to Fairfax County Police reports.
A mother and her two children, a 12-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl, were shopping in the shoe department around 6:30 p.m., when they noticed a man staring at them. When the children looked at him, he lifted his shirt exposing himself through the see-through pajama-type pants he was wearing, police reports say. The family left the shoe department but the children saw the man again later at a different location in the store. Once the children notified their mother, the suspect fled the area.
The suspect is described as a white male in his early 40s. He's about 5 feet 8 inches and 180 pounds. He had black hair and blue eyes. He had curly, medium length hair and was wearing a gray T-shirt with a large logo and light blue pants with several logos.
Anyone with information about this incident or this suspect is asked to call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477) or the police non-emergency number at 703-691-2131.
<sh>Alcohol Sting Snares 7
<bt>On Aug. 26, the Traffic Safety Services Unit and patrol officers from the West Springfield District conducted an alcohol sting at 28 locations in the Springfield, Fairfax and Burke areas of the county. According to police reports, seven sales clerks were charged with selling alcohol to a underage police cadets at the following locations: CVS Pharmacy, 5711 Burke Centre Parkway, Burke; Glory Days, 9526-B Old Keene Mill Road, Burke; CVS Pharmacy, 9009 Silverbrook Road, Lorton; 7-Eleven, 8017 Braddock Road, Springfield; Giant Food, 6011 Burke Centre Road, Burke; Safeway, 9596 Old Keene Mill Road, Burke; and CVS Pharmacy, 7859 Heritage Drive, Annandale. During the operation, 21 of the businesses visited did not sell alcoholic beverages to the cadets. According to police reports, each clerk who sold alcohol to a cadet was issued a summons for illegal sale of alcoholic beverage to a minor.