By Elissa Silverman and Martin Weil
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Five street robberies were reported within an hour and a half Monday night in the affluent Northwest Washington neighborhoods west of Rock Creek Park. Holdups occurred in Georgetown, Tenleytown, Glover Park and Cleveland Park.

"This is unusual," said Matt Klein, acting commander of the 2nd Police District, where all five occurred. He said police think that the same people might have committed them all.

"Three guys jumped me and took my wallet and BlackBerry," as well as a Burberry scarf, said the first victim, Jonathan Fee, who was held up in the 3300 block of O Street in Georgetown about 7:50 p.m.

"I walk around the neighborhood all the time," he said. "I never think of such a thing."

Ten minutes after Fee was held up, three robbers took personal items from a man in the 4100 block of Calvert Street, in a secluded part of Glover Park.

"That's crazy," a Calvert Street resident said last night after being told of the incident.

About 8:25 p.m., a man was robbed in the 4200 block of Albemarle Street, a block west of Wisconsin Avenue, police said. Three men approached him from behind and took personal items, police said.

About 9 p.m., two men, one with a gun, approached a man who was walking his dog in the 2500 block of Porter Street, a few blocks east of Connecticut Avenue. They robbed the man and fled in a car.

Fifteen minutes later, a few blocks away, two men got out of a car and robbed a woman as she got out of her car. After that incident, in the 2800 block of Quebec Street, the robbers fled in their car.

Klein said similarities in the way the five robberies were carried out, as well as the relatively brief time and limited area in which they occurred, suggested that the same people were involved.

Last month, 34 robberies were reported in the 2nd Police District. Robberies tend to increase slightly at this time of year, Klein said. He said robbers might assume that people are carrying more cash for holiday shopping.

As of 8 p.m., no robberies had been reported last night in the 2nd District, Klein said.