Regional Briefing

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

THE DISTRICT

Restaurant Trans Fat Ban Sought

D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) introduced bills yesterday with significant potential effects for the city's restaurant industry: One would ban artificial trans fats, and another would require eateries to display letter-grade cards of their health inspections.

Cheh said other cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, have such requirements for inspections or display of health reports.

The Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington and D.C. Republican Committee Chairman Robert Kabel criticized the letter-grade proposal, saying it gives too much weight to a one-day inspection. "Cheh's legislation gets an F," Kabel said.

He said the city should move to make restaurant inspections available online.

In proposing a ban on artificial trans fats, Cheh noted that heart disease remains the city's leading cause of death.

-- Nikita Stewart

Church Embezzlement Suspected

The former director of finance of a historic downtown church is accused of embezzling more than $500,000 from the institution during a six-year period, according to court documents.

Jason Todd Reynolds, 37, of Bowie has not been charged with any crimes in the alleged thefts, which were described in federal seizure warrants that seek the forfeiture of two luxury cars Reynolds owned. He worked for the National City Christian Church at 5 Thomas Circle NW from 2002 to 2008. He was fired in June, according to the court documents filed last week in U.S. District Court. Federal agents accused him of using a church credit card to make more than $300,000 in unauthorized purchases that included sports tickets, furniture, car down payments and jewelry, the records state.

Reynolds also wrote himself more than $200,000 in unauthorized checks on a church account, the agents said.

Reynolds could not be reached for comment.

-- Del Quentin Wilber

VIRGINIA

3 Charged With Killing Cabdriver

Two adults and a juvenile have been charged in the slaying of Khalil Siddiqi, who was shot to death in his cab, Alexandria police said yesterday.

Police charged Joshua Moore, 18, of Prince George's County and Jamal Berry, 20, of Alexandria with robbery and murder. They also charged a 16-year-old Alexandria juvenile with the same crimes. All three are being held without bond.

Police found Siddiqi dead from a gunshot wound to the upper body at 12:21 a.m. Jan. 18 at Princess and Buchanan streets. Siddiqi, 50, who had three children ages 12, 14 and 16, had immigrated to the United States from Pakistan 10 years ago. He lived in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County.

-- Christian Davenport

Redskins Marketing Deal Approved

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted yesterday to approve a marketing partnership between the county and the Washington Redskins that would brand Loudoun as the team's "corporate home."

Board members voted 5 to 3, with one abstention, to approve the two-year deal, which will cost $250,000.

"It markets Loudoun County across the nation and across the globe," said Supervisor Susan Klimek Buckley (D-Sugarland Run), who voted in favor of the deal.

The board also approved a resolution directing county staff to begin discussions with the Redskins about locating a hall of fame in Loudoun.

-- Christopher Twarowski

Court to Consider Conviction Ruling

The full Virginia Court of Appeals will consider a panel's decision overturning a Manassas man's capital murder conviction.

The panel ruled 2 to 1 last month that 49-year-old Anthony Dale Crawford is entitled to a new trial on charges no greater than first-degree murder and use of a firearm in a murder. The attorney general's office asked for a rehearing before the full court. The request was granted last week.

Crawford was convicted in 2007 of killing his wife, 33-year-old Sarah Louise Crawford. The three-judge appeals panel said an affidavit that was part of Sarah Crawford's request for a protective order was improperly admitted into evidence.

The appeals court affirmed Crawford's grand larceny conviction.

-- Associated Press

MARYLAND

2 Charged in Prostitution Scheme

Two Montgomery County residents were arrested yesterday on charges of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking in a scheme that exploited three minor females, one 16 and two 17, federal authorities said.

According to charging documents filed in Greenbelt, Lloyd Mack Royal III, 28, coerced two minors to engage in sex for pay, threatened to harm the girls and their families and held a girl at gunpoint.

Royal and codefendant Angela Samantha Bentolila, 26, are accused of providing the girls with drugs before coercing them to have sex with customers.

-- Henri Cauvin