20080808 Baltimore Sun: Mayor Cheye Calvo describes raid in email to friends

20080808 Baltimore Sun: Mayor Cheye Calvo describes raid in email to friends

Baltimore Sun: Mayor Cheye Calvo describes raid in e-mail to friends

Retrieved Saturday, August 8, 2008

Related:
20080801 Berwyn Heights mayor’s home invaded dog shot

20080730 WJLA: Berwyn Heights Mayor Targeted in Drug Raid

20080731 Washington Post: Police Raid Berwyn Heights Mayors Home Kill His 2 Dogs

20080807 ABC 7 News: “Statement of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo”

20080806 Calvo’s Counsel’s statement

20080730 Berwyn Heights Mayor suffers home invasion dogs shot, Law and Order Lunacy, MD municipality Berwyn Heights, People MD Calvo – Cheye Calvo

More: Here, here, and here.

Web editor’s background note: The mayor of Berwyn Heights, Cheye Calvo, had his home invaded Wednesday evening, July 30, 2008.

I have briefly worked with Mayor Calvo in the past, but I do not know him well. What I do know is that he is a very soft-spoken, kind, conscientious and an extraordinarily capable and competent person, who loves his community and is extremely well-liked by everyone.

For this to happen to him is simply an outrage…

His front door was broken-through and heavily armed folks invaded his home. In the melee that ensued, his two black Labrador dogs were shot and killed and he and his mother-in-law were tied-up, while his home was ransacked.

The police did not have far to look for the folks who did this. It was the Prince Georges County Sheriff’s Department – who, oops, made a mistake. Oh, nevermind…

I retrieved the following from the Baltimore Sun on August 8th, 2008. It can be found here: “Mayor Cheye Calvo describes raid in e-mail to friends”

If you think that citizens are outraged, well, you are right. Go here and read the comments… If you have a comment – go here and leave your comments.

For a timeline, this e-mail must have been distributed July 31, 2008?

Baltimore Sun: Mayor Cheye Calvo describes raid in e-mail to friends

Dear Friends and Neighbors-

Yesterday evening, as my mother-in-law prepared dinner and I changed clothes hurrying to head to a community meeting, a heavily-armed county SWAT team burst through our living room door and shot and killed both of our dogs. There were loud voices. In the sights of two high-caliber weapons, I was ushered downstairs in only my boxer shorts before I was bound and forced to kneel on the floor. My mother-in-law was bound face down in the kitchen. The dead body of my bigger and older dog, Payton, laid in a pool of blood on the other side of the living room.

It was some time before someone spoke to me other than to yell orders. I was told there was a warrant but was never shown one. After many questions and much anger, I was told that they had intercepted a package addressed to our house that contained 32 pounds of marijuana. The large, white box, which I just had retrieved from the front porch, sat unopened on a living room table.

The county police then proceeded to turn our house upside-down. I was moved to the kitchen, where I could see my little dog, Chase, lying in his own pool of blood. My mother-in-law watched them shoot him while he was running away. After about 90 minutes, they finally removed my restraints, which tied my hands behind my back. About the same time, Animal Control came to remove our dogs. Emotions overtook me; I broke down and sobbed.

They asked questions. Through my anger, hurt, and confusion, I answered them. Trinity came home from work a little after 8:00 pm, and they questioned her outside. We both were and remain in shock. It does not make sense, but shared what we could. About three-and-a-half hours passed before they acknowledged that they had found nothing to connect us to the box, but could not be 100 certain whether or not we were involved. The package alone was enough to arrest us all, they said, but they would not so long as we continued to cooperate.

Then they left. The broken front door remained open and unsecured. Blood from my dogs was pooled and tracked throughout the house. Our belongings were pulled from drawers, closets, and trunks and tossed about, piled in the middle of rooms and on tables and beds.

A Berwyn Heights officer on the scene helped me get the door shut. Just after midnight, I began to clean up the blood. We put a few things back. Trinity and I tried to sleep. Instead, we both laid there through the night as disbelief, fear, and anger played off one another. We try to make sense of it. They invaded our home and killed our dogs! That, above all else, can't be undone.

A friend came this morning to secure the door. People have begun to call, and the outpouring of friendship and support brings tears to my eyes. The media calls have begun, as well.

I wanted to get this out so that you at least hear the story from me. This promises to be a lengthy process, which will involve telling and re-living this story time and again. Hopefully, the healing will begin soon.

Warm regards,

Cheye

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-mayoremail0808,0,4607054.story

Labels: 20080730 Berwyn Heights Mayor suffers home invasion dogs shot. MD municipality Berwyn Heights, Law and Order Lunacy, People MD Calvo – Cheye Calvo

For coverage of this outrage in the Baltimore Sun:

 1.
Police chief expresses regret over drug raid By Gus G. Sentementes ,Sun Reporter
August 9, 2008
news
...yesterday that a suburban Washington mayor and his wife were "innocent victims...into the house of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo and shot the dogs. Calvo and his...package of marijuana addressed to the mayor's wife, Trinity Tomsic. This...
 2.
FBI opens probe into raid at home of Prince George's mayor By Gus G. Sentementes ,Sun reporter
August 8, 2008
news
...Friday that a suburban Washington mayor and his wife were "innocent victims...into the house of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo and shot the dogs. Calvo and...relationship between Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo and a woman handcuffed during...
 3.
Police clear names of Maryland mayor and his wife in drug raid that left their 2 dogs dead By BRETT ZONGKER ,Associated Press Writer
August 8, 2008
news
...HEIGHTS, Md. (AP) _ A small-town mayor whose dogs were killed in a drug...Friday he called Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo and his wife, Trinity Tomsic...scheme. A SWAT team raided the mayor's home July 29 after intercepting...
 4.
Mayor Cheye Calvo describes raid in e-mail to friends
August 8, 2008
news
...wanted to get this out so that you at least hear the story from me. This promises to be a lengthy process, which will involve telling and re-living this story time and again. Hopefully, the healing will begin soon. Warm regards, Cheye
 5.
Prince George's raid prompts call for probe By Doug Donovan ,Sun reporter
August 8, 2008
news
...stopped, two dogs lay dead. A mayor sat in his boxers, hands bound...into the home of Berwyn Heights' mayor last week seized the same unopened...found, and no one was arrested at Mayor Cheye Calvo's home in this small bedroom community...
 6.
Prince George's raid prompts call for probe By Doug Donovan ,Sun reporter
August 7, 2008
news
...stopped, two dogs lay dead. A mayor sat in his boxers, hands bound...into the home of Berwyn Heights' mayor last week seized the same unopened...found, and no one was arrested at Mayor Cheye Calvo's home in this small bedroom community...
 7.
Police: 2 arrested in marijuana-smuggling scheme that prompted raid on DC-area mayor's home By Associated Press
August 6, 2008
news
...marijuana to a Washington, D.C.-area mayor's wife. The home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo and his wife, Trinity Tomsic, was raided...Capital Beltway," gets a small stipend as mayor and works at the SEED Foundation, a nonprofit...
 8.
D.C.-area mayor's house is raided
August 1, 2008
news
...the home of a Washington-area mayor, killing his two black Labrador...County police said Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo brought a 32-pound packa