Local

Credibility questioned in Omega robbery report

Published

15 years ago

January 20, 2011

D.C. police investigators are questioning the credibility of a customer who reported being robbed at gunpoint inside the men’s bathroom at the Dupont Circle gay bar Omega on Jan. 3, and at least one investigator doesn’t believe a gun was involved in the case, according to a police source.

A separate source familiar with a video surveillance system installed throughout Omega for security purposes said video images of the customer who reported the robbery and three people he identified as suspects contradicts the customer’s version of how the reported robbery unfolded.

The source said the surveillance video – which shows the movements of the customer and the alleged suspects inside the bar — raises questions about the customer’s claim that the robbery took place in the bathroom.

“Do I think something happened in that place? Absolutely,” said the police source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “But do I think it panned out the way he said it did? No I do not.”

A police report of the incident says that according to accounts by the victim and at least one witness, the reported robbery took place about 8:45 p.m. after the victim said he played pool with three people now listed as suspects in the case. The report says a witness told police that after the victim and the suspects played pool the victim bought the suspects drinks at the bar.

According to the report, the victim told police he went to the restroom and one of the suspects followed him there, pulled out a “dark colored handgun,” pointed it at his waistband, and stated “give it up.”

The report says the victim told police he turned over his wallet, which had at least $400 in cash. The report says the victim also told police the suspect stole his North Face coat, which he says has a value of more than $400; his driver’s license and his cell phone.

After committing the robbery, the suspect left the bathroom and fled the bar, and the victim ran after him, the victim told police, according to the police report.

The victim spoke to the Blade by phone on condition that the Blade not disclose his name. He confirmed that he ran out of Omega to look for the suspect, saying all three suspects “were gone” by the time he exited the bar.

But he disputed the police report’s assertion that he played pool with the suspects, saying he did not play pool with them. He also disputed the police report’s claim that the incident happened about 8:45, saying it happened no later than 6 or 7 p.m. and that he had been in the bar drinking since the time it opened at 4 p.m.

“I was too damn drunk to play pool because I was a little high,” he told the Blade. “I ain’t going to lie to you. I was drinking at the time.”

But later in the 20-minute interview, he said he wasn’t drunk. “The police knew I wasn’t even drunk at all,” he said. “The police asked me was I drinking. Yes I was drinking. And they knew I wasn’t drunk because of how I was talking to them.”

When asked if he often carries $400 or more in cash on him, he said, “No, I had to pay my rent. I went to the bank to get my rent and I had a drink in there and I was about to leave is what I was about to do.”

The police source said the case remains under investigation, with the possibility that it may be closed due to lack of evidence that an armed robbery occurred. One possibility, the source said, is the victim may have been “duped” by the suspects, who could have stolen his jacket and other possessions while he left them unattended.

Cameroon

Gay Cameroonian immigrant will be freed from ICE detention — for now

Ludovic Mbock’s homeland criminalizes homosexuality

Published

4 days ago

March 13, 2026

Baltimore Banner

Competitive gamer Ludovic Mbock, left, with his sister, Diane Sohna. (Photo courtesy of Diane Sohna)

By ANTONIO PLANAS | An immigration judge on Friday issued a $4,000 bond for a Cameroonian immigrant and regional gaming champion held in federal immigration detention for the past three weeks.

The ruling will allow Ludovic Mbock, of Oxon Hill, to return to Maryland from a Georgia facility this weekend, his family and attorney said.

“Realistically, by tomorrow. Hopefully, by today,” said Mbock’s attorney, Edward Neufville. “We are one step closer to getting Ludovic justice.”

The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

District of Columbia

Bowser appoints first nonbinary person to Cabinet-level position

Peter Stephan named Office of Disability Rights interim director

Published

4 days ago

March 12, 2026

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

The Wilson Building (Bigstock photo by Leonid Andronov)

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bower has named longtime disability rights advocate Peter L. Stephan, who identifies as nonbinary, as interim director of the D.C. Office of Disability Rights.

The local transgender and nonbinary advocacy group Our Trans Capital and the LGBTQ group Capital Stonewall Democrats issued a joint statement calling Stephan’s appointment an historic development as the first-ever appointment of a nonbinary person to a Cabinet-level D.C. government position.

“This milestone appointment recognizes Stephan’s extensive expertise in disability rights advocacy and marks a historic advancement for transgender and nonbinary representation in District government leadership,” the statement says.

The statement notes that Stephan, an attorney, held the position of general counsel at the Office of Disability Rights immediately prior to the mayor’s decision to name him interim director.

The mayor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a question from the Washington Blade asking if Bowser plans to name Stephan as the permanent director of the Office of Disability Rights. John Fanning, a spokesperson for D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (D-At-Large), said the office’s director position requires confirmation by the Council.

Stephan couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

“At a time when trans and nonbinary people ae under attack across the country, D.C. continues to lead by example,” said Stevie McCarty, president of Capital Stonewall Democrats. “This appointment reflects what we have always believed that our community is always strongest when every voice is represented in government,” he said.

“This is a historic step forward,” said Vida Rengel, founder of Our Trans Capital. “Interim Director Stephan’s career and accomplishments are a shining example of the positive impact that trans and nonbinary public servants can have on our communities,” according to Rangel.

District of Columbia

Capital Stonewall Democrats set to celebrate 50th anniversary

Mayor Bowser expected to attend March 20 event

Published

6 days ago

March 11, 2026

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Mayor Bowser is expected to attend the Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th gala. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, members of the D.C. Council, and local and national Democratic Party officials are expected to join more than 150 LGBTQ advocates and supporters on March 20 for the 50^th anniversary celebration of the city’s Capital Stonewall Democrats.

A statement released by the organization says the event is scheduled to be held at the Pepco Edison Place Gallery building at 702 8^th St., N.W. in D.C.

“The evening will honor the people who built Capital Stonewall Democrats across five decades – activists who fought for rights when the odds were against them, public servants who opened doors and refused to let them close, and a new generation of leaders ready to carry the work forward,” the statement says.

Founded in 1976 as the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the organization’s members voted in 2021 to change its name to the Capital Stonewall Democrats.

Among those planning to attend the anniversary event is longtime D.C. gay Democratic activist Paul Kuntzler, 84, who is one of the two co-founders of the then-Gertrude Stein Democratic Club. Kuntzler told the Washington Blade that he and co-founder Richard Maulsby were joined by about a dozen others in the living room of his Southwest D.C. home at the group’s founding meeting in January 1976.

He said that among the reasons for forming a local LGBTQ Democratic group at the time was to arrange for a then “gay” presence at the 1976 Democratic National Convention, at which Jimmy Carter won the Democratic nomination for U.S. president and later won election as president.

Maulsby, who served as the Stein Club president for its first three years and who now lives in Sarasota, Fla., said he would not be attending the March 20 anniversary event, but he fully supports the organization’s continuing work as an LGBTQ organization associated with the Democratic Party.

Steven McCarty, Capital Stonewall Democrats’ current president, said in the statement that the anniversary celebration will highlight the organization’s work since the time of its founding.

“Capital Stonewall Democrats has been fighting for LGBTQ+ political power in this city for 50 years, electing people, training organizers, holding this community together through some really hard moments,” he said. “And right now, with everything going on, that work has never mattered more. This gala is the first moment of our next chapter, and I want the community to be a part of it.”

The statement says among the special guests attending the event will be Democratic National Committee Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta, who became the first openly gay LGBTQ person of color to win election to the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2018.

Other guests of honor, according to the statement, include Mayor Bowser; D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5, the Council’s only gay member; D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (D-At-Large); Earl Fowlkes, founder of the International Federation of Black Prides; Vita Rangel, a transgender woman who serves as Deputy Director of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Talent and Appointments; Heidi Ellis, director of the D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition; Rayceen Pendarvis, longtime D.C. LGBTQ civic activist; and Phillip Pannell, longtime D.C. LGBTQ Democratic activist and Ward 8 civic activist.

Information about ticket availability for the Capital Stonewall Democrats anniversary gala can be accessed here: capitalstonewalldemocrats.com/50th