JADE Rock(s)!

Man pleads guilty to drug charges from 1 month after leaving prison
Published: August 10, 2011

A Charlottesville man involved in a 2008 shooting of a juvenile pleaded guilty Wednesday to unrelated drug, weapons and probation violation charges.

Pee Wee Carmello Martinez, 22, pleaded guilty in Charlottesville Circuit Court to charges of possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of cocaine and a probation violation.

Martinez was arrested in February after drugs were found in a car he was traveling in, prosecutors said. He had been out of prison for less than a month at the time of his arrest.

Martinez was one of two people arrested on Feb. 21 during a traffic stop on Interstate 64 in eastern Albemarle County. Members of the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement task force found more than 2 ounces of powder cocaine in the vehicle at the time of the stop, Albemarle County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Elliott Casey said in court Wednesday.

The driver of the car, 21-year-old Deshanta Trent of Charlottesville, was found guilty in July in Albemarle County Circuit Court on a charge of purchasing a firearm for a convicted felon, court records show.

After the pair was arrested, investigators found a loaded 9 mm handgun and an additional 3.2 grams of crack cocaine in Trent’s Charlottesville apartment, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said Trent bought the gun for Martinez in the weeks before they were arrested.

Martinez admitted after his arrest to traveling up to New York to buy drugs and said the cocaine belonged to him, Casey said. Martinez had also sold drugs to members of JADE in the weeks before the traffic stop, prosecutors said.

(More)

Ongoing News

Man Involved in Charlottesville-New York Drug Ring to Serve 87 Months
May 2011

One of the men involved in a Charlottesville to New York drug ring learned his sentence Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia .

Kasheen Osborne, 20, of Manassas will serve 87 months in a federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Back in March, Osborne pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute cocaine and heroine, as well as money laundering.

In court Thursday, Osborne apologized for participating in the ring and said that he has learned his lesson.

(Source)

“I want to recognize the officers who worked so hard to penetrate and dismantle this criminal organization. The Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement Task Force led by its supervisor Lt. Don Campbell and the two primary agents who began this investigation and who saw it through to a successful conclusion, Det. Jon McKay of the Albemarle County Police Department and Det. Brian O’Donnell with the Charlottesville Police Department deserve a great deal of recognition and thanks.” -- Tim Heaphy, United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia

JADE Press Release

To: All Media
From: Sgt. John Baber,
Date: February 22, 2011

On 2/21/2011 at 11:36 p.m. members of the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement Task Force, Albemarle County Police and the Virginia State Police initiated a traffic stop on I64 in the eastern portion of Albemarle County.

Detectives seize approximately 55 grams of powder cocaine. PeeWee Carmello Martinez B/M DOB 8/17/1988 of Charlottesville was arrested for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and transporting narcotics into the Commonwealth. Deshanta Trent B/F DOB 10/23/1989 of Charlottesville was arrested for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

Further investigation led detectives to search a residence at 2025 Michie Drive C and the seizure of approximately 4.7grams crack cocaine and a 9mm handgun.

Additional charges placed on Martinez for possession of a firearm after being a convicted felon and possession of a firearm while in possession of a schedule II substance.

This is an ongoing investigation with additional charges and arrest pending. No further information regarding this case will be released at this time.

Sergeant John Baber
Jade Task Force
970-3561

A Change Of HeArTE

A black linen pencil skirt paired with an emerald green shirt, matchy-matchy patent leather skinny belt and sling-back pumps...

Today was my arraignment for the charge brought on by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Agent John Stoltz. There was also a hearing for an Order of Protection -- incorrectly but better known as a “restraining order” -- scheduled by the same officer. Oh yippee. Law Enforcement members must be safeguarded from being made fun of on the Internet, don’t-ya-know?

When I caught sight of the Greene County Courthouse, a flashback hit me full force: four years earlier anxiously glued to a rear bench inside that awful courtroom, me, in a multi-colored polka-dot shirt, jeans, a red rabbit-fur pom-pom scarf looped loosely ‘round my neck. The suited, decidedly-Irish-looking JADE TFO Mr. O’Donnell seated next to me, his knees relaxed apart, fingers comfortably intertwined, calmly reassuring me in whispers that facing down my accusatory husband would be okay -- that everything would be okay.

I vigorously shook my head to clear the reminiscence, pulled into an empty parking square, and appraised the surroundings. Mr. Stoltz’s eye-catching blue Dodge Charger was nowhere to be seen.

Once I was situated in the General District Court building, I noticed the Commonwealth Attorney, Ron Morris, and more memories of Mr. O’Donnell exploded like landmines in my brain. To distract myself, I focused on the many uniformed men muddling about. Checked me out some handsome Troopers. MmmHmm.

I was briefly entertained by some LaWanda Drama; the lively narrative of two local women beating “the devil” out of one another had many of the occupants in the room snickering.

By time I was called -- both first and last name pronounced wrong -- before the judge, I had learned Mr. Stoltz’s Order of Protection request had already been granted on a prior day. I’d been officially summoned to appear for the dang thing on this date. Not only did the ATF guy deliberately misquote and mischaracterize me, he’d circumvented me from defending myself from his malicious asseverations. How underhanded! I was informed I could appeal the decision, but, still, what the hell?

Due to the circumstances of my arrest -- my current Albemarle County attorney being a potential witness -- I was appointed another representative for this case. Good Lord, this is gonna get confusing.

As if I wasn’t feeling poo enough, to make it to my next destination I had to drive through an area where my estranged nearly-fifty-year-old husband would take the ten-year-old girl that he was sexually pursuing. Bile swirled in my stomach at the reminder and I raced to get out of the town before emesis.

For solace, I went all the way to Richmond to hang with the State policeman I’ve been seeing for months now. Only to have him tell me he could no longer swing cheating on his live-in girlfriend. Ho hum. Okay.

I was unsure whether I wanted to hear raging tunes or melancholic melodies on the ride home, so I opted instead to listen to the music of my thoughts.

I have ongrowing court costs and fines, two lawyers, one less lover, no GPS, and a website I’m afraid to update lest I be hooked-up and hauled off to jail.

Not exactly a Chart-topping song, is it?

Someone Went To Court And All I Got Was This Lousy Post

Per my request, my court date was swapped from tomorrow, Tuesday, May 18, to today, Monday, May 17.

Being that I’m female, I have to start by telling you what I wore: fitted jeans, army-patterned Converse, a thin long-sleeve burn-out pullover topped by a snug short-sleeve white tee with a risqué Vargas picture on it. Normally I would never never never set foot inside a courtroom -- even as a spectator -- so dressed-down, but since I knew I wasn’t going to beat the charges regardless of my attire, I skipped the “pretty.” I didn’t even stress about covering my tattoos. Ha!

I was expecting a third of the JADE Task Force to testify against me. 1/3! Can you imagine? Instead, nearly half and a wife showed up! Half the effin’ Task Force! Who apparently had nothing better to do today -- or tomorrow, for that matter, since they were all available for then, too. Guess it’s kind of tough for them to slip back in the swing of things after having the complete weekend off. Again.

The wife, I’m told, was only there to see what I look like, which is kinda amusing ‘cause she barely looked at me. What woman waits years to get a glimpse of the chick her husband screwed, anyway? Whatever. She’s short and cute, though, and I can totally get why Detective O’Donnell digs her.

Oh, and all the officers were, of course, decked out in suits -- each man uniquely handsome, despite one of them still being yucky-fuzzy-faced. Wife had something lime green, and blocky-chunky-thingies for shoes; I don’t remember anything else she had on.

Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement members present: Albemarle County Detectives Tavis Coffin, John Baber, and Jon McKay; Charlottesville Detectives Brian O’Donnell and Paul Best. Prosecution by Denise Lunsford.

Tavis Coffin testified first. He stated that he recognized my vehicle on Monticello in part because “detectives are trained to be observant.” That made me laugh, given that pretty much this whole I HeArTE JADE site is a testament to how unperceptive these guys are. It was even funnier when slick ol’ Cruiser Crasher subsequently admitted that none of the other three JADE men in the van with him at the time had observed me there. Glad I thought to scribble that question down for my attorney. Mr. Coffin either contradicted himself or lied, a lot -- it’s hard to distinguish the difference between incompetence and corruption. He’s young, so inexperience might explain the incongruities.

John Baber was up second. He didn’t say much, probably didn’t bear witness for but three seconds. He appeared as bored as I felt. I zoned out on his tie which was bright yellow with colorful aquatic creatures or something on it.

Next came Brian N. O’Donnell. The thing with Mr. O’Donnell is that he wasn’t there to testify to the alleged following. Rather, he spoke about my linking an image of his car to the St. Anne’s-Belfield School website, the educational institution where -- as he publicly declared, under oath -- his children are enrolled. Shoot, even I didn’t reveal that sort of information in the post in question. He also talked about my linking another photograph of his auto to an entry I made about him on here last year. Miz Lunsford claimed these links constitute “indirect contact” -- an additional “violation” she tacked on at the last minute, otherwise known as Friday, May 14.

For some reason, Miz Lunsford and Mr. O’Donnell made a point to discuss that he no longer uses his white Taurus for work anymore. It’s unclear to me at present why they dwelt on that element.

Jon McKay and Paul Best did not take the stand. It’s my understanding that Mr. Best couldn’t identify me on the date of the so-called following, and I have no clue what Mr. McKay’s failure was. Naturally, if they might’ve offered a mere inkling of doubt to her case, Miz Lunsford wouldn’t use them. I do give her bonus points for putting them on display with the others for the judge. Five sturdy Law Enforcement males in business attire… in front of the bench… standing shoulder-to-shoulder… spanning the courtroom… each with his right hand up… being sworn in… ‘Twas a highly impressive sight to behold.

I did not speak on my own behalf. I was ready, willing, and able. Boy, was I all three of those things! I was long ago convinced I would be found guilty; I wanted to get some enjoyment out of the process. My sole -- perhaps soul -- fear was that if I took the stand, I would be put in a position of having to name my sources. My lawyer couldn’t promise that wouldn’t happen and he and I were positive that’d be exactly the information Miz Lunsford would aim for. I didn’t want to be found in contempt; what if the judge incarcerated me until I responded to the prosecutor’s inquiries? I would die in jail because I don’t betray people who trust me. Heck, I don’t betray people who don’t trust me! On the flip side, it’s rough for me to back down when I’ve been challenged. Ultimately my sense of loyalty rose above my ego. And I don’t deny I struggled with it. You-know-whos better drop to their knees and thank me profusely.

I was found guilty by His Honor. I nodded and shrugged, semi-smiley. I’m not troubled by it in the least. There was no way I was going to take on multiple officers in their holy kingdom and be victorious. Those guys could’ve come in and avowed I was an enemy alien from the star Alythika and the entire courtroom would’ve been like “guilty!”

Miz Lunsford announced that she did not want me to serve the full six month, previously suspended, sentence, confessing she wanted to have something left to hold over me for the future.

Let’s play make-believe for a moment:

Let’s pretend I have a glass sphere. Let’s pretend it’s got both incredible financial and sentimental value to me. Let’s pretend I live for this glass sphere; I’d die for it. Let’s pretend it’s that important. Got it? Okay, now let’s pretend someone comes along and takes possession of that glass sphere. Said someone communicates to me if I don’t X or Y or I do this-n-that, said someone will shatter my sphere of significance into two million pieces. Can you guess what I will do? I will tell you what I will do. I will knock that glass sphere out of someone’s hands and smash it myself into four million pieces just so it can’t be used against me a second time.

With that in mind, can you infer how I feel about Miz Lunsford’s incentive plan? Yup.

Moving on.

I am mildly disturbed with the broad “indirect contact” nonsense. That I ostensibly can’t link to external sites or to my own old entries without risking an accusation and conviction of “indirect contact” is annoying. To say nothing of Free Speech trampling. Yet it does persuade me to get creative. So it’s all good.

Additionally, I’m all the more confused over how I am supposed to not conduct surveillance on the Task Force yet apparently I’m expected to -- what -- psychically? -- know where its members are in order to avoid “contact” with them.

I did re-propose, via counsel, the amicable method to put an end to all this. The arrogant Mr. O’Donnell remains resistant. He avers his unwillingness is due to his belief that I won’t keep my word to cease I HeArTE JADE activity. Bulloney! Always with the excuses, him. He fulfills his obligation and I don’t stop, well, what’s the difference? I’m not stopping now. He fulfills his obligation and I do stop, well, that’ll be that. What does he have to lose? I reckon just he and I know the answer.

The one -- the only -- thing that truly bothers me about this morning’s act is that it was not entertaining. The JADE fellas, as beautiful as they are, were humdrum. The testimony was mostly dry. The information was exceptionally worthless. The humor -- a most vital aspect -- was vacationing whereabouts unknown.

In conclusion, I got a ten day sentence. If you heard a thunderous bang slightly before noon today, that would’ve been JADE. Intentionally slamming the courtroom door as they left. Sheesh. Ya’d think they’d be happy. But, evidently, they’re even sore winners.

Brian N. O’Donnell

CPD/JADE Brian N. O’Donnell Ford Expedition 5350HK

When S-N-O-W Spells “Vacation”

This cataclysmal storm has really done a number on the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. Four days after the sky coughed up hordes of flossy ice flakes across the area, the natives are grumping, VDOT is scraping mad, and I’m contemplating a counterpoison for my cabin fever.

I don’t expect the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement team is running full service at the moment, considering this is what TFO Brian O’Donnell’s route looks like:



And TFO Jon McKay’s road is, uh, somewhere under this mess of crystallized precipitation:



(Guess he’ll be off this month on the same dates he was last month):



S’pose ‘til things get back in swing I could create frozen art. Better yet, find a nice Virginia State Trooper to play with!

Car Phone

Fortunately for the JADE Task Force the cell phone was invented.

Paul Best: 434-531-8321

Granville Fields: 434-531-8318

Brian O’Donnell: 434-531-8765

So Sayeth The Department Of Justice

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, December 9, 2009

FLUVANNA COUNTY MAN SENTENCED TO 195 MONTHS IN JAIL

Warren Rucker II Was Found Guilty Of Distributing
Cocaine Following A Three-Day Jury Trial In September

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA -- A 19-year-old Fluvanna County, Va., man will spend the next 195 months in prison after being sentenced today in United States District Court for distributing powder and crack cocaine throughout the Commonwealth.

Warren Rucker II, a.k.a. “Pop”, age 19, a resident of Troy, Va., in Fluvanna County, was charged in a 10-count superseding indictment in August 2009 with multiple counts related to the drug trade. Following a three-day jury trial in September, Rucker was found guilty of one count of conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, one count of aiding and abetting the distribution of more than five grams of crack cocaine, seven counts of distributing crack cocaine and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense.

Today in District Court, Rucker was sentenced to 195 months of incarceration and five years of supervised release thereafter.

“Every drug dealer we take off the street brings us one step closer to achieving our goal of transforming once troubled areas of our cities into thriving communities,” United States Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy said today. “Prosecutions like this one take drug pushers who poison those communities off the streets. These cases are imperative to our office’s vision of restoring hope and safety to the communities of the Western District of Virginia.”

During trial, it was revealed that Rucker was part of a drug distribution organization that brought large amounts of powder and crack cocaine into the Charlottesville, Va. Area. At the time of his June 9, 2009 arrest, Rucker was found to be in possession of 56 grams of powder cocaine, 197 grams of crack cocaine, and a .45 caliber pistol.

The investigation of the case was conducted by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Charlottesville Police Department, the Albermarle County Police Department and the Henry County Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Ronald Huber and Special Assistant United States Attorney Joe Platania prosecuted the case for the United States. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia also assisted in the investigation.

Source.

Five Fer Friday

1. For most investigators, once a case and its connected courtroom stage show is over, it’s over. O-V-E-R. Done. Finito! But a cool source of things VSP says Special Agent Jason Trent just can’t stop frequenting I HeArTE JADE. People, the man is stalking my site. So… New file? Still-active old file? He obsessed? You tell me.

2. A select few terms that have brought searchers from Google to my site recently:

jade wireless
joseph fleming va state police force
Ian Diner, Charlottesville, Virginia
OLD TIME PORN STARS

I blame JADE’s Albemarle officer Jon McKay for that last one.

3. No longer must anyone resort to displaying the picture of me that both anti-racist and “pro-White” rejectamenta have been using against me for the last decade. Behold; an equally beautiful mugshot! Be assured these images absolutely accurately depict my appearance.

4. In the past year, 9000 persons have viewed my profile; it would’ve been 9 but, hey, the Task Force stallions traded in their thinkin’ for whinin’.

5. Detective Brian O’Donnell. Listen. Laugh. Or don’t.

Wireless

Good Morning, Special Agent Trent!

My you’re here early. Can I get you a cuppa coffee -- a Biscotti, maybe?

I know you mentioned they have to pay you to read my site but since you’re not busy doing like real work, I feel now’s a good time to talk at you. Is it? A good time? ‘Cause, I mean, if you’d rather have ataraxis at the moment, I could always wait ‘til you come see me again mid-afternoon or evening. I can be patient; just ask Longhead.

Actually I think when we last spoke, you kind of alluded to us patching things up or something. No, not “us” you and me “us.” We’re fine. I think we are anyway. At least, I’m fine with you. I’m not positive if you’re fine with me. You may very well be mad at me because I keep putting your name, Jason Trent, on I HeArTE JADE -- even though you’re the one who said it was all right to. Just gimme the word and I’ll use Debonair Out-Of-The-Blue Caller (abbreviated to Blue, both for convenience and to match your shirt) instead. It might knock you and me off Google. Hmm... I was going somewhere with this, I know I was. Oh yeah, “us” being Longhead and me. Was that on the table, so to speak? Or am I reading too much into what you said?

Hey! Ya know what I burrowed up? A picture I took a while ago of that Taurus I pointed out to you in the VSP parking lot. I’d been on my way to meet Boomslang -- I don’t think you know who that is yet -- late one afternoon and I recognized the car, well, technically I remembered the plate number, from the SWAT vehicle-lineup and clicked a photo or twelve of it.

Care for a refill on that coffee? I do. Hold on a sec.

See, I spot these Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement or JADE-associated automobiles all over the place in my run-arounds and sometimes can’t help but capture them on camera. Like Pringle’s Altima:



Woooops! Let me try that again:



It’s doing a fine job holding down the concrete at the federal courthouse, eh?

Before I forget, how long are you going to be on this case? Surely you won’t be coming here twenty, thirty, times a day, five days a week, forever and forever. I just assume you have a schedule like one of the JADE Charlottesville detectives told me he has (Monday-Friday, most weekends off) but perhaps that’s an incorrect supposition. At any rate, since I’m not doing anything wrong, somewhere along the line someone’s going to have to pull the plug on this go-nowhere investigation of yours. The ominously-titled “JADE Task Force Command Group” possibly. That would make you happy, right? To get out of this? I want you to be happy. I’d miss you, of course. It was nice to for realiously meet the man who got the shlurk job of monitoring me for JADE. There I was, guessing if he was out there, all wondering who he might be. And now I’ve seen him. Those last two lines have every bit the potential to become part of a Disney movie, song, something.

Here I’ve chattered on and on and I bet you have to go, Mr. Trent. Okay, then. I’ll catch you later. If you feel you want to answer any of the questions in my prate, call me sometime.

Have a good one, sir.

The Irish Are A Fair People; They Never Speak Well Of One Another.

Up until the day I got the minacious phone call from FBI Special Agent Lamb, I continued to believe Longhead’s long-term promises to me that he would answer the questions I’d accumulated throughout the investigation that caused our meeting. The riveting and edgy Charlottesville detective assured me time and time again that all I had to do was be patient until the case was over and he’d talk about whatnot specifics. When the gullible twit that is me finally realized and (crushed) accepted Longhead wasn’t going to keep his word, I decided to get the answers myself via other means.

I’ve repeated the story enough to know the one thing people wonder is: what were you going to ask him? I don’t recall that I’ve ever replied before but I will now, at least in part. Here’s a sample:

How long have you been doing narcotics?
How many other people do you work with?
They as old as you? Y’all get along?
Do you all have a lot of cases?
How long does it take to close them?
How often do you raid houses? Do you raid houses?
How many busts in a week or month?
Do you actually go undercover -- like in disguise?
Have you ever been shot at? Shot at anyone?

Let me guess, you’re thinking those quite possibly could win me the first prize blue ribbon in The Most Unexciting Elementary Inquiries Ever bake-off. I know! What would’ve been resolved in generally an extra hour of Longhead’s time spiraled into my going-on-nearly-a-year-now project. Once I got really started on it, I found out it was a lot of fun to learn about this stuff. I thought it would be challenging to figure it all out, and then I got to discover that most of the difficulties I faced were of my own oopsadazey making. But that’s neither here nor there.

It seriously punctures my pixie that these law enforcement agents are trying to browbeat me into abandoning my harmless avocation. I object to it much as I would if my hobby was hunting, or fishing, or softball, and they were attempting to force me into giving that up.

всякая всячина

Having broken links on a blog is generally not a good idea. Aside from irritating readers, some search engines -- including Google (truly the only one that matters) -- will stop indexing if their bots consistently meet dead ends while crawling your site. This obviously affects rankings so I try to make sure the destination pages and files linked to from iHeArTEjade still exist. I recently did a run-through and repaired a few I found. If something you anticipated to be there wasn’t, now’s the time to go click again!

Speaking of… for those who don’t know, all images here are clickable. Sometimes pictures may go to duplicates, sometimes to larger versions, sometimes to completely different photographs. And what you found behind something one day may not be what you find behind it on another day. This also applies to words. What’s the point of a blog if you can’t have fun with it?

In other news, it appears the profile views are going up. In increments of 100. Let’s see, that would mean the latest boost is, um, 3 of mine and 97 from the poor guy monitoring me for the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement Task Force. Kudos, dude!

And, not that I need an excuse, but, I believe this is a fine time to whisper those two little words in Google’s ear: jade charlottesville

News

HealthFest 2009 March 20th
Posted 3.18.09

#7. THE COSTS OF DRINKING AND DRIVING Detective Brian O’Donnell of the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement (JADE) agency will talk about the costs of drinking and driving, and driving under the influence of drugs. He will address the costs in lives, emotional costs of survivors, and the financial costs incurred by using real life situations that he has witnessed from years of being a police officer.

Source.

Four Things You Would've Heard Me Say If You'd Been With Me On This Day. Ready, Set,

Go. Go. GO. Gooooooooooooo -- stupid-worthless-you’re-going-to-make-me-lose-‘im-mother -- Go!

_________________________

Don’t go. No! Wait for me. You. Old. Deaf. Punk-Bitch.

_________________________

Rain, rain, go away; come again another… time when I’m not trying to take pictures ‘cause they’re gonna come out like THAT. Uck.

_________________________

I’m tired, cold, and soggy wet. I don’t care if the Task Force is about to make their best bust EVER evereverever, and I’ve been given a personal invitation to it, and Spot will be in shorts at it mmmm... great legs -- if you fold me in half and twist, you could wring out enough water to wash the JADE van. This is where I go home.

Wat I Iz Thinking Abowt @ 01:35

How would Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement know when photographs on I HeArTE JADE were shot?

I mean, if I toss up a picture of the TFO’s automobile that got a helluva tint job:



And exhibit the raindrops on its rear windshield:



And bumper:



The facts that a) I referenced the vehicle’s change in appearance more than two months ago and b) the local region has been drizzly and wet for the past two days, aren’t enough for much more than a vague estimate of time frame (especially given that the latter may or may not be relevant).

If it’s that indeterminate for cars which have datable distinctive alterations, it has to be even harder to timestamp ones which don’t:


jade charlottesville
That could’ve been taken three days ago or three years ago -- who’s to say?

A New Shield For An Old Detective

I’m told there are several reasons to tint the windows of one’s car -- keeps the interior cooler, blocks UV rays that can damage not only skin but dashboards and upholstery, too, reduces glare from sun, snow, and headlights, just to name a few. The favorite reason? Privacy. The darker the film, the better the concealment. Explains why criminals and narcotics officers, especially, like it shady.

(before and after)

The thing about having tinted windows for secrecy is, while the black on the glass temporarily hides insiders from outsiders, unless the vehicle’s inhabitants intend to eternally occupy the auto... sooner or later, they have to come out.

Porn Star. Further Frolics and Foul-Ups.

The familiar Honda, materializing out of nowhere, whizzes crossways by me and stops on a dime in front of the door leading to the JADE office. Porn Star jumps out and dashes up the stairs.

I look to the bypath that threads around the construction site and kick around explanations for why he’s come in that way. The road is rarely traveled, even rarer is it used by Task Force members. There’s still swirls of dust hanging in the air above the gravel from Porn Star’s trip along it.

I redirect my gaze to the building where he’s entered. I’m assuming, by the extra hastiness exhibited by the detective, he’s on a mission and will be back outside faster than I can take hold of a camera. I grab one anyway.

Did he set his car alarm? I don’t think he did. Nah, must be my imagination. He would never not do that; I just missed it or something.

After a minute or so, I distinguish the outline of his body through the glass of the exit as he’s returning and fix my eyes immediately on the papers he’s got in his hand when he passes the threshold. The visible top sheet has a large, square-shaped image on it in the upper left corner. Mug shot. I don’t need to see more, just by that multi-shaded block I know what he’s carrying. Connecting it with his infectious energy but detecting no evidence of his protective gear, I sense Porn Star’s about to go have a chat with a shady character as opposed to actually collaring a bad guy.

He’s back in his vehicle. I capture a few pictures, then, hoping to witness the huntsman in action, slip after him out of the lot.

Where were his keys? I recall his hands from moments ago but can’t conjure up a reflection of the metal objects appearing in them. Nor can I recall any motions indicative of them being present -- no palm jiggling, no paws to pockets, no keyless-entry button-pressing. It seems an essential detail but I put the thought on the back burner so I can concentrate on tailing the officer.

I’ve learned some things from following Porn Star that help me shadow him better. The most important? I absolutely positively under no circumstances Cannot Ever dawdle. He speeds. Lower on the list, allowing him more than eight car lengths distance is a guaranteed lose. His blinker usage isn’t dependable therefore I rely on the other signals he provides unintentionally. Like now, I’m sitting one car behind him at the intersection and even though he can go right or straight, I’m positive he won’t be turning. Across we go.

Several parts of the area we’re driving through I suppose would be deemed unsafe. I believe maybe they are dangerous for other people, but these kind of neighborhoods never have much of an effect on me.

We make a right, then a left, and a left, and a right -- so many turns I do declare we’re going in circles. I know we haven’t gone far but it feels like we’ve traveled dozens of miles. Porn Star makes yet another turn up ahead. If memory serves, these skinny side streets eventually lead to a main avenue and a nice district. Sheesh. Why in the world did he drive through Crackville if he didn’t have to?

I copy Porn Star’s turn. He’s stopped about three-quarters way up the road. I slow down. The passenger door opens. Passenger? A foot appears from the vehicle and lands on the pavement. I know those shoes. Eeeeeek! I shriek and swerve into a driveway as Longhead climbs the rest of the way out of Porn Star’s car.

Not good. This. Is bad. After my mini heart attack, I get a picture or two. I back up and discreetly leave the scene. On parting, I’m happy to solve the mystery of Porn Star’s lack of alarm-setting and absent keys: there was another investigator inside his car, protecting it. I’m unhappy I didn’t catch the obvious: it’s unlikely that Porn Star would go meet with a criminal without having a partner. Worse, his backup this time was Longhead. Had it been anyone else, I could’ve stuck around.