Who says criminals don't have class? In one of the most bizarre but courteous crimes of the year, police on Capitol Hill in D.C. are baffled by an attempted robbery that began with a handgun put to the head of a teenager and ended in a group hug. It started about midnight on June 16 when a group of friends were finishing a dinner of marinated steaks and jumbo shrimp on the back patio of a District of Columbia home. That's when a hooded man slid through an open gate and pointed a handgun at the head of a 14-year-old girl. The girl then laughed it off thinking it was a friend who was supposed to be there. Smart thinkin' kid.
Michael Rabdau, a federal government worker who lives in Anne Arundel County with his family and lived on Capitol Hill with his wife in the 1980s, said that the episode lasted about 10 minutes but seemed like an hour. He believes the guests were spared because they kept a positive attitude during the exchange. When the robber arrived, he said, "Give me your money, or I'll start shooting." Everyone froze, including the girl's parents. He pointed the gun at a friend of the family when the Mother and Hostess said, "Please don't point gun at my friend, point it at me." The robber then complied and turned the gun onto the mother. "We were just finishing dinner," according to Cristina "Cha Cha" Rowan. she then told the man, "What do you think your mother would think?" in which the robber responded, "I don't have a mother." I guess sympathy in this case overcame fear because good ol' Cha Cha then asked the robber, "Why don't you have a glass of wine with us?"
The intruder had a sip of their Chateau Malescot St-Exupery, a dark-colored, with showy aromas of ripe berries, currants and raspberries with hints of violets. A fabulous wine, with the finesse and class of a great burgundy and the power and style of bordeaux which runs for $99.00 at your local wine store! The robber had a sip and said, "Damn, that's good wine." Michael Rabdau, told the intruder to take the whole glass, and Rowan offered him the whole bottle. The robber, with his hood down, took another sip and a bite of Camembert cheese. He put the gun in his sweatpants. I'm still trying to figure out how a government worker can afford a $99 bottle of Chateau Malescot St-Exupery. Must be my tax money at work.
The story then turns even more bizarre. "I think I may have come to the wrong house," he said before apologizing. "Can I get a hug?" Rowan, who works at her children's school and lives in Falls Church, Va., stood up and wrapped her arms around the armed man. The four other guests followed. "Can we have a group hug?" the man asked. The five adults complied. The man walked away a few moments later with the crystal wine glass in hand. Nothing was stolen, and no one was hurt. In the alley behind the home, investigators found the intruder's empty crystal wine glass on the ground, unbroken.
Cmdr. Diane Groomes, who is in charge of patrols in the Capitol Hill area said that, "We believe it is a true robbery, but it's one-of-a-kind. She added "I've never heard of a robber joining a party and then walking out to the sunset." The hug, she said, was especially unusual. "They should have squeezed him and held onto him for us," she said. "I was definitely expecting there would be some kind of casualty," Rabdau said this week. "He was very aggressive at first; then it turned into a love fest. I don't know what it was."
Now this is one sophisticated criminal. He didn't blow the family away probably because of the Chateau Malescot St-Exupery. but it makes me wonder what he would have done with two-buck Chuck! By the way, At the 28th Annual International Eastern Wine Competition, a $1.99 bottle of California Wine, the 2002 Charles Shaw Shiraz, known to the common man as two-buck Chuck, beat out 2,300 wines to win a prestigious double gold medal.
