Latest news with #WJZInvestigates
CBS News
05-08-2025
- CBS News
Leaning building in downtown Baltimore demolished, possible prior work done without permit
Baltimore City ordered an emergency demolition of a building in the heart of downtown after it shifted and started leaning over the weekend. This unfolded about a block from Lexington Market on North Eutaw Street. A representative with the Department of Housing and Community Development said possible work was done on the structure without a permit before it became unstable. A pile of bricks and other debris is all that is left of 310 North Eutaw Street. The structure that stood there for 135 years is now gone. "Bricks, wood, and the building in the basement—the whole building just went down in the basement. The basement is about 12 feet deep," said Jerome Banks, who works with the private contractor the city hired to demolish the building. The problems started over the weekend when the structure started leaning into 308 North Eutaw Street next door. That building, which housed a liquor store, has been condemned. "Real dangerous," Banks said. "It could have killed people. If someone was inside of that building, it might have done worse than what it was doing. It was just leaning like that, but it could have killed people. It could've collapsed and killed people." WJZ Investigates has learned from Baltimore housing that there were no prior structural issues brought to the city's attention before last weekend. The city said there were permits for work underway at the building that started leaning. The city said, "It appears there was also some unpermitted work going on, and a subsequent Stop Work Order has been issued." The owner is ultimately responsible for paying for the cost of demolition, according to the housing department. "As part of our standard procedure following any emergency demolition, all adjacent properties are reassessed to ensure safety and stability," the housing department said. The property owner was at the scene Tuesday but declined to comment to WJZ Investigates. Baltimore has made progress reducing the number of vacant properties. As of Tuesday, there were 12,532 citywide, according to Baltimore City's vacant dashboard. That is down about 800 vacant buildings since the start of the year. WJZ Investigates has reported on the city's plan to functionally eliminate vacant buildings in the next 15 years, but it remains an uphill battle to get the funding for redevelopment. "The plan is not just a four-year plan. This is a 15-year plan," Housing Commissioner Alice Kennedy told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren in March. "We have all the pieces and parts in place. We've been doing this work for years. This isn't like we're starting from zero. We're not starting from scratch." The state has pledged $50 million annually toward the effort. Terrence Thrweatt owns a business on the other side of 310 North Eutaw Street. Between the demolished building and his shop sit two vacant structures. One is largely open to the outdoors with decorative trim crumbling several stories above the ground—a threat to the sidewalk and street below. He said he deals with squatters living inside and wants all the dilapidated nearby buildings torn down. "I think it's an eyesore, and I think it does affect our business," Thrweatt told WJZ. "People want to be attracted to downtown. Right now, we don't have too much to be attracting people down here."
CBS News
30-07-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Baltimore mass overdose survivor says "chill came though body" after bad batch of drugs
Almost 5,000 people have died from drug overdoses in Baltimore in the past five years alone. Despite a drop in deaths last year, recent mass overdoses in Penn North show there is still a serious problem, and the city council tried to get to a deeper understanding at an oversight hearing Tuesday. Joseph Calloway Jr. told WJZ Investigates he was one of at least 27 people who overdosed at Penn North on July 10. "When I took that hit, it was like a chill came through my body," Calloway said. "My cousin was like, 'Are you alright?' I said, 'I'm cool,' and then in about 15 or 20 minutes, I was gone. I wasn't good to anybody. If you're ready to die, then keep doing what you're doing." Calloway was not ready to die. The overdose scared Calloway so much, he is now in treatment and feels lucky to be alive. He called the overdose, "My start date to being drug free." Calloway said he has had "quite a few wake-up calls" and admitted it is hard to know what is in the illicit drugs being sold in Penn North. "They don't have any heroin on the streets of Baltimore or any streets for that matter," Calloway said. "It's just a bunch of crushed-up pills." Baltimore City has not said what was in the bad batch of drugs at Penn North, but a federal laboratory identified fentanyl and sedatives. Calloway said this experience was far different than any other for him. "I never had a chill go through my body," Calloway said. At an oversight hearing Tuesday, Baltimore City Council members were told Black men are the group most likely to die from drug overdoses in the city. Public Safety Chairman Mark Conway said he has seen two overdoses in front of his own district office along York Road. "One in which I specifically had to find my own dosage of naloxone," Conway said. "Fortunately, that person woke up and was able to get back on his feet before I had to apply it. It just shows the urgency, and the fact that this can really be affecting people anywhere." Conway also noted, "This issue cannot be solved in closed-door rooms. It cannot be solved by really smart people working alone. It takes all of us." In Baltimore City, 777 people died from drug overdoses last year compared to 1,043 in 2023. First responders in Baltimore have used Narcan, the brand name of the drug that reverses overdoses, 635 times through June of this year. The generic name is naloxone. Most overdoses happen in the afternoon, with noon having the most overdose calls. Fentanyl is behind most deadly overdoses, followed by cocaine. Baltimore's Health Department outlined the waves of overdose deaths and responses. Baltimore City Needle Exchange (syringe services program/SSP) (1994), drug take-back programs, opioid prescribing guidelines, Baltimore City Staying Alive program (2004) First responder naloxone access, prescription drug monitoring program (2014), overdose fatality review (2014) Wide naloxone distribution, fentanyl test strips, peer recovery outreach, Baltimore City naloxone standing order (2015) Mobile treatment, harm reduction vending machine, syringe disposal drop boxes, overdose prevention center advocacy, addition of backpacking model for SSP, expansion of SSPs to CBOs, Kids Off Drugs, data dashboards Penn North has seen two mass overdoses in the past month, one week apart. The second mass overdose impacted seven people, sending five of them to hospitals. "I hope that we're just prepared for the next one, and the next one, and the next one. I hope that everyone is out here—and the organizations still show up," said David Carter. "We need resources. We need people to get into housing. We need accurate treatment. Baltimore City got $16 million for housing and $16 million for drug treatment. Where is that money at?" Sam Graves spoke about the open-air drug market at Penn North. "It's open to you, where you can just walk over to who got it—you got this and you got that—and there you go," Graves said.
CBS News
01-04-2025
- CBS News
Maryland woman loses millions in crypto "pig butchering" scam as FBI warns of more targets
Baltimore's FBI field office is warning about a growing cryptocurrency scam that is costing some victims their life savings. The scammers, frequently based in Southeast Asia, slowly gain the trust of their targets and then convince them to give money to buy cryptocurrency. A Maryland woman said she lost millions of dollars. She told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren she is embarrassed about the ordeal but wanted to tell her story to protect others. "I put in over $3 million into this, and it showed that I was making almost maybe like 80% profit," the victim said. WJZ disguised her voice, and we are protecting her identity at her request. "I never thought I would actually fall into something this crazy. I was so humiliated. It was very hard," she said. "You trust somebody, and you get betrayed. It really hurts more than the money part." The victim told Hellgren the female scammer first reached out to her unsolicited through a Korean messaging app and spent several weeks earning her trust. The scammer then slowly asked for money to invest in crypto for her. The victim shared screenshots with WJZ Investigates. The victim said the investment portfolio looked like the real thing, and she was first directed to the legitimate Coinbase website before being taken to other sites. "When she got a lot more of my trust, more money would be poured in," the victim said. "Unless you know what you're doing, you're not going to be able to tell—especially if you've never done crypto before." Often, the FBI said victims can withdraw a small portion of their money first to build trust. The scammers eventually take it all. The victim called it "the biggest mistake I've ever made." "I actually did see a couple red flags, and I decided to ignore it because I just kind of told myself, well, I've got to trust this person," she admitted. "It got to a point where I put so much in, I was just desperate for it to work." Sarah Lewis, an agent in Baltimore's FBI field office, learned this victim was being scammed through Operation Level Up, the bureau's program to crack down on these crypto scams. The scammers often prepare their targets in case law enforcement gets involved by coaching the victims on what to say. "When I spoke to her initially, she told me she wasn't being scammed, and she gave me specific language I knew came directly from the scammer," Lewis said. Lewis said many victims do not believe her when she calls. She asks them to do their research and warns them not to give more money to the fraudsters. "I tell them you don't have to believe me, but don't send them any more money," she told WJZ Investigates. Because of how vicious it is, the scam is commonly known as "pig butchering." Many victims are in their 50s and older, but not all of them. "They find the victims: They fatten the pig by increasing the amount of money that the victim is depositing into this fraudulent account that they believe they're investing in, and then the slaughter happens when the scammers disappear and the victim loses all of their money," special agent Lewis explained. Her colleague, special agent Jeremy Capello, said targets are often victimized again. "They will have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to this scam, and then they are contacted again by these same scammers pretending to be recovery companies, where they will tell the victim, 'We can recover your cryptocurrency if you pay us a fee,'" Capello said. Of the websites that the criminals create, he said, "You would never know it's a fake website." Most victims will never see their money again, although it is urgent for victims to act quickly to report what happened to authorities and give them the best chance of recovering anything. "Once that money leaves, it goes to the bad guys, and it's gone," Capello said. In one Maryland case, a man in his 80s was scammed over Facebook and ended up taking his own life after losing his life savings. The victim who lost millions told WJZ she was lucky to have a strong family support system. "It's money, and as hard as it is and how humiliating as it is and how hurtful as it is, it's not worth your life," she said. The FBI said the fraud is a vicious cycle and some of the scammers are victims of human trafficking and forced labor—threatened to make these contacts as they work out of warehouses in Southeast Asia. The FBI cautions you should not respond to unsolicited messages and never invest your money with people and organizations you do not know. Agents said many times that the scammers will not want to communicate over the phone and will direct victims to encrypted messaging platforms like WhatsApp. Nationwide as of January 2025: If you believe you might be a victim of this pig butchering crypto scam, you can report it to the internet crime complaint center at .
CBS News
28-03-2025
- CBS News
Ex-Baltimore County priest charged with molesting child at St. Agnes helped victim in infamous sex abuse case
Baltimore County police said they are looking for more possible victims of a former priest now charged with sexually abusing an altar boy at Saint Agnes in the 1990s. That victim came forward after more than 30 years. The former priest, William Mannion, went before a judge this week and is maintaining his innocence. The now 40-year-old victim said he was abused repeatedly for years while a student at Saint Agnes in Catonsville from 1991 to 1994, starting when he was just 7 years old. According to charging documents, Father William Mannion, then a young priest at Saint Agnes, warned the child he "had to do these things or God would punish him" and "his parents would be condemned to hell." The chilling account in charging documents said Mannion would use puppets from class in the abuse—calling it a "sick puppet show"—and make the victim pray and shower afterward to "scrub away the sins." WJZ Investigates spoke to Teresa Lancaster, an abuse survivor whose case was featured in the Netflix documentary "The Keepers" and who was abused by Father Joseph Maskell. "To stand in front of people and tell your story of the most horrific, private thing that ever happened to you, it's difficult. But as time goes on, I found it was a little bit easier for me each time because of the people validating what happened," Lancaster said. Mannion left the priesthood shortly after the alleged abuse occurred. Police said Mannion would not speak to detectives about the allegations against him. He is featured on page 283 of the landmark 2023 Maryland attorney general report on sexual abuse in the Baltimore archdiocese. He was a former student of John Merzbacher and described Merzbacher's "outrageous and inappropriate behavior." The attorney general's report states, "In 2018 and 2019, a former priest of the Archdiocese of Baltimore and a former student of Merzbacher's, William Mannion, was interviewed by the Office of the Attorney General. He described Merzbacher's outrageous and inappropriate behavior. Mannion remembered Merzbacher sending the victim into the cloakroom and being alone in there with her. In 1993, he saw the victim at a wake and asked her if she was a victim of Merzbacher, and she said yes. Mannion reported the abuse to the Archdiocese." He helped Merzbacher's victim, Liz Murphy, come forward. Mannion was assisting Murphy during the time he was allegedly abusing the student at St. Agnes. "What better way to hide than to pretend that you're helping survivors," Lancaster said. Murphy's testimony put Merzbacher behind bars for four life sentences. Merzbacher died in prison two years ago. Murphy died last month but shared her story repeatedly with WJZ in interviews over many years. "At the age of 11, 12, and 13, he raped me, he threatened me, he put a gun to my head. John Merzbacher going to jail will never restore my childhood or all that I have lost from his brutality," she told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren in 2023. Lancaster said she got to know Murphy well. "She was such a brave person," she said. "She will be greatly missed in the survivor community." Murphy's obituary mentions her work with survivors. "Seeing the devastation in her own life and in the lives of other victims, including many, many untimely, much-too-early deaths, Liz could not, would not stand by to watch the perpetrators moved around from church to parish to school, continuing to harm children all the while," the obituary states. As one-time confidant turned suspect William Mannion waits to learn his fate, a judge ordered his release on home detention. Lancaster knows how difficult it is for any victim to come forward. "It rips it right open again, and they're going to go through the process of dealing with this abuse. It's like soul murder. It lasts your lifetime," she said. WJZ did reach out to Mannion's attorney, but we have not heard back. The victim accusing Mannion first came forward through a therapist in 2023. Police said anyone with information about Mannion may contact the Crimes Against Children Unit at 410-887-7720 or Child Protective Services at 410-887-8463 . Following the charges against Mannion, the Archdiocese of Baltimore issued the following statement to WJZ: "William 'Bill' Mannion left the priesthood in the late 1990s and requested to be formally removed from the clerical state (laicized) for reasons unrelated to abuse. The Vatican laicized him in 2004. He would later marry and have children. The Archdiocese of Baltimore is saddened to learn of allegations of abuse by Mannion and is committed to cooperating fully with law enforcement. The Archdiocese of Baltimore is committed to protecting children and helping to heal victims of abuse. We urge anyone who has any knowledge of any child sexual abuse to contact law enforcement and call the Archdiocesan Office of Child and Youth Protection."
CBS News
18-03-2025
- CBS News
Maryland sexual assault survivor tells story about abuse inside juvenile facility
A growing number of alleged victims are coming forward saying they were abused in Maryland juvenile facilities over several decades, and some are suing for compensation. Their advocates say the abuse scandal could rival that facing the Catholic church . The flood of lawsuits started when Maryland removed the statute of limitations on filing these cases . WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren spoke to an alleged victim who is set to address a rally near Baltimore City Hall on Wednesday. "At 14 years old, all you want to do is go home, so what do you do? You stay quiet and you shut up," abuse survivor Nalisha Gibbs told WJZ Investigates. Gibbs is done being quiet, opening up about repeated sexual abuse she says she suffered as a child in 1989 and 1990 at the state-run Thomas Waxter Children's Center in Laurel , which has since closed. Investigator Mike Hellgren asked Gibbs about her message to other survivors. "That it's OK to come forward," Gibbs said. "It's OK to scream until you are heard. You deserve to be heard and you deserve your story to be told, and you deserve the healing that comes from it as well." According to her complaint against the state, Gibbs was sexually assaulted daily by a female staff member, then threatened that she would never go home if she reported the abuse. "She called me a throwaway," Gibbs said. "They wouldn't believe me because I'm a 'throwaway.' That's what she referred to children like me. We were throwaways to society pretty much." Jubi Williams, the victim advocate with the law firm Levy Konigsberg representing Gibbs said her client "was physically confined, abused and then these threats confined her even more—so she was too scared. She didn't trust anybody." Gibbs is one of 24 victims listed in just one lawsuit. Since the Maryland Child Victims Act lifted time limits on legal claims, more than 3,500 victims have sued Maryland. Some in the General Assembly are pushing this session for caps on damages. "The attorney general has gone so far as to dismiss some of these cases," said Jerry Block, also with the law firm who represents Gibbs. Block told WJZ the volume of abuse could dwarf that within the Archdiocese of Baltimore . "This sexual abuse goes beyond what the attorney general uncovered with the Catholic church in Maryland," Block said. "The children were sexually abused while they were in custody. These children had nowhere to run to. They had nowhere to hide. The perpetrators had the keys to their rooms." Gibbs hopes sharing her story stops the stigma. "Even when you're shaken and you think nobody else is really listening to you, still say something—say something because we're going to listen to you and we believe in you, and your voice is important," Gibbs said. The Department of Juvenile Services issued the following statement to WJZ Investigates: "DJS takes allegations of sexual abuse of children in our care with utmost seriousness and we are working hard to provide decent, humane and rehabilitative environments for youth committed to the Department. DJS notes that all the claims brought under the Maryland Child Victims Act involve allegations from many decades ago. Beyond that, DJS will not comment on this pending litigation." A rally is set for at 11 a.m. on Wednesday at War Memorial Plaza near Baltimore City Hall.
