A D.C. police commander is under investigation for allegedly making changes to crime statistics in his district.
The Metropolitan Police Department confirmed Michael Pulliam was placed on paid administrative leave in mid-May — just a week after Pulliam filed an equal employment opportunity complaint against an assistant chief and the police union accused the department of deliberately falsifying crime data.
The union claims police supervisors in the department manipulate crime data to make it appear violent crime has fallen considerably compared to last year.
Pulliam — the former commander of the 3rd District that patrols Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights — was placed on leave with pay and told he was under investigation for questionable changes to crime data, five law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation told News4.
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That came about a week after he filed a complaint against Executive Assistant Chief of Police Andre Wright, according to three law enforcement sources familiar with the complaint.
Pulliam denied the allegations against him.
“When our members respond to the scene of a felony offense where there is a victim reporting that a felony occurred, inevitably there will be a lieutenant or a captain that will show up on that scene and direct those members to take a report for a lesser offense,” Fraternal Order of Police Chairman Gregg Pemberton said. “So, instead of taking a report for a shooting or a stabbing or a carjacking, they will order that officer to take a report for a theft or an injured person to the hospital or a felony assault, which is not the same type of classification.”
The police department’s command staff is focusing on two categories in order to get the numbers to fall, Pemberton said: armed with a dangerous weapon and injured person to the hospital.
“When management officials are directing officers to take reports for felony assault, or if they’re going back into police databases and changing offenses to felony assault, felony assault is not a category of crime that’s listed on the department’s daily crime stats,” Pemberton said. “It’s also not something that’s a requirement of the FBI’s uniform crime reporting program. So, by changing criminal offenses from, for example, ADW bat or ADW gun to felony assault, that would avoid both the MPD and the FBI from reporting that as a part one or a felony offense.”
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The union has been gathering evidence for some time now by looking at reports and talking with officers all over the city, Pemberton said.
“What we’ve heard through our members and through members of management that were willing to talk with the union is that this is a directive from the command staff, is that they wanna make sure that these classifications of these reports are adjusted over time to make sure that the overall crime stats stay down,” Pemberton said. “And this is deliberately done.”
As of last Monday when News4 spoke with Pemberton, D.C. crime data shows violent crime was down 28%. Thursday, the department’s website said violent crime is down 25% when compared to the same time last year, and overall crime is down 8%.
“That’s preposterous,” Pemberton said. “There’s absolutely no way crime could be down 28%. Last year they suggested that it went down 34%.”
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In April, Pulliam’s wife, Capt. Rachel Pulliam, was transferred by Chief Pamela Smith from the Youth Division to midnights in the 7th District.
Subsequently, according to three sources familiar with the incident and the timing of everything, Wright ordered Cmdr. Pulliam to pack up his wife’s belongings from Youth Division and move them on his own to his wife’s new assignment in 7D.
He viewed the order as retaliatory and a misuse of authority, sources familiar with the complaint said.
About a week later, Cmdr. Pulliam’s police powers were revoked, five law enforcement sources told News4.
Chief Smith told News4 she can’t comment on an ongoing investigation.
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As for the claims made by the union, Smith released this statement: “The Metropolitan Police Department is committed to upholding the trust and the confidence of the public. Any irregularity in crime data brought to my attention will be addressed immediately. I do not condone any official reclassifying criminal offenses outside the guidelines set in MPD policy. Any allegation of this behavior will be dealt with through our internal processes, which will ensure those members are held accountable. I have the utmost confidence in the command staff leadership currently in place across the Metropolitan Police Department.”
Wright declined to comment to News4.
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BALTIMORE (WBFF) — A Maryland man was sentenced to over two decades in prison for sextorting young girls through social media platforms, the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
25-year-old Isaiah Poole, of Suitland, was sentenced to 25 years in prison, followed by 20 years of supervised release, for one count of producing child sexual abuse material.
The sentence was announced by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, Kelly O. Hayes, alongside Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul, FBI Baltimore Field Office.
According to official records, Poole manipulated and coerced at least six girls — ranging from ages 9-14 — to send him sexually explicit photos and videos of themselves through Snapchat and other social media accounts.
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Pretending to be a teenage girl, Poole manipulated the girls to produce and send him the images under the ruse of playing truth or dare.
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He would direct the young girls to expose their genital areas and engage in sexual conduct, according to authorities.
After some of the girls informed Poole that they didn’t want to send him any more images, he would then threaten to send the images to their families and friends.
Additionally, Poole distributed the sexually explicit images he received from two of the girls.
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U.S. Attorney Hayes commended the FBI for its work in the investigation, along with the Maryland State Police and Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office for their valuable assistance.
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Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alex Treiger and Brooke Oki who prosecuted the case.
A student journalist in Washington, D.C.; Grok image
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During the fall of 2026, the Student Free Press Association, parent organization for The College Fix, will offer paid internships at Washington, D.C.-based media organizations.
Who is eligible?
The internships are open to college students and recent college graduates.
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Where will I work?
SFPA will match its intern with an appropriate host organization. Previous fellows have worked at National Review, Real Clear Politics, Daily Wire, Daily Caller, Reason, Washington Examiner, Washington Free Beacon, The Dispatch, EWTN, and Just The News, among others.
(To learn more about their experiences, go here and here.)
How long will it last?
The internship will run for about 14 weeks, beginning in September. The specific start and end dates will be determined with the intern and media organization.
What will it pay?
SFPA will provide a stipend of $8,400.
Are there other benefits?
In addition to supplying the internship, the Student Free Press Association will offer customized career advice and networking opportunities.
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When is the deadline?
Applications must be received by July 15, 2026.
How do I apply?
Email a brief resume, cover letter, and links to three writing samples to internships [at] thecollegefix.com, subject line: fall 2026 internship.
LAKE CITY, S.C. (WPDE) — A community art project with roots in Florence County is now on display on one of the nation’s biggest cultural stages.
ArtFields, the nationally recognized art festival based in Lake City, was selected as South Carolina’s official host for the National Scrollathon, a collaborative artmaking project that brings together people from across the country to share their stories through fabric scrolls.
The project is now being unveiled at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., giving Lake City and the Pee Dee region a place in a nationwide artistic celebration.
Created by brothers and artists Steven and William Ladd, Scrollathon invites participants to design personal fabric scrolls that reflect their experiences, hopes and dreams.
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The individual pieces are then combined into a larger work of art that represents communities from across the United States.
Earlier this year, dozens of residents in Lake City participated in the project through an initiative called “Tied Together,” creating scrolls that shared their personal stories and connections to their community.
Carla Angus, an ArtFields consultant, said the project’s impact comes from bringing people together through creativity and storytelling.
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“Everyone who was invited receives these strips of material and fabric, and they select their colors, they select what they want to put together and they create a story behind their scroll,” Angus said. “That’s what’s so powerful about the project because it brings all these different people together with different backgrounds and different experiences.”
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In addition to Lake City, Scrollathon events were held at other South Carolina cultural institutions, including the Gibbes Museum of Art and the International African American Museum.
Now, those local contributions are part of a much larger display.
More than 250,000 participants from all 50 states and U.S. territories contributed to the National Scrollathon.
The collection is being showcased at the Kennedy Center, where visitors can experience what organizers describe as a visual representation of the American story.
For Angus, seeing scrolls created in Lake City displayed alongside contributions from across the country is a proud moment.
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“When I look at those scrolls, I know those are thousands upon thousands of individuals that have shared their stories,” Angus said. “Now they have become one unified piece of artwork.”
Angus described the experience as surreal and said it demonstrates how art can connect people regardless of where they come from.
“It’s almost surreal because what we want to do is connect people through the arts,” Angus said. “To be a part of something that is so large, bringing so many states together, it shows how powerful art can be.”
The National Scrollathon will remain on display through Labor Day as part of the Kennedy Center’s yearlong celebration of America’s 250th anniversary and the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
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For Lake City and Florence County residents, the exhibit represents an opportunity to see their stories become part of a national conversation, one scroll at a time.
