Victim

Sometimes the small things make all the difference in professional wrestling. Too often, critics -- especially those on the Internet -- nitpick every decision WWE makes and find the logical or creative flaws. Many times, this creates an unnecessary sense or allegation of failure. But on tonight's Raw, WWE (or, more specifically, general manager John Laurinaitis) made a mistake that is almost unforgivable. While I personally wasn't offended by Sunday's match between John Cena and Laurinaitis at Over the Limit , many people have lashed out against the match.

A man claiming to be selling watches, coins and other items on Craigslist - the Internet version of classified ads - has lured four people to a residential street in Northwest Baltimore and robbed them at gunpoint, according to city police. Two attacks occurred last year, in August and November, but two others were reported to police this month. Police said they believe all the hold-ups are linked - they're occurring in mid-afternoon in the same block on Callaway Avenue, lined with single family homes and green lawns near Ashburton.

Two men were given life sentences Tuesday for their roles in the May 2010 kidnapping and rape of a woman who was stranded in downtown Baltimore and seeking help, prosecutors said. Jerome Lee, 29, and Jamal Richards, 28, were convicted by Baltimore juries in November. On May 22, 2010, the men were driving when they saw a woman on North Eutaw Street seeking assistance and they offered to drive her home, according to a statement from the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office.

Joanna Sullivan knows what she saw Saturday night as she and her husband peered through the window of their home overlooking Patterson Park - more than 20 youths involved in a "melee" on the tennis courts. But police statistics and incidents reports won't show that any such incident took place. The reason points to a disconnect between residents' experiences with crimes and longstanding police policies. The incident occurred at about 9 p.m. on the Patterson Park tennis courts.

Writing about suspects in cases is never easy. Any portrait that emerges can appear sympathetic, angering the victims, or too harsh, angering relatives. A look at Shelby Nichole Smith proved no different. Smith, her boyfriend and others are charged in connection with a prostitution ring that authorities say lured women who believed they were embarking on a singing tour and instead ended up in strip clubs from Baltimore to El Paso. Several women escaped and authorities moved in. Smith's boyfriend is the alleged ringleader, and her family believes that the former Baltimore alter girl and stellar student is just as much a victim as the women who escaped.

A man who was shot in 1997 died earlier this year from his injuries and will be counted as a homicide victim this year, while police identified a man fatally shot to death in East Baltimore this week.  Police say Leslie Johnson, 36, died January 30 at Mercy Hospital from complications from injuries from a shooting on April 14, 1997 in South Baltimore's Brooklyn neighborhood. The shooting occurred in the 800 block of Jack St.; here's the account from The Sun at the time: "Southern District      Shooting: A man armed with a shotgun shot another man in the back and a leg in the  800  block of  Jack   St . yesterday.

Baltimore County police identified the woman who died in a Dundalk fire Sunday morning as 57-year-old JoAnn Julian, and investigators said it began because she was smoking in bed. The blaze, which occurred about 6:30 a.m. at Julian's house in the 2900 block of Yorkway, started in the basement, where crews found Julian unconscious. She was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, where she later died. Investigators said Julian accidentally ignited bedding materials while smoking.

Baltimore County fire officials have identified a Parkville man who died in a cooking fire Sunday morning. Lewis Arnold Matthaei, 95, was found dead in the kitchen of his apartment in the 8400 block of Nunley Drive in the Ridge Garden Apartments, according to Baltimore County fire spokeswoman Elise Armacost. Investigators ruled that the fire was accidental and began when Matthaei was cooking. Matthaei lived alone. - Liz F. Kay

Baltimore police have identified a man who was found shot early Tuesday morning in East Baltimore. An officer had found Vance Williams, 19, of the 1600 block of W. Preston Street E. Hoffman and N. Caroline streets in the Oliver neighborhood at 2:45 a.m. Tuesday morning. Medics pronounced him dead at 2:53 a.m. The medical examiner's office is performing an autopsy, according to police. Text BUSINESS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun Business text alerts

The woman who was pronounced dead after a fire in East Baltimore Sunday night has been identified as Barbara Lee Crawley, a fire department spokesman said. Her age remains unknown, said the spokesman, Chief Kevin Cartwright. Crawley was unconscious when she was pulled from the house in the 1600 block of E. Lafayette Street in the Oliver neighborhood. She was later pronounced dead by medics, but it was unclear whether she died as a result of the fire. The fire remains under investigation, Cartwright said.

Annapolis police are looking for a man who pulled a 21-year-old woman into an alley in downtown Annapolis and sexually assaulted her early Saturday morning. About 1:30 a.m., the woman was walking alone in the 100 block of Duke of Gloucester St. near the heart of the downtown area when a man walking behind her grabbed her and dragged her into a nearby alley, according to police. The man threw the woman to the ground and sexually assaulted her, police said. The woman, who had been walking home from West Street, was eventually able to fight off the man, who then fled, police said.

Here's another reason to file your tax returns as early as possible: an identity thief might beat you to the money. Identity thieves are filing fake federal returns using taxpayers' Social Security numbers and claiming tax refunds worth billions of dollars. The taxpayers only find out about it when their returns are rejected by the IRS because someone already received a refund using their identity. It's a big problem — and one that's rapidly growing, according to a report this month from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

Baltimore police on Wednesday identified a homicide victim from earlier in the week, the city's 74th victim of the year. Travis Miller, 27, of the 4800 block of Lorelly Ave. was shot and killed in East Baltimore Monday night. At 11:26 p.m., police responded to the 1100 block of N. Milton Ave. in the Biddle Street neighborhood. When officers arrived, they found the victim lying in the intersection of North Milton Avenue and E. Chase Street, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

The windows are wide open in the messy apartment, the afternoon sky darkening fast. Chrissy Polis can't stand the Essex neighborhood outside, where everyone knows who she is. But she doesn't know how to get out, or where she'd go if she did. "I just want to move because I want to see other things," she says. There was a time when it seemed people from all over the country were talking about the 24-year-old. Many wanted to help her; others condemned her. Polis became an unwitting symbol of the transgender community and the struggle for transgender rights when she stepped into a Rosedale McDonald's one April evening.

After the power failed in an Essex neighborhood earlier this year, BGE officials discovered that someone had been stealing copper wire from the tops of utility poles. Oddly enough, however, they found no marks on the poles indicating that the culprit had climbed roughly 40 feet to reach the wire. Baltimore County police figured they might have their suspect when an officer on patrol in Dundalk spotted an unmarked white Ford van equipped with a bucket lift, and a man alongside the van stripping insulation from copper wire, according to a police report.

A 34-year-old man died Sunday afternoon after he was stabbed in Northwest Baltimore, police said. The victim, whose identity was not released, was stabbed once in the torso at about 12:11 p.m. Sunday in the 2600 block of Park Heights Terrace, Baltimore Police Sgt. Anthony Smith said. The victim was taken to Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said Smith said police were interviewing a possible suspect, who was in custody. No additional information was available, Smith said.

Shame on The Sun for its recent article on a victim, Tyrone Brown, the ex-Marine who served his country and received a honorable discharge ("Haunted by violence," March 23). The reporter twisted the story to make him seem like the shooter. He was unarmed when he was assassinated by off-duty Baltimore Police Officer Gahiji Tshamba. Mr. Brown's story didn't need to be placed on the front page. The question remains how many more loose cannons are there in the city's police department?

A man was stabbed Sunday afternoon in Pasadena, but his injuries are not expected to be life-threatening. The stabbing occurred about 4:30 p.m. near 62 Bar Harbor Road, which is close to Rock Creek Park. The victim was being treated for his injuries at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, but a spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Police Department said he is expected to survive. Further information was not immediately available. mary.mccauley@baltsun.com Text NIGHTLIFE to 70701 to sign up for Baltimore Sun nightlife and music text alerts

Sexual assault in the military threatens our national security. This has been a hard lesson for military leaders to learn, but thanks to significant pressure from Congress and victims' advocates, they're starting to get the picture. Last month, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced that sexual assault cases will now be handled by higher-ranking, more experienced officers and supervised by new Special Victims Units. These changes indicate that the Pentagon is finally interested in treating sexual assault as a serious crime rather than as lapse in professionalism or leadership.

The hit men of the tea party can carve another notch in their collective gun belts this week with the ouster of Indiana Sen. Richard G. Lugar, a 35-year veteran of the U.S. Senate. Whatever mojo the conservative firebrands had in the 2010 GOP primaries, when they ousted party moderates right and left, is apparently still working for them. Longtime incumbents are not easily toppled, but Mr. Lugar's vulnerabilities were well-documented prior to Tuesday's Indiana primary: The six-term senator is 80 years old, has lived in Northern Virginia for decades (despite using a 1970s-era address for voting purposes)