Omar Flores Pineda was last seen on September 30, 2022, at approximately 9 a.m., in the 700 block of Quince Orchard Blvd.
Flores Pineda is 5-feet, 3-inches tall and weighs 100 pounds. He has brown eyes and black hair. He has a star tattoo on the front area of his neck that says “free spirit.” He was last seen wearing a blue Adidas jacket, black pants and black shoes. Police and family are concerned for his welfare.
Today, a federal jury convicted Luis Flores-Reyes, a/k/a “Maloso,” “Lobo,”’ and “Viejo Lovvon,” age 41, of Arlington, Virginia; Jairo Jacome, a/k/a “Abuelo,” age 40, of Langley Park, Maryland; and Brayan Contreras-Avalos, a/k/a “Anonimo,” and “Humilde,” age 27, of Langley Park, Maryland, on federal charges related to a racketeering enterprise known as La Mara Salvatrucha, or “MS-13.” Jacome and Flores-Reyes were also found guilty of murder in aid of racketeering. Jacome was convicted of an extortion conspiracy and Flores-Reyes was also convicted of extortion conspiracy. The jury also found Contreras-Avalos and Flores-Reyes guilty of a drug distribution conspiracy.
“These defendants wreaked havoc within our communities through murder, extortion, and drug trafficking, now they will be held accountable,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron. “We will relentlessly prosecute MS-13gang members who terrorize our Maryland communities with intimidation and violence.”
The City of Gaithersburg’s Winter Lights Festival is getting ready to welcome visitors for another spectacular season. The wondrous display of lights at Seneca Creek State Park will be open nightly November 25 through December 31. The festival is closed on December 25 and last entry for December 24 & 31 is 8:30 p.m. Tickets go on sale on October 12th at 10am
The 3.5 mile drive through the enchanted setting of Seneca Creek State Park takes you past more than 450 illuminated displays and beautifully lit trees that light up the night. The park is located at 11950 Clopper Road, conveniently accessible from I-270.
The City of Gaithersburg placed #7 in Fortune Well’s inaugural Fortune 25 Best Places to Live for Families ranking. The list highlights areas in the U.S. where multigenerational families are most likely to have access to critical resources, community support, and financial wellbeing.
This ranking focused on families, particularly the subset of Americans who are shouldering the responsibilities of raising their own children while caring for aging parents. Gaithersburg was ranked high for its cultural diversity and community programming, its perfect score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index, its variety of senior activities, and its financial services.
Nestle Toll House has been closed for a couple years after opening in the second half of 2018 at 11 Arch Place on the ground level of the Colonnade building in the Kentlands neighborhood of Gaithersburg. The location was previously occupied by Kentlands Cafe. The restaurant equipment and furniture is now available via auction.
The cafe location is currently available for sale, listed at $499k. Rasmus, a company founded to provide asset recovery and auction services to the business community, is auctioning off a lot of the equipment and furniture from the cafe. The auction closes on October 11th.
Today, Fortune launched the inaugural Fortune 25 Best Places to Live for Families ranking, highlighting areas in the U.S. where multigenerational families are most likely to have access to critical resources, community support, and financial well-being. Montgomery County’s very-own Gaithersburg was ranked 7th on the nationwide list.
“A suburb of Washington, D.C., the City of Gaithersburg is known for its cultural diversity and celebrated community programming. Its historic Casey Community Center, built in 1938 as a dairy barn, features more than 200 activities each year for every age group, including traditional and sensory-friendly film screenings for families, as well as a farmers market, poetry nights, and recreational and culinary classes. The annual Gaithersburg Book Festival, which has been described by NPR as “a little treasure,” also offers programming for all ages, is free to attend and has become one of the nation’s top literary events…”
The City of Gaithersburg, in association with the Kentlands Community Foundation, presents the 20thannual Young Artist Award, a juried competition culminating in a concert for the top prize winners. The goal of the Young Artist Award is to provide musicians ages 12 – 18 with an enriching artistic experience & encourage them in their love of music.
The 2023 Young Artist Award Competition includes the 3rd annual awarding of the Carrie McMahon Dietz Award for Excellence. This award is presented to a City of Gaithersburg resident who participates in the competition & has the highest score of all City residents. The award is given in honor of Carrie McMahon Dietz, longtime Executive Director of the Kentlands Community Foundation & one of the founders of the Young Artist Award Competition. Online application here.
Back in March we let you know of a the third Crumbl Cookies location that will be coming to Montgomery County, as a new store signed on at 277 Kentlands Blvd, next to Panera, in the space that was formerly home to TD Ameritrade. We stopped by yesterday and a representative let us know that the cookie spot will open on Thursday, October 6th (which is also what Google lists as the opening date in the screen capture below).
Crumbl Cookies is a bakery with locations nationwide that sells chocolate chip and sugar cookies every day, but the rest of their offerings rotate. Their flavors range from experimental (watermelon chilled sugar cookie), to cookie twists on classic desserts (peach cobbler cookie), to more traditional cookies (peanut butter brownie cookie). The first MoCo location opened at Federal Plaza in Rockville in 2020 and opened a Germantown location earlier this month.
The upcoming 9.54-acre Pleasant View Park will be located at the former Consumer Product Safety Commission site on Rt. 28. (10901 Darnestown Road). A 16-month construction period is anticipated, with completion in February 2023. Below we have additional information and photos on its progress.
Per the City of Gaithersburg: The City is developing a 9.54-acre park with parking, community gardens, a bicycle skills course (pump track), open space, pavilions, a playground, fitness pods, and a welcome plaza. A new parking lot will be constructed at the park’s west boundary. Vehicular access to the park will be through the drive that extends from Darnestown Road. Pedestrians will be able to access the site from Darnestown Road via a path that will be located parallel to the access drive into the park. Pedestrians will also be able to access the park from Marsh Lane. A Ride-On bus stop is located on Darnestown Road at the park entrance.
Spencer’s in known for selling novelty items like lava lamps, shot glasses, t-shirts, and 18+ items like lingerie and sex toys. According to their website, Spencer’s is “the mall destination for entertainment, excitement, and fun” and has been in business of over 65 years.
From their website: “Starting out as a mail order company in 1947, Spencer’s opened its first retail store in 1963 at New Jersey’s Cherry Hill Mall. From the outset, Spencer’s quickly became an oasis within the mall environment offering our guests an entertaining experience both through its merchandising and product mix and grew to a national chain by the mid-’70s. In 2003, under new management, Spencer’s lifted the bar higher and set out to reinvent itself. Remaining true to its roots, this reinvention set Spencer’s on the path to greatness in a subtle shift from Spencer Gifts to Spencer’s in newly re-designed funky, industrial spaces with an award-winning downtown club look.
Twine is approximately 6-feet, 1-inch tall and weighs 300 pounds. He has short black hair, brown eyes and a beard. He was last seen wearing a grey t-shirt, blue shorts with red on the sides and Tommy Hilfiger red, white and blue slides. Police and family are concerned for his welfare.
Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Queinton Isaiah Twine is asked to call the 6th District Investigative Section at (240) 773- 5770 or the police non-emergency number at (301) 279- 8000 (24-hour line). Callers may remain anonymous.