Zak Failla

Assistant Managing Editor

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Equal parts Lois Lane, J. Jonah Jameson and Vicki Vale, Zak! has traveled from coast-to-coast covering small and big town community news in both in print and online for nearly a decade since his graduation from the award-winning Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College in 2010.

Before settling into the Hudson Valley, Zak! previously spent time in the New York Daily News newsroom and worked for hyperlocal digital news outlets on Long Island. He wrote sports for The Ithacan and The Ithaca Journal before taking his talents to the Pacific Northwest, where he served as the sports editor at the Shoshone News-Press until heading back east to work with Daily Voice.

Zak Failla's Contributions

Gaithersburg, MD
Breaking News
Car Break-Ins Lead Detectives To Bethesda Motel 6 Room Packed With Guns, Stolen Gear Car Break-Ins Lead Detectives To Bethesda Motel 6 Room Packed With Guns, Stolen Gear Car Break-Ins Lead Detectives To Bethesda Motel 6 Room Packed With Guns, Stolen Gear
Car Break-Ins Lead Detectives To Bethesda Motel 6 Room Packed With Guns, Stolen Gear Their biggest mistake wasn't stealing from unlocked cars. It was taking electronics detectives could trace. In Maryland, what began as a string of overnight thefts from unlocked vehicles in Bethesda ended inside a Gaithersburg Motel 6, where Montgomery County detectives say they found two suspects, stolen property and firearms tied to a separate case. The thefts happened during the early morning hours of July 14 in neighborhoods along Broad Brook Drive, Enfield Road, Page Avenue and Locust Hill Road. Surveillance cameras captured two men walking from vehicle to vehicle, pulling on door ha…

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by Zak Failla
National Interest
911 Call, Doorbell Video Released After Eric Bieniemy's Son Shoots Mother In Northern Virginia 911 Call, Doorbell Video Released After Eric Bieniemy's Son Shoots Mother In Northern Virginia 911 Call, Doorbell Video Released After Eric Bieniemy's Son Shoots Mother In Northern Virginia
911 Call, Doorbell Video Released After Eric Bieniemy's Son Shoots Mother In Northern Virginia New details are emerging after the son of NFL coach Eric Bieniemy shot his mother in Northern Virginia. Mia Bieniemy, 57, was allegedly shot by their 27-year-old son, Elijah Zion Bieniemy, in the 20000 block of Northpark Drive in Ashburn during a weekend altercation, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office. Mia Bieniemy was taken to an area hospital for treatment and evaluation of her injuries. Her son is now charged with malicious wounding and other weapons offenses. In the days following the shocking shooting, the dispatch call has been released by Good Morning Am…

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Breaking News
Married DC National Guard Major From Arlington Built Double Life With Fake Divorce, Feds Say Married DC National Guard Major From Arlington Built Double Life With Fake Divorce, Feds Say Married DC National Guard Major From Arlington Built Double Life With Fake Divorce, Feds Say
Married DC National Guard Major From Arlington Built Double Life With Fake Divorce, Feds Say One fake divorce. Two weddings to the same woman. And a stack of bogus government documents to keep the whole thing going. Collin L. Welch, a 40-year-old DC National Guard major from Arlington, pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington to an immigration fraud scheme that prosecutors say stretched from Mongolia to Virginia and was partly funded with $54,000 in stolen government money. Welch was already married when he began a relationship with a Mongolian woman in 2019 while posted to the US Embassy in Ulaanbaatar, according to court documents. So he created a divorce decree. The docum…

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by Zak Failla
Woodbridge, VA
Breaking News
Cup Tossed, Gun Drawn: Woman Wanted After Wild Woodbridge Bar Fight Escalates (DEVELOPING) Cup Tossed, Gun Drawn: Woman Wanted After Wild Woodbridge Bar Fight Escalates (DEVELOPING) Cup Tossed, Gun Drawn: Woman Wanted After Wild Woodbridge Bar Fight Escalates (DEVELOPING)
Cup Tossed, Gun Drawn: Woman Wanted After Wild Woodbridge Bar Fight Escalates (Developing) Some people throw a drink. Others throw a punch. Police say one woman skipped straight to a gun. Prince William County police are searching for an Ashburn woman accused of turning what started as a run-of-the-mill bar fight into a felony after she was allegedly hit with a cup outside a Woodbridge nightclub. Officers were called to El Establo on Richmond Highway around 1:47 a.m. on Sunday, July 26, after reports of a gunshot in the parking lot. Investigators say 31-year-old Avisha Brianna Smith and an acquaintance had gotten into an altercation with an unknown man when things took a turn. …

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Your Community
Jailed Overseas For Credit Card Fraud, ICE Arrests Repeat Suspect In Downtown DC Jailed Overseas For Credit Card Fraud, ICE Arrests Repeat Suspect In Downtown DC Jailed Overseas For Credit Card Fraud, ICE Arrests Repeat Suspect In Downtown DC
Jailed Overseas For Credit Card Fraud, ICE Arrests Repeat Suspect In Downtown DC He'd already served prison time overseas for credit card fraud. Federal authorities say he came to the United States anyway, overstayed his visa, and wound up accused of doing it again. A Hungarian-Romanian man wanted in Virginia on credit card fraud charges has been arrested after a weeks-long hunt that ended with ICE officers tracking him down in downtown DC. Sebastian Mihai Caraba was taken into custody by officers with ICE Washington's Fugitive Operations Team after investigators identified both him and his vehicle and followed him to a location he had been frequenting in the city, the…

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by Zak Failla
Stafford, VA
Breaking News
Virginia Teens Hid In Vacant Apartment, Ambushed Facebook Marketplace Seller: Stafford Sheriff Virginia Teens Hid In Vacant Apartment, Ambushed Facebook Marketplace Seller: Stafford Sheriff Virginia Teens Hid In Vacant Apartment, Ambushed Facebook Marketplace Seller: Stafford Sheriff
Virginia Teens Hid In Vacant Apartment, Ambushed Facebook Marketplace Seller: Stafford Sheriff Several teens are facing serious criminal charges in Virginia after ambushing another group during a planned sale of a sweatshirt in Stafford, according to the sheriff's office. Four juveniles are facing charges following an investigation into reports of shots fired earlier this month on Ebenezer Church Road during a planned transaction. Investigators from the Stafford County Sheriff's Office said the victims had traveled to the area to sell a Spyder-brand sweatshirt to a buyer they met through Facebook Marketplace. Upon arriving, the suspect briefly met with the victims before returning t…

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Breaking News
College Lacrosse Player Suffers Life-Changing Injury In Maryland Beach Diving Accident College Lacrosse Player Suffers Life-Changing Injury In Maryland Beach Diving Accident College Lacrosse Player Suffers Life-Changing Injury In Maryland Beach Diving Accident
College Lacrosse Player Suffers Life-Changing Injury In Maryland Beach Diving Accident It took just one wave. Now a Maryland college freshman who spent the spring playing lacrosse is facing the fight of his life after a beach diving accident left him with a devastating spinal cord injury. Riley, a Chestertown-area resident who recently completed his freshman year of college, was seriously hurt after diving into a wave that turned out to be too shallow, according to a GoFundMe launched by family friend Stefanie Zottarelli. In an instant, several vertebrae were broken, and his spinal cord was compressed. He has since undergone two surgeries at the University of Maryland Medic…

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Breaking News
100+ Victims Feared As Virginia Mail Carrier Accused Of Stealing Birthday Cards, Gifts: Sheriff 100+ Victims Feared As Virginia Mail Carrier Accused Of Stealing Birthday Cards, Gifts: Sheriff 100+ Victims Feared As Virginia Mail Carrier Accused Of Stealing Birthday Cards, Gifts: Sheriff
100+ Victims Feared As Virginia Mail Carrier Accused Of Stealing Birthday Cards, Gifts: Sheriff Birthday cards. Graduation money. Holiday gifts. Investigators say they never had a chance of reaching the mailbox. A Virginia rural mail carrier is accused of stealing mail from dozens of people along her route for months, taking everything from gift cards to other valuables in a case investigators now believe could involve more than 100 victims. Crystal Duvonne Dean, 55, of Culpeper, was arrested Tuesday, July 28, following what the Culpeper County Sheriff's Office described as a painstaking, 10-month investigation conducted alongside the United States Postal Inspection Service. Detecti…

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by Zak Failla
Glen Burnie, MD
Breaking News
Woman Followed Home To Glen Burnie From Maryland Live! During Deadly Carjacking Spree, Feds Say Woman Followed Home To Glen Burnie From Maryland Live! During Deadly Carjacking Spree, Feds Say Woman Followed Home To Glen Burnie From Maryland Live! During Deadly Carjacking Spree, Feds Say
Woman Followed Home To Glen Burnie From Maryland Live! During Deadly Carjacking Spree, Feds Say A night that began outside a Maryland casino ended with one woman carjacked in her own driveway. Days later, another victim was dead. Now, one of the men behind the violent crime spree will spend the next 35 years in federal prison. Antonio Purisima, 25, of Baltimore, was sentenced to decades behind bars followed by five years of supervised release for his role in a string of armed carjackings in Maryland that culminated in a deadly shooting, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland announced. Federal prosecutors said the spree began in June 2022, when Purisima teamed up with…

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by Zak Failla
Laurel, MD
On Your Side
Her Next Chapter? Retirement: Laurel 'Book Worm' Wins $2M Scratch-Off Her Next Chapter? Retirement: Laurel 'Book Worm' Wins $2M Scratch-Off Her Next Chapter? Retirement: Laurel 'Book Worm' Wins $2M Scratch-Off
Her Next Chapter? Retirement: Laurel 'Book Worm' Wins $2M Scratch-Off Every good story needs a twist. For one Maryland "Book Worm," it came hiding beneath a scratch-off ticket worth $2 million. The Laurel woman, who asked to remain anonymous under the nickname "Book Worm," claimed the first of two $2 million top prizes on the Maryland Lottery's Diamonds & Gold scratch-off after what she thought would be an ordinary stop at a 7-Eleven on Baltimore Avenue. The longtime lottery player, a Washington, DC, native who has lived in Laurel for the past five years, makes weekly trips to buy Pick 3, Pick 4 and scratch-off tickets before heading home to her latest b…

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by Zak Failla
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