POLICE WARN D.C. JUDGE OF 'HEX'

D.C. police believe that a human skull found inside a Northwest Washington
house during a drug raid was being used to put a hex on a D.C. Superior
Court judge, and they have alerted the U.S. Marshals Service, authorities said.

The name of the judge, which police would not release, was found on a note
inside the skull during the raid Thursday night. Police have asked the
Marshals Service, which provides protection for judges in the District, to
inform the judge.

"We're treating it as a legitimate threat," said Assistant Chief Ronald C.
Monroe. "We believe the judge may have rendered some kind of ruling that
they didn't particularly like."

John Sterling, a suspected drug dealer, was arrested in the raid.

Police are not sure who participated in the suspected ritual, but they are
trying to find them to learn of their intentions, Monroe said. "The primary
concern is the protection of the judge," he said. Marshals Service
officials could not be reached for comment on how security for the judge is
being handled.

"There was a request for extra security for a judge, which I approved,"
Rufus G. King III, chief judge of Superior Court, said yesterday. "But I
don't have any information on any particular case, or any other issue, that
this might be about."

King also declined to identify the judge.

Monroe said possession of a human skull, unless it is associated with foul
play, is not illegal. He said that the note inside the skull, naming the
judge, also is not necessarily illegal but that the investigation into
where the skull came from is continuing.

"Obviously it sat on someone's shoulders at one time," said Police Chief
Charles H. Ramsey. "The question is how it ended up in someone's house. We
really don't know what we have, quite frankly."

D.C. Chief Medical Examiner Jonathan L. Arden said the skull appears to be
old and was almost certainly used in some kind of religious ritual held in
the home's basement. Police said that the room was full of candles and that
a dead cat was found near the skull.

A skull used in a similarly ritualistic setting was discovered last year in
the District, Arden said, but it is unclear if there is any relation. He
said an anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution will examine the
skull to determine its age. "It's clear that this is not someone who died
recently," Arden said.

Monroe said there were no obvious traumatic markings on the skull to
indicate foul play. "It could be a skull from an anatomy class, for all we
know," he said.

Police, according to Monroe, are exploring the possibility that the ritual
performed in the home was Santeria, an Afro-Cuban faith that uses animals
for sacrifices. Santeria, once largely unknown in the metropolitan area,
venerates saints and incorporates a belief in divination, spirit possession
and the sacrifice of animals to appease the gods.

The raided home, a two-story row house, is in the 3000 block of 13th Street
NW. A resident of the neighborhood said he visited its dark basement about
a year ago and saw all the trappings of a ritual, including a seating area
surrounding an altar on which there were several candles and bizarre
pictures. He said he often saw people slip in the front door and head
straight for the basement.

D.C. police Inspector Hilton Burton, of the Major Narcotics Strike Force,
which executed a search warrant on the home, said a dead cat was found next
to the altar. It was unclear if the cat was killed or if it was used in any
ceremony, he said. The neighborhood resident, who spoke on the condition
that he not be identified, said the landlord's cat has been missing for
about a month.

Burton said a tipster told police that Sterling, 46, manufactured and
stored drugs, including crack and powder cocaine. The tipster also told
police that Sterling lived in the 13th Street NW row house, according to
the arrest warrant.

Police searched the home and found cocaine, marijuana and about $3,000 in
Sterling's possession. He was charged with possession with the intent to
distribute cocaine and marijuana and is expected to be arraigned this week,
said a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.

Staff writers Neely Tucker and Martin Weil contributed to this report.