Still, the actor grew impatient when the legal process seemed to stall. Months after Chambers was charged, there were no hearings scheduled, so in an email to City Desk in November, Penn referred to the mugging case as going "absurdly slow." (The U.S. Attorney's office, however, pointed out that it had missed no deadlines and was "well within legal timelines.") The pace picked up in February, when Chambers received a seven-count indictment.

A few weeks ago, Chambers pleaded guilty to two charges—robbery and possession of a firearm during a violent crime.

It had already come out that Chambers had used Penn's credit card and iPhone (that's how cops tracked him). But the indictment added a sad layer to the story. Not too long after the robbery, Chambers allegedly used the credit card to buy gas, groceries, and a meal at McDonald's. The detail seems to reveal that Chambers was more desperate for money than he was interested in holding up a celebrity. A call to Chambers' lawyer wasn't immediately returned.

Chambers' plea agreement says he could face up to 48 months in prison. He's scheduled to be sentenced on June 7.

Penn didn't respond to a request for comment.

Photo by SAITOR via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0

Penn, who was working for the Obama administration as a staffer until he quit in April to film another Harold and Kumar flick, earned himself some D.C. street cred when he was robbed at gunpoint later that month. The White House recently announced he'd be returning to the Office of Public Engagement as an associate director.

But is Penn glad to be back? He was sauntering the 1500 block of S Street NW at around 1:30 a.m. one night last spring, when, according to a police report, he was stripped of his valuables, including a BlackBerry and iPhone. City Desk asked him about the mugging via e-mail, and the celebrity shot back a message that indicated he couldn't talk about it. But he also seemed a little frustrated. "In terms of the robbery, my understanding is that since it’s an ongoing (albeit absurdly slow) investigation, I can’t comment on anything related to it at the moment," Penn wrote.

The "absurdly slow" investigation Penn is lamenting is being handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office. In June, City Desk has discovered, the Metropolitan Police Department arrested Marcellus Chambers for the mugging.

According to an arrest warrant,  the alleged stick-up man used Penn's bank card at "numerous locations along the Georgia Ave. NW corridor approximately an hour after the robbery." At one of those locations Chambers was caught on video. His license plate was also captured.

Later, cops tracked a signal from Penn's stolen iPhone to the "area of Warder and Otis Streets NW." But "due to a weak signal," they were unable to pinpoint the phone's exact location. It was in the proximity of Chambers' address in the 700 block of Quincy Street NW, however. Responding to a disorderly conduct call on that block several days later, cops happened upon Chambers, who was sitting in a Toyota Camry. They busted him.

About a month later, Penn was asked to identify Chambers in a photo array. But he couldn't be sure Chambers was the guy. "After viewing the array C1 stated, number 4 resembles the person who robbed me, without 100% certain[t]y," the MPD report says.

Arrested for robbery while armed, Chambers has been released on high-intensity supervision. No word yet on whether Penn ever got his iPhone back.

Update: U.S. Attorney's Office spokesperson William Miller says he declines comment on the specifics of the case because it remains pending and the investigation is continuing, but says his office "has missed no deadlines and is well within legal timelines."

Photo by SAITOR, Creative Commons Attribution License

That's according to the official police report of the incident, obtained by City Desk.

Another tidbit you might not already know about Penn's hugely publicized mugging back on April 20:  the actor, 33, whom the report identifies by his given name, Kalpen Suresh Modi, not only handed over his iPhone and Blackberry (one reportedly owned by the U.S. government), $180 in cash, three credit/debit cards, his D.C. driver's license, and his federal I.D. card. He also relinquished a personal item listed under "purse, briefcase, wallet, backpack," bearing the label "Roots," which cops further described as black in color and made of "cloth & velcro."

City Desk presumes police are referring to "Canada’s leading lifestyle brand."

The investigation is ongoing.

Photo by SAITOR, Creative Commons Attribution License

You just killed your sixth PBR
And surely you can't drive a car
A bike's your resort?
Heck no, says the Court
You might as well sleep at the bar

The Council made up for lost time
By voting that weed ain't a crime
Get in on the icky
By being a sickie
(No love for you folks in your prime)

And speaking of lives that are charmed
Don't worry! Kal Penn wasn't harmed!
The star of the Castle
Was given a hassle
By some dude who's stupid, but armed

The House bill's untimely demise
Struck many as quite the surprise
The gun-control laws
Got stuck in the jaws
Of serious N.R.A. guys

"The Metropolitan Police Department is the lead investigative agency handling the robbery," writes Lt. Nicholas Breul in an email. "The U.S. Secret Service is aware of the investigation, but the D.C. Detectives are following up on the case."

Breul described the feds' role as "monitoring ...but MPD is conducting the investigation and following any leads."

Penn, star of the Harold & Kumar movie franchise, was accosted yesterday morning in the 1500 block of S Street NW.

According to TMZ.com, "the bad guy didn't just take Penn's wallet, the perp also made off with Kal's two cell phones – one of which belongs to the U.S. government."

Adam Eidinger, for one, thinks it's all a bad trip. The former Green Party candidate for Shadow Senator Representative and co-founder of Capitol Hemp says city lawmakers really need to chill out. "They're rushing it through!" Eidinger told attendees last night at the hemp shop's two-year anniversary party at the Rock & Roll Hotel on H Street NE. If the Washington Post supports the bill, Eidinger says, "you just know there's something wrong with it."

Coinciding with "National Weed Day," the hemp event and City Council vote also came on the same day that actor Kal Penn, star of the Harold & Kumar stoner-flick franchise, was reportedly robbed at gunpoint in the District. Harsh!

Somewhere amid the fog of last night's party, a guy I never met graciously passed me a small round object with a wink and a nod. What am I supposed to do with it? I asked him. Eat it?

"It's a button, dude," he says.

Oh.

Turns out, the guy's just promoting the evening's performers, reggae duo Nappy Riddem.

Upstairs, in the VIP area, a bartender hips me to the hemp crowd's big issue with the new legislation, the set limit on personal possession–just two ounces per month! That's simply not enough for some people, she says.

An array of fancy glass bongs displayed along the bar were being auctioned off throughout the evening. The bidding was up to $436 for one pipe in particular.

"I can't smoke out of these anymore," one guy tells me. "Tastes like wood." He prefers the more watery flavors of a vaporizer, he says. The bartender concurs.

Our conversation quickly turned to the new legislation, which vapor guy also has issues with, although he says, if it passes, he hopes to get in on the product's distribution.

He goes on to tell me about some mythical stoner mecca in West Virginia. "If you like disc golf, it's the place to be," he says.

He even gives me directions: "Go to Berkeley Springs, take a right at 7-11 and drive 30 miles..."

The scenery can't be beat. "It's the darkest place in the United States," he says. "You see every star in the sky."

Wake up, Metro. It's morning time! Also: Two of your employees are telling WJLA-TV that they not only knew about the circuit problem that likely caused the June 22 crash five days before it happened, but that they reported the problem to their supervisors. This seemingly contradicts GM John Catoe's statement yesterday, in which he assured the public the circuit's intermittent inability to detect trains on tracks was "not an issue that would have been easily detectable to controllers in our operations control center." Metro had no comment on the unnamed technicians' allegations, citing the ongoing investigation.

In case you missed it: City Desk reported last night that one of the crash victims' families lawyered up with local institution the Cochran Firm, which won the business over another firm based, partially, on its willingness to file suit before the investigation's over. Attorney David Haynes called today to correct my mistake. The family of Veronica DuBose actually has two law firms lined up, one from Florida already familiar to the family, as well as the Cochran Firm, which was brought in as lead counsel by the Florida lawyers. Haynes also notes that his firm is representing five people injured in the crash.

City Paper's fresh online and in the stands. Of note: Carman on Breadline's closing and reopening, Graham on The Year of Magical Thinking, Olszewski on the new Transformers, Leitko on Meow vs. Meow, and West on the theory of everything.

Elsewhere in D.C. Blogolands:

* Borderstan's reporting that actor and Obama up-and-comer Kal Penn, better known as Kumar going to the White Castle, is moving into the neighborhood. But no dice on exactly where.

* Molly, the pure-bred Viszla brazenly stolen from in front of the Whole Foods in Logan Circle, is still lost. Bloggers are on it.

* Congress Heights on the Rise has some news found newsworthy by the Examiner: Congress Heights is NOT Anacostia.

* We Love DC chimes in on the Caps signing winger Mike Knuble away from the Flyers. The Post says he'll be the net presence we lack. We're comin' for you, Pittsburgh. Grrrrr!

Photograph by City Paper Staff Photographer Darrow Montgomery

Read more about Penn's role — and his shocking House death! — in his EW interview.