BERLIN – Three Mardela Springs men are in custody this week after conspiring to rob a cashier at knifepoint at the Wal-Mart in Berlin late Monday night.
Shortly after 11 p.m. on Monday, Maryland State Police from the Berlin barrack responded to a reported armed robbery at the Wal-Mart on Route 50. One of the suspects, Stacey Zalary Omar Brown, 20, of Mardela Springs was apprehended Monday night after a wild high-speed chase across northern Worcester County, while the other two suspects, Lorenzo Laden Buggs, 20, and Eugene Oronald Stewart III, 19, both of Mardela Springs, were taken into custody on Tuesday.
The investigation revealed the three suspects drove to the Wal-Mart with the intention of robbing it. Brown reportedly waited in the car, a green Honda Accord, while Buggs and Stewart went inside. According to police reports, Stewart made a purchase at a cash register and Buggs followed immediately behind and pointed a knife at the cashier.
The cashier surrendered the money in the drawer and the suspects fled the store. They reportedly got back into the Honda Accord. Witnesses called the state police with a description of the vehicle involved and the direction it headed, and one private citizen followed behind in an effort to keep the suspect vehicle in sight before losing sight of it near the Maryland/Delaware line as various law enforcement agencies converged on the area.
A Worcester County Sheriff’s Deputy located the suspect’s vehicle as it turned first on Route 610 before heading west on Route 346 at a high rate of speed. The deputy lost sight of the vehicle when it turned off its headlights while traveling an estimated 130 miles per hour. The vehicle eventually ran out of gas and came to rest in a private driveway in Willards in Wicomico County, and the suspects fled on foot.
A perimeter was established involving Maryland State Police from both the Berlin and Salisbury barracks, Worcester and Wicomico Sheriff’s Departments, MSP Aviation and Natural Resources Police. A short time later, one of the suspects, Brown, was apprehended by a Wicomico County sheriff’s deputy on the perimeter at Route 346 and Bent Pine Rd.
Stewart was arrested and questioned on Tuesday, and Buggs turned himself in at the state police barrack in Salisbury later on Tuesday. Buggs and Brown have been charged with armed robbery and felony theft. Brown is being held in the Worcester County Detention Center on a $250,000 bond, while Buggs had not seen a court commissioner as of mid-week. Charges are still pending against Stewart.