Third Wal-Mart Armed Robber Sentenced

SNOW HILL- The third of three suspects arrested in connection with an armed robbery of the Wal-Mart in Berlin in September pleaded guilty last week to theft conspiracy and was sentenced to three years in jail with all but 18 months suspended.

Stacy Zalary Omar Brown, 20, of Mardela Springs appeared in Circuit Court last Thursday to face charges for his part in an armed robbery at the Wal-Mart in Berlin in September. Brown pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft and was sentenced to three years in jail with all but 18 months suspended. He was also placed on probation for three years upon his release and fined $500.

Brown’s co-conspirators in the armed robbery, Lorenzo Buggs, 21, of Mardela Springs; and Eugene Stewart III, also of Mardela Springs, pleaded guilty earlier last week in Circuit Court and will also be spending 18 months in jail for their part in the robbery.

The incident began with a knife-point hold-up at the Wal-Mart on September 3 and included a high speed chase across northern Worcester County before the getaway car ran out of gas on a country road in Wicomico County. 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 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, Brown was apprehended by a Wicomico County sheriff’s deputy on the perimeter at Route 346 and Bent Pine Rd.