BERLIN – Local law enforcement officials this week are looking for a man wanted in connection with an attempted shooting outside a Berlin service club in late March.
Last Friday, Berlin police officers, assisted by the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office criminal enforcement team, executed a search-and-seizure warrant at a residence at the Homes of Berlin I apartments. The search focused on a firearm used in an incident outside the American Legion on Showell Street in Berlin back on March 26.
During the incident, a suspect, now identified as Gary Lee Dupont, Jr., 19, of no known address, allegedly fired two shots from a handgun at a victim. Warrants for Dupont’s arrest are on file with the Berlin Police Department for attempted second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and handgun in use during a crime of violence.
The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information regarding the location of the suspect is urged to call the Berlin Police Department at 410-641-1333. Dupont should not be approached and is considered armed and dangerous.
Shovel Attack In Berlin
BERLIN – A Berlin man was arrested this week on assault and other serious charges after allegedly attacking another man outside his residence with a shovel and injuring two other victims.
Around 1:30 a.m. on Monday, Berlin Police responded to a residence on Washington Street for a reported assault. Upon arrival, police officers met with a male victim who told them several minutes earlier, a suspect, identified as Benjamin M. Kelleher, 19, had come out of his residence and attacked him with a shovel.
The victim told police Kelleher struck him in the hands, arms and back with a flat head shovel roughly five feet in length with a wooden handle and a metal head. Police recovered the shovel nearby with blood spatters on the head. The officers observed bleeding lacerations on the victim’s hands and arms, along with welts on his back consistent with being struck by a flat head shovel.
The victim also showed police where Kelleher allegedly struck the victim’s car with a hammer, smashing the windshield and causing under $500 in damage. According to police reports, Kelleher was hosting a party that night and for reasons unknown to authorities allegedly swung the shovel at the victim’s head with the intent of striking it. The victim’s injuries to his wrists and arms were also consistent with putting them up in a defensive position to avoid being struck in the head.
Further investigation revealed that prior to the assault on the victim outside the home, Kelleher allegedly assaulted a male and female by tackling them inside the residence. The male victim said the attack inside was unprovoked.
Kelleher was charged with one count of first-degree assault, three counts of second-degree assault, carrying a dangerous weapon with intent to injure, reckless endangerment and malicious destruction of property. He was taken before a District Court Commissioner and was ordered held on a $10,000 bond. He remained behind bars as of mid-week.
Snow Hill Burglary
Suspect Convicted
SNOW HILL – A Salisbury man arrested last November along with another man after breaking into a Snow Hill residence and stealing jewelry and guns, some of which was allegedly pawned to buy crack cocaine, pleaded guilty this week in Circuit Court to theft and was sentenced to four years in jail, all but one year of which was suspended in favor of probation and fines.
Alvin Church, Jr., 21, appeared in Circuit Court on Tuesday to face several charges related to a break-in in Snow Hill in November. Church pleaded guilty to theft from $1,000 to $10,000 and was sentenced to four years in jail. All of the sentence but one year was then suspended and Church was placed on probation for two years and fined $500. He was also ordered to pay his share of $4,000 in restitution owed to the victims.
On Nov. 11, 2009, Worcester County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a residence on Pennewell Rd. in Snow Hill for a reported burglary. The victim told police he and his wife had come home from work and found an inside cat in the driveway and knew something was suspicious. The victims then found a back door to their residence had been kicked in and several items were missing.
Initially, the victims found a children’s wallet on the floor missing the $60 cash that had been in it. Also missing was a child’s piggy bank that contained around $40 in change. The victim then went into a room where he stored firearms and found four guns had been stolen including two .22 caliber rifles, a 30.06 rifle and a double-barreled shotgun. The victim’s wife went into her room and found her jewelry box, which contained nearly $3,000 in jewelry, was also missing.
Detectives began interviewing neighbors to determine if they saw or heard anything unusual, but the interviews proved fruitless. Detectives then went to the residence of a new couple that had moved into the neighborhood just three weeks earlier.
They interviewed a woman at the residence who said her live-in boyfriend, identified as Kenneth Glenn Evans, 32, of Snow Hill, had gone to Salisbury earlier in the day with a man she knew only as “Al.” Al was later identified as Church.
The woman said Evans and Church returned about an hour later and said they would be right back. A short time later, the woman said she saw the two men running along the west side of their trailer to the rear of the residence. According to the witness, Evans was carrying handfuls of jewelry and Church was carrying weapons when they entered the residence. They then left the residence with the presumably stolen goods and went into the woods behind their trailer.
The female witness said Evans and Church then told her they were going back to Salisbury. According to the witness, the two men returned about an hours later with crack cocaine. According to police reports, Evans told his live-in girlfriend they had pawned some of the jewelry in Salisbury in order to buy the cocaine.
Detectives searched the woods behind the suspect’s trailer and found two of the rifles and an empty jewelry box. In March, Evans pleaded guilty to theft over $1,000 but under $10,000. He was sentenced to eight years in jail and was ordered to pay his share of $4,000 in restitution to the victims.
Wild Scooter Theft Nets Jail Time
OCEAN CITY – A New Jersey man arrested last summer on several charges including theft, malicious destruction of property and driving under the influence after a wild sequence events that began with dining and dashing, stealing an employee’s scooter and later running over it repeatedly pleaded guilty last week in District Court to felony theft and was sentenced to a year in jail and was ordered to pay thousands of dollars in restitution to the victim.
Around 9 p.m. on Aug. 30, 2009, OCPD officers responded to the American Legion on 23rd Street for a reported hit-and-run that had just occurred. The officers met with witnesses who said a dark-colored Chevy Trailblazer with yellow-colored tags backed over a motor scooter in the parking lot. The witnesses told police the three occupants of the vehicle got out and fled the scene on foot after backing over an object, but the driver, later identified as Ricaldo Camacho, 24, of South River, N.J., got back in the vehicle and began to drive around the parking lot in an effort to dislodge the scooter from underneath the truck.
During this process, the truck repeatedly ran over the scooter before it became dislodged. The other occupants than returned to the scene and bent the license plate, which witnesses said was yellow in color, so that it could not easily be read. While officers were on the scene investigating the hit-and-run on the scooter, they received a call about an unruly bunch at a shopping center on 18th Street in a Chevy Trailblazer with New Jersey tags, the yellow with black writing variety.
OCPD officers responded to the 18th Street shopping center and saw the Chevy matching the description with Camacho behind the wheel. The front and rear of the truck were damaged with the front and rear bumper nearly ripped off the vehicle. An OCPD officer approached Camacho, who turned off the vehicle and placed the keys on the dashboard when he saw the officer approach.
All three occupants were asked to step from the vehicle and exhibited signs of intoxication upon exiting the truck. Camacho was taken into custody on suspicion of driving under the influence while police sorted out the other events leading up to that point.
Meanwhile, a manager at Fish Tales reported his scooter had been stolen outside of the restaurant and bar. The Fish Tales manager was brought to the American Legion on 23rd Street and identified the scooter that had been run over in the hit-and-run incident as his. Other officers reviewed surveillance tapes from Fish Tales and observed Camacho and the other two men with him loading the scooter into the back of the Trailblazer. It was also learned that Camacho and his associates had walked out on a check totaling nearly $50 before stealing the manager’s scooter and fleeing the scene.
The witnesses from the American Legion were then brought to the shopping center at 18th Street where they identified Camacho as the driver that fled the scene of the hit-and-run and the Trailblazer as the vehicle involved in the hit-and-run over the scooter. Camacho was charged with driving under the influence, two counts of theft and malicious destruction of property.
Last week in District Court, Camacho pleaded guilty to felony theft over $500 and was sentenced to a year in jail with all but 11 months suspended. He was also placed on probation for three years and was ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution to the victim.
Charges Dropped In
Loaded Rifle Case
SNOW HILL – A Snow Hill man arrested last November on assault charges after allegedly pointing a loaded rifle at another man during a dispute had the charges against him dropped this week in Worcester County Circuit Court.
Around 5 p.m. on Nov. 29, 2009, Worcester County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a residence on Snow Hill Rd. in reference to a reported assault with a rifle. Upon arrival, deputies met with the victim who told police he had been in a verbal argument with another man later identified as Juan Terrones Castillo, 64, of Snow Hill.
During the course of the argument, Castillo allegedly pointed a loaded rifle at the victim and threatened him. Castillo was arrested and charged with first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment. A 30-30 rifle was recovered from Castillo at the scene. On Monday in Circuit Court, the charges against Castillo were nolle prossed, or not prosecuted.
Armed Robber Violates Probation
SNOW HILL – A Baltimore man, arrested in August 2008 along with two other suspects on armed robbery and other serious charges stemming from an incident weeks earlier when they bound and gagged a man in an Ocean City motel room during an apparent drug deal gone bad, was back in Worcester County Circuit Court this week for violating his probation and was sent back to jail.
Joseph Martin Butler, now 18, appeared in Circuit Court on Tuesday for a violation of probation hearing. He was found guilty of second-degree assault and was sentenced to two years in jail with all but two months suspended. He was also placed on probation for two years and fined $500. Butler was also ordered to continue to pay his share of over $5,000 in restitution to the victim.
On July 15, 2008, Ocean City police responded to a room at the Dunes Motel for a reported armed robbery and serious assault that had taken place. When they arrived on the scene, the officers found an adult male victim with several serious injuries. The victim was able to tell police a sordid tale about the events leading up to his attack.
The victim told police he met several individuals on the Boardwalk earlier in the evening and agreed to meet them later at his motel room. Some time later in the evening, the victim got a telephone call from one of the individuals instructing him to come down and meet them in the parking lot. The victim told police he went down to the parking lot and met with one of the individuals he had met earlier in the evening and the pair went back up to his room.
Once in the motel room, two other suspects arrived and at that point, the three men attacked the victim and bound and gagged him. The victim told police the three men continued to beat him as they ransacked the room looking for money and valuables. At one point, one of the men smashed a beer bottle over the victim’s head. During the attack, the suspects discussed killing the victim, according to police reports on the incident.
After the suspects left the room, the victim was able to free himself and contact the police. The victim later told police he met the three individuals earlier in the evening in downtown Ocean City to negotiate an illegal drug transaction. The victim further told police he believed the three men had come to his motel room to complete the transaction.
Throughout the end of July and into the first week of August, OCPD detectives investigating the case traveled several times to Baltimore. Working in conjunction with the Baltimore Police Department, the Southwest District and the Baltimore City Police Violent Fugitive Task Force, OCPD detectives were able to identify the three suspects involved in the incident in an Ocean City motel room including Butler, Marcus Lennon, 18 of Baltimore, and Angelo Dante Moore, Jr., also of Baltimore.