SNOW HILL — A Berlin man, called a “one-man crime wave,” was sentenced to 20 years in prison this week for several burglaries throughout northern Worcester County in late May and early June as well as an assault on a U.S. Marshal in an Ocean Pines fast-food restaurant after a major manhunt.
Orion Christopher Conway, 24, of Berlin, appeared in Worcester County Circuit Court on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to multiple counts of burglary and theft, along with second-degree assault on a law enforcement officer. Despite the state seeking a combined 11 years, including eight for first-degree burglary and three for the assault, Judge Thomas C. Groton called Conway a “one-man crime wave” and sentenced the defendant to a series of 20- and 15-year sentences for the various counts to which he pleaded guilty, resulting in a 20-year concurrent sentence. He was also forced to pay thousands of dollars in restitution to the victims on his multiple crimes.
Conway’s spree began in late May when he broke into a store and stole over $5,500 in tools. Some of the stolen tools were later recovered after being pawned in Salisbury and were returned to the owner. Roughly $1,000 in damage was caused during the break-in. In another case connected to Conway, sometime around June 3, a West Ocean City sportfishing boat owner noticed two large brass propellers had been stolen from his vessel. The investigation revealed Conway had stolen the propellers and sold them for scrap. The propellers were recovered and returned to the owner.
On June 14, Conway burglarized a residence on Boston Drive and stole a 40-inch television valued at $1,500. In another incident on Raft Rd., a 60-inch television valued at $1,100 was stolen and sold to a West Ocean City computer store. Sometime between June 9 and June 14, a residence on Quarterstaff Place was burglarized and a 47-inch television and cable box was stolen from the living room and another 32-inch television was stolen from a bedroom.
In a separate case attributed to Conway, on June 1, a residence on Brandywine Drive was burglarized. The suspect entered through a sun room and stole multiple pieces of jewelry, which was tracked to a pawn shop, but had been already melted down and could not be returned to the owners.
As the break-in continued and Conway was developed as the main suspect, multiple law enforcement agencies stepped up search efforts. On June 6, allied law enforcement agencies determined Conway was in the Berlin area. Berlin Police briefly made contact with Conway at a residence on William Street, but he was able to evade officers and flee the scene. Berlin Police, with the help of K-9 units on the ground and Maryland State Police Aviation in the sky, searched for Conway in the early morning hours on June 7 in Berlin.
Overnight on Saturday, June 7, law enforcement issued press releases and pictures of the suspect to area media, including The Dispatch, which posted the information on its website and Facebook page. At some point, the next day, Conway contacted The Dispatch and asked that his picture be taken down. The Dispatch contacted local law enforcement about the connection with Conway through Facebook via a cellphone connection.
Authorities told the newspaper they believed he was in the Ocean Pines area. On Tuesday, June 10, multiple agencies, including an MSP helicopter, swarmed around the area of the Ocean Pines Library and community pool near the South Gate after Conway had been spotted.
Conway avoided capture near South Ocean Pines, but was tracked across Route 589 near the McDonalds, which is when the assault on an officer occurred. A U.S. Marshal spotted Conway at McDonalds and shouted “stop, police,” but Conway ran toward the officer and choked him before striking him with a closed fist. The U.S. Marshal ultimately used a Taser to bring Conway into compliance.
During the plea hearing on Tuesday, Conway’s attorney E. Scott Collins told Groton his client had a serious heroin addiction during the June crime spree and the crimes were committed to feed that addiction. Collins said Conway was recovering and had a family support system in place, urging the judge to go along with the state’s recommended eight-year sentence for the burglaries and three-year sentence for the second-degree assault on the officer.
However, while acknowledging Conway’s addiction to heroin, Groton pointed to the depth of Conway’s crime spree and his prior record before handing down his sentence.
“Unfortunately, the victims will probably never see restitutions from this,” he said. “You were a one-man crime wave. You went through the county and broke into any house you wanted to. Why should I use you as an example as someone entitled to leniency?”
Groton sentenced Conway to 20 years for each of the first-degree burglary counts to be served concurrently, and also 15 years for the assault on the officer, also to be served concurrently. He also ordered over $12,000 in restitution to be paid to the various victims.