OCEAN CITY – A Gaithersburg, Md. man is in custody this week after his arrest in Ocean City late last week for stealing a car and other property from a female soldier serving in Iraq.
Last Thursday, Ocean City Police were contacted by several motel clerks throughout the resort complaining a suspicious man was entering the properties and asking for a free room. The last call the OCPD received came from the Hilton on 32nd Street, and when police responded, they observed a man sitting in a 2003 Mitsubishi Gallant in the hotel parking lot.
When officers approached the vehicle, the driver attempted to flee the area in the car when OCPD Ofc. Mark Wolinsky yelled to the driver to stop the car, which he did. The driver, Thomas Taylor, 43, of Gaithersburg, was extremely intoxicated and became very uncooperative. When the OCPD ran a computer check on Taylor and the vehicle, it was determined that the suspect’s driver’s license was revoked and the vehicle had been reported stolen from the Washington, D.C. area.
Wolinsky then spoke with the owner’s boyfriend, who told the officer his girlfriend was in the military serving in Iraq. The victim told police their home in the Washington, D.C. area was recently burglarized and the suspect stole jewelry and the keys to the car, which was also taken.
The officer then located the stolen jewelry in the car and the vehicle was impounded for safekeeping. Once Taylor was arrested, he began fighting with the booking officers at police headquarters. He was charged with auto theft, felony theft, second-degree assault, DUI and driving while revoked. He is being held on a $75,000 bond.
See Friday’s print and website editions of The Dispatch for the complete story and all of this week’s local news.