Cop Spitter Sentenced
OCEAN CITY – An Ocean City man arrested on assault and other serious charges last month after spitting in the faces of several resort police officers pleaded guilty last week in Circuit Court to second-degree assault and was sentenced to one year in jail with 11 months suspended and credit for 31 days already served, resulting in no new jail time.
Shortly after midnight on Sept. 7, an OCPD officer on patrol in the area of 28th Street observed three individuals walking east on Robin Drive, one of whom was loudly yelling profanities. As the group neared the Pizza Hut on the corner, the yeller, later identified as Matthew Edward Severe, 18, of Ocean City, screamed at another group of five people on the opposite side of the street, “who the [expletive deleted] are you?” and “I live here.”
Severe approached the other group and directed his aggression at one man in particular. He approached the man and swung at him with a closed fist, but he missed and the momentum of the swing caused him to fall on the ground. Police interceded at that point and attempted to take Severe into custody.
One officer grabbed his arm and attempted to get Severe to lie on his stomach so he could be cuffed, but Severe rolled back, trapping the officer’s legs under his body. Severe swung wildly at the officer, but missed him. Other officers got involved and attempted to get Severe under control, but he refused to comply. After an officer hit Severe with a knee strike to the side, Severe swung at that officer, missing him but ripping the badge off his jacket.
Severe was eventually taken into custody, but his assault on the officers did not stop. While he was being arrested, Severe allegedly looked right into the eyes of one officer and spat in his face. Due to Severe’s combative behavior, he was placed in a violent person restraining device, but that did not stop his escapades, according to reports on the incident.
While he was being loaded into a transport van, he looked into the eyes of the original officer on the scene and spat into his face. He was ultimately charged with three counts of second-degree assault, disorderly conduct, malicious destruction of property and resisting arrest. Last week in court, Severe pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree assault and was sentenced to one year in jail with all suspended but one month, for which he was given credit for time already served. He was also placed on probation for a year and fined $500.
Jail Time In Father,
Daughter Party Case
SNOW HILL – A Pennsylvania man arrested in April on several charges including assault, burglary and indecent exposure after a wild night of partying in an uptown Ocean City hotel with his 16-year-old daughter pleaded guilty last week in Circuit Court to second-degree assault and was sentenced to 45 days in jail with all but two suspended.
On April 26, OCPD officers were dispatched to the second floor of the Fenwick Inn in uptown Ocean City to assist on a 911 call for a young female found on the floor in a semi-conscious state and vomiting. While en route to the hotel, the officers received another report about the 16-year-old girl’s father, later identified as Larry L. Smith, 44, of Stevens, Pa., fighting with hotel guests.
The officers arrived and responded to the second floor where they observed the 16-year-old girl lying on her back in the hallway in a large pool of vomit. The officers also observed Smith flailing and swinging his arms around at other hotel guests who were attempting to help the girl because they believed she was choking on her own vomit.
At that point, Smith lied down on top of his daughter and refused to get up while continuing to scream profanities. The girl was breathing but was unresponsive, despite the paramedics shaking her and shouting her name. The officers were eventually able to get Smith off of his daughter and began to question the obviously intoxicated suspect. Smith allegedly told police he was staying on the seventh floor and had come down to the second floor to look for his daughter, whom he found passed out on the floor. He then called 911. Smith told police at the time he did not know where his daughter obtained alcohol.
Meanwhile, the officers were approached by as many as 10 other hotel guests who advised they had seen Smith and his daughter drinking together in the hotel all night prior to the officers’ arrival. One witness said he saw Smith and his daughter hours earlier wandering the halls handing out beers. The father and daughter were drinking beer and other alcohol for hours and became more and more belligerent the more they drank.
Another witness told police the father and daughter were roaming the halls and knocking on doors looking for people to party with. Yet another witness told police he was a lifeguard and tried to help the debilitated daughter when Smith attacked him and told him to stay away from her.
Another witness said she was in the bathroom of her hotel room when she heard a knock on the bathroom door. Smith allegedly stood in the doorway with his pants down and holding his private parts yelling, “I have to pee,” over and over. Smith barged in and used the victim’s bathroom to relieve himself.
In the meantime, Smith’s daughter had passed out in the hallway on the second floor and was lying in a pool of vomit, causing witnesses to call 911. When Smith heard the police and EMS were on their way, he pushed through the crowd of people tending to the girl and attempted to pick her up and carry her away. However, a group of as many as 15 hotel guests stopped Smith from removing the girl before police and medical assistance arrived.
While police questioned Smith before a large group of witnesses, he became more and more belligerent and continued to scream profanities, according to police reports. At that point, another young girl, later identified as Smith’s other daughter, a 14-year-old, attempted to calm down her father, but Smith swung a backhand in her direction, striking her and knocking her back a few steps.
At that point, OCPD police attempted to take Smith into custody, but he continued to resist. After pinning Smith against the wall near the elevators and subduing him with knee strikes, the officers were able to get the suspect under control although he still continued to scream profanities and struggle. Smith was charged with second-degree assault, fourth-degree burglary, indecent exposure, reckless endangerment, providing alcohol to a minor, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Last week in Circuit Court, Smith pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and was sentenced to 45 days in jail, of which 43 were suspended leaving him a net two days to spend in jail. Smith was fined $500 for that charge and additional $300 for furnishing alcohol to a minor. He was also placed on probation for two years.
Split Verdicts In
Boardwalk Robbery Case
SNOW HILL – Two Fairfax, Va. men arrested in June on assault and theft charges after allegedly pulling a knife on their victims during a Boardwalk robbery appeared in court last week and ended with two very different results.
On June 6, an OCPD officer on routine patrol responded to a reported knife-point robbery in the area of 2nd Street and Baltimore Ave. As the officer approached the scene, he encountered a man later identified as Steven Moyers running down Baltimore Ave., who said two male suspects had just robbed his brother and were running down Wilmington Lane.
The officer then discovered two suspects running through a hotel parking lot and heard another man, later identified as Joshua Moyers, yelling, “That’s them. Get them. They robbed me.” The officer stopped one of the suspects, identified as Rodolfo Loayza Carreras, 23, of Fairfax, and stopped him at gunpoint at the bottom of a set of stairs.
The other suspect, identified as Jean Lovato, 29, also of Fairfax, ran up the stairs and disappeared into a unit, but the officer entered the open door of the unit and arrested Lovato at gunpoint without further incident. The Moyers brothers told police they were walking down the Boardwalk with Joshua Moyers’ girlfriend when they were approached by the suspects, who made sexual comments toward the female. A fight ensued during which Lovato allegedly grabbed a gold necklace from around Joshua Moyers’ neck.
When the victims pursued the suspects, Carreras allegedly pulled out a knife and began waving it at the brothers. Carreras allegedly waved the knife at them and threatened to kill the victims if they pursued them. They then took off down 2nd Street which is when the police arrived.
During the altercation, Joshua Moyers bloodied Lovato’s nose. A motel manager later told police he heard the three suspects yelling to each other to ditch the knife. Despite an extensive search, police were unable to recover the knife or the stolen necklace valued at $180. Carreras was arrested and charged with first-degree assault, while Lovato was charged with second-degree assault and theft.
Last week in Circuit Court, Carreras entered an Alford Plea to second-degree assault and was sentenced to 129 days in jail. He was given credit for the 129 days he already served, netting him no additional jail time. Meanwhile, Lovato appeared for a separate trial and had the charges against him placed on the stet, or inactive, docket.
One Of Two Arrested In
Robbery Spree Found Guilty
SNOW HILL – A Pennsylvania man arrested last March in connection with a string of burglaries in an Ocean City trailer park pleaded guilty last week in Worcester County Circuit Court to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and was sentenced to 217 days in jail, or exactly the number of days he spent in custody awaiting trial.
On March 4, OCPD officers responded to the Isle of Wight Trailer Park near 24th Street in reference to a burglary. Initially, the officers believed they were responding to a single burglary, but a thorough search of the entire trailer park revealed an additional 14 trailers had been burglarized. Numerous items were removed from the burglarized residences including televisions, DVD players and a vacuum.
OCPD’s Forensic Services Unit gathered evidence and were able to connect the crimes to a pair of individuals who were visiting Ocean City for the weekend. The suspects were identified as Stavros Dennis Kominos, 21, of Ocean City, and Adam Woodson Queen, 21, of Bethel Park, Pa. Both men are facing over 34 counts of burglary.
Queen was arrested and charged with a litany of serious offenses. Last week, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree burglary and was sentenced to 217 days in jail. Meanwhile, Kominos was never found and a warrant for his arrest remains active. At the time of the crimes, it was believed Kominos was living in Florida.
Probation For Cop Car Crasher
OCEAN CITY – A North Carolina man arrested in August on drunk driving and other charges after the vehicle he was driving crashed into the back of an OCPD police cruiser, forcing it into the back of another cop car, pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol this week in District Court in Ocean City and was placed on probation and fined $500.
Two OCPD officers were injured in August when one of their marked police cruisers was struck from behind by an alleged drunk driver, forcing the vehicle into another cop car in front of it. Around 2:40 a.m. on Aug. 23, two marked OCPD cars were stopped one behind the other in the turn lane on the northbound side of Coastal Highway at 48th Street when an Infiniti G37 driven by Ferris Edmund Hickey IV, 34, of Cary, N.C., failed to stop and ran into the back of the police car in front of it. The force of the collision caused the struck police car to crash into the back of the other police car in front of it.
OCPD Officers Leon Lacy and Justin Hoban, who were operating the struck police cars, immediately got out of their vehicles to check on Hickey, who had just struck them. OCPD Traffic Safety Units responded to the scene and Lacy and Hoban were transported to AGH where they were treated for minor injuries and released.
OCPD traffic safety officers suspected Hickey may have been intoxicated and administered several field sobriety tests, which the suspect failed to complete successfully. Hickey agreed to take a breath test, which resulted in a blood-alcohol content of .16, or twice the legal limit in Maryland.
As a result, Hickey was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, DUI per se, driving while impaired, failure to control speed to avoid a collision, and negligent driving. This week in District Court, Hickey pleaded guilty to driving under the influence per se and was granted probation before judgment. He was also fined $500 plus court costs.
Self-Proclaimed ‘Nazi’
Headed To Circuit Court
OCEAN CITY – A Cambridge man who abandoned his vehicle in the middle of Coastal Highway in July and later told police he was a Nazi and threatened to kill them when he was released had his case forwarded from District Court to Circuit Court last week.
The bizarre story unfolded shortly after 3 a.m. on July 26 when an Ocean City police officer on traffic patrol spotted a shirtless man running from a vehicle left abandoned in the middle of the turn lane on Coastal Highway at 62nd Street. The vehicle was sitting stationary in the turn lane on a green turn signal with other cars backed up behind it. Three witnesses on the sidewalk pointed the officer in the direction of the suspect, later identified as Nelson M. Hoover, 47, of East New Market, Md.
The officer turned around and observed Hoover now on Route 90 climbing over the concrete divider between the east and westbound lanes. By now, Hoover had entered the marsh on the south side of the bridge. Police learned the vehicle may have been involved in a hit-and-run accident earlier and a perimeter was set up around the marsh area where Hoover was hiding.
Hoover refused to exit the marsh area and several officers were forced to go in and attempt to remove him. The officers were eventually able to remove Hoover from the marsh with the help of a K-9 unit. The initial officer made contact with Hoover, who appeared and smelled as if he was intoxicated. He allegedly admitted he had been drinking and that he couldn’t safely drive back to Cambridge and he was taken into custody.
The investigation revealed Hoover had a suspended and revoked driver’s license from Delaware. At that point, Hoover began to get violent, according to police reports, and told one of the officers he would punch him in the throat if he took the handcuffs off him. Hoover allegedly told the officers he was a member of an outlaw biker gang and asked them, “you ever put a bullet in a man? I have.”
Hoover then told police he was a Nazi and he has the power. He also said if they took the handcuffs off of him, he would show them who had the power, according to police reports.
According to police reports, Hoover told the booking officer he was going to remember his face and when he got out of jail, he was going to cut the officer’s throat. Hoover then told all of the officers in the area he was going to cut their throats when he got out, and stared at their faces and the nametags to remember them. Finally, Hoover had to be forcibly put into a cell.
Later, OCPD officers learned the vehicle Hoover had abandoned in the middle of Coastal Highway had been reported stolen from Cambridge and police there requested OCPD charge him with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle in addition to the charges resort police had compiled against him. Last week, Hoover asked for a jury trial and his case was forwarded to Circuit Court.
Boat Runs Aground
In Isle of Wight Bay
OCEAN CITY – A Pennsylvania man was charged with operating a vessel under the influence of alcohol last weekend after Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) discovered his boat run aground in the Isle of Wight Bay.
Around 7:15 p.m. last Saturday, NRP officers responded to an area in the Isle of Wight Bay after getting a report about a vessel that had run aground. Once in the area, the officers made contact with the boat’s operator, identified as William J. Connolly, 58, of Schwenksville, Pa., and after brief investigation determined Connolly was operating the vessel under the influence.
Connolly was transported to the Maryland State Police Barrack in Berlin where he was charged with operating a vessel under the influence of alcohol, operating a vessel while impaired and negligent operation of a vessel. He was released on his signature.