OCEAN CITY – A
Washington, D.C. man was arrested on first-degree assault charges last weekend
after allegedly smashing his stepfather in the face with a bottle during a
fight over keys to a truck.
Around 7:15 p.m. last
Saturday, an Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer on bike patrol in the
area of 8th Street was dispatched to a fight in progress nearby.
Upon arrival, the officer observed a man later identified as Henry Barroa, 37,
with severe lacerations under his right eye and his face covered in blood. The
victim explained his stepson, later identified as Alex Contreras, 20, of
Washington, D.C., had struck him in the face with a bottle, causing the two
severe lacerations under his eye.
The investigation revealed
the victim refused to give the keys to a truck to another stepson, resulting in
a physical altercation. While the two were scuffling over the keys, Contreras
allegedly came over and struck the victim in the face with a bottle. A witness
told police Contreras had left the scene but was still nearby.
The officer soon located
Contreras, whose shirt was covered in blood. Contreras allegedly told police he
was only trying to defend his stepbrother. Contreras was charges with first-
and second-degree assault and carrying a dangerous weapon with intent to
injure. He was released from jail after posting a $10,000 bond.
First-Degree Assault On
Bus
OCEAN CITY – A
Pennsylvania woman was arrested on first-degree assault charges last weekend
after allegedly attacking a woman and choking her during an altercation on an
Ocean City bus.
Around 4:30 a.m. last
Saturday, an OCPD officer was dispatched to a reported fight on a bus on
Coastal Highway at 127th Street. The officer arrived and met with
the bus driver, who told police a woman, later identified as Nicole Amber
Myers, 23, of York, Pa. along with two male companions had been asked to get
off the bus. As the three individuals were getting off the bus, another woman
said something to set Myers off and she allegedly spun around and grabbed the
victim by the throat and began punching her until the victim’s friends
interceded.
The bus driver said
Myers had been choking the victim and punching her for about a minute before
the victim’s friends were able to pull her off. The OCPD officer then met with
the victim, who had red marks on both sides of her neck consistent with hand
and finger marks. The victim and her friends provided descriptions of Myers and
her female companions. The victim told police she had said some things to Myers
to initiate the attack, but couldn’t remember exactly what she said because she
had “consumed a lot of alcoholic beverages.”
The victim’s female
friend told a similar account of what had happened. She told police words were
said when Myers and her two male companions got off the bus and Myers turned
around and lunged at the victim, grabbing her by the throat, and did not let go
until others broke up the altercation. The victim’s female friend also suffered
lacerations to her jaw and chest as a result of trying to pull Myers off of the
victim.
Myers and her companions
were located a short time later on 127th Street near Wight Street.
Burglary Spree Suspected
Caught
OCEAN CITY – Two men
known as “Twin” and “Shadow” were arrested on breaking and entering and other
charges in Ocean City last week after an OCPD informant implicated them in an
ongoing theft spree in the resort.
Last Wednesday, OCPD
detectives met with a reliable confidential informant, known only as CI 600,
concerning stolen property in Ocean City. According to police reports, the
informant told detectives there were three suspects staying at a residence on
S. Baltimore Ave. that would be in possession of the stolen property on which
they were seeking information. The informant provided identity information on
two of the suspects including Reggie Stevenson, also known as “Twin,” 20, of no
known address; and Harouna Bangoura, also known as “Shadow,” 18, of Takoma
Park, Md.
The informant also
advised the detectives there would be a third suspect for whom he did not have
a description. The informant told police the three suspects would be exiting
the residence on Baltimore Ave. in possession of the stolen property and
leaving town in a gray Kia Rio between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on August 11.
Sure enough, around 3
p.m. last Wednesday, Stevenson, Bangoura and the third unidentified suspect
left the residence on Baltimore Ave. and walked south before heading west on
Dorchester Street while carrying backpacks. A short time later, the gray Kia
moved from its parking space on Dorchester Street and the three suspects got
in. Detectives followed as the vehicle traveled west on Talbot Street before
turning on St. Louis Ave. to go under the Route 50 Bridge, which is when police
pulled it over.
A search of the vehicle
revealed a black backpack on the floor of the front passenger seat and inside
the backpack police discovered suspected marijuana in a sock. At that point,
Stevenson, Bangoura and the third suspect, identified as Anthony Francis, were
taken into custody for possession of marijuana. A further search revealed two
Olympia digital cameras in a black backpack and an Apple Ipod in the center
console. The items were taken to police headquarters and the investigation
revealed the cameras had been reported stolen during a burglary at a residence
on Somerset Street a day earlier.
During the burglary, the
suspect or suspects gained entry to the residence through a window near a
stairwell. Once inside, the suspects stole multiple items including the
cameras. Further investigation revealed the Ipod had been reported stolen
during a burglary at a residence on St. Louis Ave., also on Tuesday. During
that burglary, the suspect or suspects made entry into the residence through a
window on the porch and stole multiple items including money. The total value
of the items reported stolen during the Somerset Ave. burglary came in at
around $600, while the value of the thefts from the St. Louis Ave. burglaries
came in at over $2,800.
During a subsequent
interview with the third suspect, Francis, OCPD detectives learned Stevenson
and Bangoura had made multiple trips from Ocean City to Montgomery County,
where they sold items stolen during burglaries on the street. Francis further
told police he had seen two lap-top computers and an Apple Ipod inside a room
at the residence on Baltimore Ave. and that Stevenson and Bangoura had taken
the items to the Boardwalk earlier that day to sell them.
The descriptions of the
laptops Stevenson and Bangoura allegedly tried to sell on the Boardwalk matched
the descriptions of the computers stolen during the St. Louis Ave. burglaries a
day earlier. Stevenson and Bangoura were each charged with two counts of
first-degree burglary, two counts of third-degree burglary, three counts of
theft and possession of marijuana.
False Alarm Arrest
OCEAN CITY – A
Hagerstown man was arrested last week for breaking the glass and falsely
pulling a fire alarm after helping an intoxicated woman back to her Boardwalk
hotel room.
Last Saturday morning,
an OCPD officer responded to the Harrison Hall Hotel on 14th Street
to meet with hotel management about a fire alarm that had been activated around
2:30 a.m. that morning. The hotel manager told police she had viewed
surveillance tape from the incident earlier that morning and believed the
suspect who pulled the alarm was staying in Room 422.
The officer viewed the
same surveillance tape and observed two males helping into the hotel room a
woman who appeared to have trouble walking due to intoxication. Several minutes
later, the two male suspects exited the room and started walking toward the
fourth-floor elevator. One of the men, later identified as William Mariano
Lorenti, 30, of Hagerstown, allegedly broke the glass on a fire alarm and
pulled the lever with his left hand, activating the alarm.
Lorenti and the other
man then got on the elevator, but when they realized it wouldn’t work because
of the fire alarm activation, they started walking down the adjacent steps. The
officer was able to follow the two men on the surveillance until they reached
the first floor.
After watching the tape,
the officer went to Room 422 and Lorenti answered the door. The officer noted
in his report clothes and a hat similar to what the suspect was wearing at the
time he allegedly pulled the fire alarm were on the floor in the room. The
officer then asked Lorenti to show him his hands, which were covered with small
cuts consistent with breaking the glass. Lorenti explained he received the cuts
from shaving his arms and hands earlier.
Lorenti later told the
officer he did not remember breaking the glass and pulling the alarm, but he
understood the officer had a job to do. Lorenti was then arrested and charged
with activating a false alarm.
Seven Years for Purse
Snatcher
SNOW HILL – A Pocomoke
man was sentenced to seven years in prison last week after being found guilty
assaulting a woman and stealing her purse back in April.
On April 2, Desmond Omar
Croswell, 21, of Pocomoke approached a woman on 2nd Street and
grabbed her purse, which was on her arm at the time. As the victim resisted,
Croswell began to pull her along with the purse before eventually knocking her
to ground. According to police reports, Croswell then began to kick the victim
in the head and chest until she ultimately released the purse.
According to police
reports, the victim had known Croswell most of his life, which is how she was
able to identify him to police. Croswell was charged with first- and
second-degree assault, robbery and reckless endangerment. Last week in Circuit
Court, Croswell pleaded guilty to the robbery charge and was sentenced to seven
years in prison.
Allegedly Punched
Vehicle
OCEAN CITY – A
Pennsylvania man was arrested on malicious destruction of property charges last
weekend after allegedly punching the side of a car leaving a midtown
restaurant.
Around 12:30 a.m., an
OCPD officer working patrol in the 49th Street area responded to
incident involving a suspect punching a vehicle as it left the parking lot at
Dumser’s. The victim told police she was in the front passenger seat of her
vehicle with someone else driving when a suspect, later identified as Justin J.
Grimm, 26, of York, Pa., struck the side of her vehicle while it was pulling
out of the restaurant parking lot.
The victim said her
vehicle was pulling out of the parking lot when she saw Grimm give her “a dirty
look” and shout something that included an expletive, but couldn’t make out any
more of what he said. The victim said she looked in the rear view mirror and
saw Grimm allegedly punch the back rear quarter panel of her car with a closed
fist.
The victim called police
over as Grimm attempted to leave the scene. Grimm was detained by the officers
told police he had been drinking, but wasn’t drunk, and that he didn’t strike
the vehicle with his fist. However, the victim was brought over and identified
Grimm as the man who punched her vehicle. Grimm was arrested and charged with
malicious destruction of property over $500.
Didn’t Like OC Bike Laws
OCEAN CITY – A
Pennsylvania man was arrested on disorderly conduct and resisting arrest
charges last weekend after allegedly going on an expletive-laced tirade about
Ocean City’s bicycle laws in front of a crowd on the Boardwalk.
Around 12:30 a.m. last
Thursday, a mounted OCPD officer stopped an unidentified man about riding a
bicycle on the Boardwalk before 2 a.m. According to police, the man was
cooperative and free leave, but when he said something to another man in his
company about the ordinance, the other man, identified as Blake Anthony Gerhart,
19, of Phoenixville, Pa., allegedly yelled in a voice loud enough to be heard
by the officer over 50 feet away, “[expletive deleted] your laws.” According to
police reports, Gerhart continued to walk south on the Boardwalk and continued
to shout the same expletive, which was heard by dozens of people who were now
staring at him.
According to police
reports, Gerhard appeared to be intoxicated and stumbled as he walked and
continued to attract a crowd with his tirade. Eventually, OCPD officer detained
Gerhart and told him to sit on the Boardwalk. However, while they were talking
to Gerhart, the officers were distracted by heckling from people in the crowd
and Gerhart allegedly got back to his feet and attempted to flee, but he was
taken into custody.
Gerhart was eventually
charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, a noise ordinance and
possession of alcohol by a minor.