OCEAN CITY — A Salisbury woman was charged with burglary and theft last weekend after allegedly taking up residence at a downtown Ocean City apartment without permission for the holiday weekend.
Around 10 a.m. last Thursday, an Ocean City police officer was dispatched to a residential unit on Wicomico Street for a reported burglary. The officer met with the property owner, who told police he had recently noticed his electric bill was higher and went to check on the unit. The property owner told police the heat was on a higher setting and several things were out of place.
The property owner told police he did not want any action taken last Thursday because he had a strong feeling that whoever was using it would return for New Year’s Eve. The property owner told police his renting agent would check on the property throughout the night. Around 11 a.m. on Jan. 1, the rental agent contacted the OCPD and reported there were people inside the unit.
Police responded and identified one of the occupants as Laurie Ann Cooper, 40, of Salisbury. Cooper told police she had paid the owner of a cleaning company $150 to rent the unit for the holiday weekend. Cooper told police she arrived around 11 hours before the police arrived. Cooper was arrested and charged with burglary and theft.
Knife Threat Leads To Jail
OCEAN CITY — An Ocean City man arrested in October on assault charges after threatening his girlfriend with a knife during a domestic incident pleaded guilty last week and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
Around 10 p.m. last Oct. 29, Ocean City police responded to the area of the Key Apartments at 72nd Street for a reported male and female arguing on the property. The responding officer observed a male suspect, later identified as Earl C. Townsend, 35, of Ocean City, on the porch on one unit, and the female victim standing on the sidewalk several feet away from the building. According to police reports, the female victim was upset and crying and told the officer she had been in a verbal argument with Townsend that had escalated physically.
According to police reports, the officer observed fresh marks, bruises and scrapes on her face, shoulder area and arms of the victim. The victim told police the couple had been in an argument inside their apartment when Townsend allegedly grabbed a large kitchen knife and waved it in her direction. The victim told police Townsend poked the top portion of her lip with the knife and that she thought he had cut her due to him pressing the knife on her lip.
The victim told police Townsend grabbed her arm to prevent her from leaving the apartment and then forcefully threw her to the ground and struck her in the head with an open hand. According to police reports, the victim told officers she believed Townsend was going to kill her because he used and displayed the knife on her. The officers located the roughly 10-inch kitchen knife the victim described.
The victim told police she was able to eventually leave the apartment after neighbors knocked on the door to see if she was okay. One neighbor told police he got into a verbal argument with Townsend outside the apartment and that Townsend had pushed him. Last week, Townsend pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
Jail For Swiping Uncle’s Coins
SNOW HILL — A Lewes man arrested last March after investigators were able to connect him to the theft of a silver bar and old coins he swiped from his uncle’s Ocean City residence in 2014 pleaded guilty last week to third-degree burglary and was sentenced to five years in jail, all but one year of which was then suspended.
Last June, an OCPD officer responded to a residence on Jarvis Ave. in north Ocean City for a reported breaking and entering. The officer met with the victim, who said he returned to his residence and noticed the screen door was open but the front door was locked, which is not how he left it.
The victim told police he believed someone had entered through the window and then left through the front door. The victim noticed several items missing including a 1971 Franklin Mint Christmas silver bar valued at $150 and a glass beer mug containing around $40 in loose change.
An OCPD detective entered the 1971 silver bar into the Regional Automated Property Information Database (RAPID) and received a notification a similar item had been sold at a pawn shop in Rehoboth that same day. The customer who pawned the silver bar was identified by his Delaware driver’s license as Andrew Dulaney, 31, of Lewes, Del. In addition to the 1971 Franklin Mint silver bar, the suspect also pawned a Morgan silver dollar and a Peace Dollar. The pawn shop paid Dulaney $52 for all three items.
Six days later on June 18, the OCPD detective met with the victim who positively identified the silver bar as his property. The detective also showed the victim Dulaney’s picture and the victim positively identified the suspect as his nephew. The victim also advised he determined a book containing about 100 Indian head pennies was also missing.
Last week, Dulaney pleaded guilty to third-degree burglary and was sentenced to five years, all but one of which was suspended. He was also placed on probation for two years upon his release.
Fined For Resisting Arrest
OCEAN CITY — A New Jersey man arrested in October after getting tossed from a midtown bar and restaurant and then allegedly attempting to prevent others from going into the establishment pleaded guilty this week to resisting arrest and was fined $1,000.
Around 12:30 a.m. last Oct. 11, Ocean City Police responded for a reported disorderly male. Upon arrival, the officers observed bar security staff detaining a suspect later identified as Christopher Sheehan, 44, of Mantua, N.J. Fager’s Island security staff told police Sheehan had been kicked out for fighting with employees. The security staff issued a trespass warning to Sheehan in the officers’ presence and he eventually left the property after several commands to do so.
According to police reports, Sheehan then stood in the public roadway outside the entrance and intentionally stopped at least four cars that tried to enter the establishment. He allegedly stepped in front of the vehicles and told the occupants not to go in, telling them how unhappy he was with the service. In the police report, OCPD officers noted it was the Saturday night of the fall Cruisin event and the business was busy with a line of vehicles attempting to enter the parking lot at the time of the incident.
The officers then noticed a group of five males attempting to walk through the main entrance to Fager’s when Sheehan stepped in front of them, causing the group to stop. When the group tried to evade Sheehan, he allegedly shouted profanities at them. At that point, OCPD officers attempted to take Sheehan into custody.
The officers told the suspect he was under arrest and to put his hands behind his back, but Sheehan allegedly resisted. Sheehan allegedly tried to rip one of the officer’s arms from his own arm during the attempt to arrest him, but the officer kicked the suspect’s legs out from under him and got him on the ground.
The officers were eventually able to take Sheehan into custody, but when one of the officers went to double click the handcuffs, Sheehan alleged grabbed his fingers and squeezed them tightly, causing pain to the officer. Sheehan was charged with second-degree assault on an officer, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and willfully obstructing the free passage of another and others in a public place.