First-Degree Burglary Charge For Downtown Break-In

OCEAN CITY- A Delaware man faces first-degree assault and other serious charges this week after allegedly breaking into a downtown residence and swiping big screen televisions and other items.

Around 8:30 p.m. last Thursday, an Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer on patrol in the area of Caroline Street and the Boardwalk was approached by a male who advised his jacket had been stolen and he believed it was located at the Virgina Lee apartments on 10th Street. Two OCPD officers responded to the Virginia Lee and discovered a broken glass window pane in the front door.

While walking toward the apartment building, an OCPD officer observed a red bicycle he had seen a suspect known at Kenneth Passwaters, 36, of Frankford, Del., riding on the Boardwalk in the downtown area on different occasions earlier in the evening. OCPD officers entered a unit at the Virginia Lee and noticed two flat-screen televisions were missing. They also noticed another unit in the apartment building had been broken into.

OCPD officers entered the second unit and determined another flat-screen television was missing. The officers made contact with the units’ owner who said the three televisions were valued at around $150 each. The owner also said he left his red bicycle matching the description inside one of the units when he left at the end of the summer. The unit’s owner spends the summer months in Ocean City and lives elsewhere the rest of the year, according to police reports.

Meanwhile, an OCPD officer located Passwaters at North Division Street, and when the officer asked the suspect where the bike was he had been seen riding earlier, Passwaters allegedly told officers he had given it to a man named Byron. Because the apartment owner had reported the bicycle stolen from his unit, Passwaters was arrested for theft at that point.

After being read his rights, Passwaters agreed to speak with OCPD officers. According to police reports, Passwaters told police he had been invited to stay at the unit in the Virginia Lee by an unknown male and that he had been sleeping in the basement that was secured from the other areas by a door. Passwaters told police he had moved to the main portion of the unit and began sleeping in bed.

Passwaters said he invited another unknown male to sleep in the unit and the two men had been selling the various flat-screen televisions. Passwaters told police the two men sold two of the televisions in Ocean City and a third on Craigslist. Passwaters told police he broke the glass in the front door to gain access to one of the units in the Virginia Lee and had shouldered the door open at the second unit to gain access.

Passwaters was charged with first-degree burglary, theft and malicious destruction or property. Following a preliminary bail review, he was ordered to be held on a $25,000 bond.