Replica Handgun Arrests
OCEAN CITY — Two Selbyville, Del. men were arrested last week after a replica handgun was found in the vehicle in which they were traveling following a traffic stop.
Around 11:50 p.m. last Thursday, an Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer patrolling uptown observed a mini-van failing to stop at a stop sign on Dukes Road at 146th Street. The officer also reportedly observed the van’s side tail light was so severely damaged bare metal was showing where the light should have been.
The officer conducted a traffic stop at Anchor Chain Road and the mini-van struck the curb before stopping. The officer approached the vehicle and observed a passenger in the rear of the van not properly restrained with a seat belt. The officer reportedly asked the driver, identified as Alexander Saure, 19, of Selbyville, to open the van’s side door in order to talk to the unrestrained passenger in the back. The officer identified the front seat passenger as Calvin Oates, 19, also of Selbyville.
When Saure opened the van door automatically, the officer detected the odor of burnt marijuana coming from the passenger compartment. The officer returned to his patrol vehicle to positively identified Saure, Oates and the rear passenger. The information on Oates did not show up on file and officers asked Oates again for his name, but Oates told police he would not provide his real name, according to police reports.
The officer then asked Saure for the vehicle’s registration and Saure leaned forward toward the glove compartment before stopping and sitting back down in his seat, according to police reports. Saure then reportedly sifted through some items in the center console before telling officers he had just purchased the vehicle and did not have the registration with him.
Oates reportedly made furtive and nervous movements when asked to open the glove compartment, according to police reports. When asked again for his identification, Oates reportedly provided a false name and date of birth.
Oates reportedly told police there were no official papers in the glove compartment, only napkins. OCPD officers reportedly told Oates to open the glove compartment, to which he said “There is a BB gun in the glove box. It’s unloaded, but it’s in there,” according to police reports.
Saure and Oates were ordered to step out of the vehicle and they were frisked for weapons. During a search of the van, officers located a black handgun replica. Saure reportedly told police he was using the van to move, but there were no clothes or other belongings consistent with moving in the van. Saure told police the replica handgun was his and he forgot to take it out of the vehicle earlier that day when he had removed his other belongings. Saure and Oates were each arrested and charged with carrying a concealed replica handgun.
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Railroad Tie Destruction
OCEAN CITY — A local man was arrested on malicious destruction of property charges last week after allegedly damaging a door and a light fixture with a railroad tie.
Around 9:55 p.m. last Wednesday, an Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer patrolling in the downtown area observed a male, later identified as Jude Hutchinson, 34, of Berlin, walking through a parking lot at 2nd Street with both hands under a large wooden object. The officer later determined the large wooden object was a railroad tie.
The officer observe Hutchinson walk down Wilmington Lane and continued to follow him until the officer heard a large crashing sound. The officer observed Hutchinson continue to walk south, but he no longer had the railroad tie in his hands, according to police reports.
The officer drove to the area where Hutchinson had last been seen just south of the parking lot at 2nd Street. The officer observed the roughly eight-foot railroad tie leaning up against the front door of a residence on Wilmington Lane. The officer also observed the front door was scratched and there was a large light fixture broken and dangling from the siding. The light fixture was broken from its mount and no longer lit, according to police reports.
The officer stopped Hutchinson, who appeared to be intoxicated, according to police reports. At that point, Hutchinson was placed under arrest for malicious destruction of property. During a search incident to the arrest, the officer located a bottle of Fireball whiskey with the seal broken and the lid on in Hutchinson’s jacket pocket and additional open container charges were tacked on.
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Coat, Purse Swiped
OCEAN CITY – A Crofton, Md. man was arrested on theft charges last weekend after allegedly swiping a coat and a purse from a midtown nightclub.
Around 1:30 a.m. last Sunday, Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officers responded to a midtown nightclub for a reported theft that had already occurred. Bar security had called 911 after a female patron had reported her long, black coat and purse had been stolen, according to police reports.
OCPD officers responded and met with the female victim, who reportedly told police she was speaking with friends and left items briefly unattended on a chair in the bar area. She described the items as a trench coat valued at around $30, a Michael Kors purse valued at around $400. The purse contained miscellaneous cards and an iPhone valued at around $1,000. When the victim noticed her property missing, she notified security.
Bar staff reviewed security footage and observed a male suspect removing the victim’s items. When OCPD officers arrived, bar security was detaining a suspect matching the description in the video footage, later identified as Jeremy Weller, 34, of Crofton, Md. According to police reports, Weller was argumentative and told police he did not know what they were talking about.
OCPD officers reviewed the bar security footage and reportedly observed Weller talking with two other men before picking up the victim’s long coat and then the purse, before wrapping the purse with the coat. Weller then walked out of the bar with the purse wrapped in the coat and walked toward a truck in the parking lot where he placed the stolen items in the rear passenger compartment. Weller then returned to the bar area, according to police reports.
By the time officers arrived, the truck had left the area. However, it returned a short time later to the parking lot and OCPD officers conducted a traffic stop. Officers interviewed the occupants and searched the truck, but did not locate any of the stolen items. The rear passenger area where Weller was observed on video footage placing the stolen items was empty, according to police reports. The trucks occupants told police they had observed Weller’s girlfriend remove the stolen coat and purse from the rear of the truck and walk away. OCPD officers later located Weller’s girlfriend in the area of 32nd Street, but she was not in possession of the stolen items, according to police reports.
Back at the scene, Weller was arrested and charged with theft and theft less than $1,500. During processing, Weller reportedly agreed to speak with officers without an attorney present, but then recanted and told police he did not want to speak with officers any longer until he reviewed the video evidence with an attorney.
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Traffic Stop Yields Drug Bust
OCEAN CITY — A Salisbury man was arrested on drug possession charges last week following a traffic stop in the downtown area.
Around 11:50 p.m. last Wednesday, an Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer patrolling in the downtown area observed a vehicle traveling through an apartment complex parking lot and enter Philadelphia Avenue without coming to a complete stop. As the officer observed, the vehicle traveled north on Philadelphia and made a U-turn at 15th Street before slowly traveling onto the sidewalk in front of the fire department headquarters, according to police reports.
Prior to initiating a traffic stop, the officer positively identified the front seat passenger using multiple law enforcement databases and determined she was wanted on a potential warrant, according to police reports. After the traffic stop, the warrant for the passenger was confirmed and she was taken into custody.
OCPD officers identified the driver as James King III, 30, of Salisbury, who did not have a driver’s license in his possession and advised the vehicle belonged to his grandmother. A background check revealed King had been issued an identification card that had expired in 2015, or nearly six years earlier.
The background check revealed King had never possessed a valid driver’s license. According to police reports, King told officers he had to gather the requisite information to take to the Department of Motor Vehicle to obtain a driver’s license, but had not yet done so. King was also arrested at that point.
Because both occupants had been arrested, OCPD officers requested a tow for the vehicle, which was still parked on the sidewalk, blocking the entrance to the firehouse, according to police reports. During an inventory of the vehicle’s contents prior to the tow, officers located two clear glass pipes with burn marks and white residue consistent with crack cocaine. Officers also located a ball of copper wire in the pipes commonly used to smoke crack cocaine.
Because the pipes were located in a cigarette pack in the center console within easy reach of the driver’s seat, King was arrested and charged with possession of cocaine and possession of paraphernalia, along with traffic violations.
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Wrong Suspect Identified
OCEAN CITY — Based on police reports provided by the Ocean City Police Department (OCPD), an individual identified as William Wood III last week was wrongly identified as a suspect arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, second-degree assault and other charges.
Wood brought the error to the attention of the OCPD after seeing it in the crime beat section of the newspaper. The OCPD this week reported the actual identity of the suspect involved in the case is William Charles Bobst, 64, of Ocean City. The OCPD this week was in the process of correcting the information and charging documents for Bobst on its end.