OCEAN CITY — A Newark, Md. man — once listed on the resort’s police department’s “most wanted” list for a burglary spree — was arrested last weekend on first-degree assault charges for allegedly strangling his girlfriend.
Around 9:50 p.m. last Tuesday, Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officers responded to the downtown area for a reported 911 call hang-up. Ocean City Communications advised there was an audible verbal argument between a male and a female in the background during the hang-up.
OCPD officers responded to the scene and observed a suspect later identified as Stavros Kominos, 35, of Newark, walking away on the sidewalk at Talbot Street at a fast pace, according to police reports. OCPD officers also observed a vehicle leaving the area at a high rate of speed.
OCPD officers stopped the vehicle and identified the driver as the female victim in the reported incident. The victim told police she had been in an argument with Kominos prior to their arrival and provided his description to the officers, according to police reports. The victim was reportedly reluctant to provide information about the incident and tried to act as if nothing was wrong, according to police reports.
While speaking with the victim, officers observed red marks consistent with strangulation on her neck, according to police reports. Officers asked the victim if Kominos had been physical with her during the altercation and she told them he had not, but when asked if Kominos had strangled him, the victim’s eyes filled with tears and she told the officers “he choked me out in the middle of the street,” according to police reports.
Ocean City EMS responded to the scene, but the victim refused treatment. OCPD officers attempted to get more information about the alleged assault, but the victim turned away and repeatedly said she did not want to press charges, according to police reports. The victim appeared to be getting more and more agitated as officers continued to ask her questions about the incident, according to police reports. She did, however, tell police where Kominos could be located at a residence near North Division Street and Philadelphia Avenue.
OCPD officers located Kominos at the residence and detained him. Kominos reportedly told the officers he had been in an argument with the victim near Talbot Street, but denied the argument ever became physical, according to police reports. Because of the victim’s testimony and evidence of strangulation on her neck, Kominos was arrested and charged with first- and second-degree assault.
Because of his long history of crime and because of the nature of the charges against him, Kominos was ordered to be held without bail. There was a time over a decade ago when Kominos was considered the OCPD’s “most wanted” for his role in a spree of burglaries in the resort area.
In March 2008, OCPD officers responded to a trailer park in the 24th Street area for a reported break-in. Initially, OCPD officers believed they were responding to a single burglary, but a thorough search of the entire trailer park revealed as many as 14 break-ins. Evidence gathered at the scene allowed investigators to connect the burglaries to Kominos, who was no longer in the area.
Kominos remained on the OCPD’s “most wanted” list for months before he was located in Florida. He was arrested and extradited to Worcester County where he faced 32 total charges, including 12 counts of first-degree burglary and 11 counts of felony malicious destruction of property.
He eventually pleaded guilty to one county of conspiracy to commit first-degree burglary and was sentenced to five years, all but four months and 15 days of which were suspended.
