Box Truck Stolen
OCEAN CITY – A Delaware man was arrested last week after allegedly stealing a pickup truck from a resort motel’s parking lot.
On Halloween, around 8:30 a.m., Ocean City police received a call from an oceanfront hotel on Baltimore Avenue for a missing vehicle, later determined to be a 2016 Ford E350 box truck. The truck was not located in the overflow parking lot where an employee left it previously.
The employee who reported the theft reviewed video footage and observed a male, later confirmed to be Elvis Gove, 22, of Delmar, walking south through the parking lot around 3 a.m. on Oct. 31. The video shows Gove enter the vehicle and drive off. The employee told police it was possible a set of keys were left inside the vehicle the day before.
The video showed Gove travel southbound through the parking lot. Once Gove realized there was no exit from the lot, he reversed the Ford and drove across the parking lot median onto Philadelphia Avenue.
Police reviewed the video and determined Gove “knew exactly where the key to the Ford was located or already had it in his possession.” A review of security camera footage from the day before found a dark SUV enter the parking and an individual who looked like Gove approach the Ford and rummage through the glove compartment for about three minutes. Gove then exited the vehicle and walked north toward the dark SUV. Gove then approached a fenced-in area in the parking lot and gathered what appeared to be linens and placed them in the SUV. A hotel employee said it was where dirty linens were stored.
Through the investigation, police concluded Gove entered the parking lot of the motel around 10:15 p.m. on Oct. 30, entered the Ford and removed a key. Gove returned to his SUV he drove to the lot, stealing a pillow and a mattress topper from a fenced in storage area.
According to charging statements, Gove returned to the parking lot the next day, Oct. 31 around 3 a.m. and entered the Ford and drove away with the vehicle. Eight hours later, Gove was spotted in Ocean City in the same dark SUV he was in the day before scoping out the parking lot. Gove was apprehended in a convenience store parking lot wearing the same clothes he was spotted in on security camera footage. The Ford that was stolen was valued at $35,000.
Gove was charged with one count of theft of at least $25,000 but less than $100,000 for the vehicle and theft less than $100 for the pillow and mattress topper.
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Second Degree Assault
OCEAN CITY – A New York man is facing domestic assault charges after an altercation in a hotel lobby last week.
Ocean City police responded on Oct. 31 to a Baltimore Avenue hotel for a domestic assault that had occurred. When police arrived, police met with a female victim who advised she and her boyfriend, Deandre Rice, 30, of Cheektowaga, N.Y., had gotten into an argument in their room over playing music versus calling it a night. The victim said Rice got physical with her following a verbal argument over the volume of music. Rice reportedly shoved her on the bed multiple times and yanked on her hair, according to charging documents.
Police were able to confirm part of the victim’s story when she said the man pulled her hair out during the altercation. The woman’s scalp was red and bald in some areas and hair was noticed on a counter in the hotel room.
Rice was charged with second-degree assault following the incident.
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Vehicle Theft Warnings
BERLIN — As the weather begins to get colder, and as the holiday season approaches, the Maryland State Police’s Office of Media Communication has released some reminders for motorists take proper precautions to reduce the chances of becoming a victim of vehicle theft.
This warning from the Maryland State Police and the Maryland Vehicle Theft Prevention Council comes at a time when vehicle thefts are on the rise nationwide. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, nearly 500,000 vehicles were reported stolen nationwide in the first half of 2023, which represents an increase of more than 2 percent compared to the same period in 2022.
Every 47 minutes, a vehicle is stolen in Maryland, while in the United States, on average, a vehicle is stolen every 32 seconds.
In most cases, vehicles are stolen for the resale or distribution of parts, transportation purposes, and for the commission of other crimes or exportation.
According to the Maryland Vehicle Theft Prevention Council, 52 percent of vehicles are never recovered. In 2021, there were 11,143 vehicles stolen in Maryland while 937,936 vehicles were stolen in the United States, costing vehicle owners more than $8 billion. Of the vehicles stolen in Maryland, 50% had the keys still inside, 60% were left unlocked and 95% of the vehicles stolen had no anti-theft device.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that vehicle thefts nationally have increased by more than 25 percent between 2019 and 2022. Much of this can be attributed to a surge in thefts of Hyundai and Kia cars, many of which lack an immobilizer. The manufacturers have since offered a free security software update.
The software upgrades were announced following a viral TikTok social media challenge that showed viewers how to hotwire the vehicles. About 3.8 million Hyundai and 4.5 million Kia vehicles are eligible for the update, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The Maryland Vehicle Theft Prevention Council is committed to work to address this recent spike in vehicle thefts. For fiscal year 2024, the council awarded more than $3 million in grants to law enforcement agencies, state’s attorney offices and other groups across the state to combat vehicle theft, carjackings and related crimes. The council also works year-round on various public awareness campaigns to educate the public on how they can help reduce vehicle thefts statewide.
The council issued several simple steps everyone can take to help prevent motor vehicle theft: utilize an anti-theft device; park in well-lit areas; close and lock all windows and doors when you park; put away your valuables; do not leave your keys in your vehicle; and do not leave the area while your vehicle is running.
The Maryland General Assembly created the Vehicle Theft Prevention Council in 1994 as a statewide planning and dedicated funding resource. The council embraces a statewide strategy directed at public awareness, vehicle theft by juveniles, law enforcement, and prosecution through a grant award process. Efforts by the Vehicle Theft Prevention Council have led to a more than 71 percent reduction in vehicle thefts in Maryland between 1994 and 2021. Those efforts have saved Maryland motorists close to $240 million over that span.