Detectives Link Suspects to Additional Crimes
LA PLATA, Md. (June 29, 2011)—Charles County Sheriff Rex W. Coffey said a phone call from a citizen led sheriff's officers to the apprehension of three suspects—a 16-year old male and two 14-year old males—who committed a burglary moments earlier. Referring to the call, Sheriff Coffey said, "This is exactly what we need people to do. The second someone sees something suspicious, call 911 and let us know. We were on the scene within minutes and we caught the suspects as they were leaving the house. We were able to recover the stolen property and return it to the homeowner."
The call came in on June 27 at about 1:11 p.m., when a witness saw four males climb over a neighbor's fence in the 3400 block of Sour Cherry Court in Waldorf. The witness called 911 immediately. When officers arrived, they observed some of the suspects climbing over an adjacent fence on Pinecone Circle. The suspects tried to flee but officers were able to apprehend three of them after a brief foot pursuit. A fourth suspect remained at large. Officers canvassed the area and recovered laptops, game systems and food that had been stolen.
Detectives assigned to the Criminal Investigations Division subsequently linked the suspects to another burglary that occurred on June 26 on Velvet Ash Court. In addition, a computer check revealed the 16-year-old had an open warrant in connection with an armed robbery that occurred in April.
All three suspects were charged with burglary. The 16-year-old was also served the arrest warrant charging him as an adult with armed robbery. He was remanded to the Charles County Detention Center.