Three Held In Armed Robbery

OCEAN CITY - Ocean City police earlier this month arrested three Baltimore teens on first-degree assault, attempted armed robbery and other serious charges from an incident in mid-July when they allegedly bound and gagged a man in an Ocean City motel room during a drug deal that went bad.

On July 15, Ocean City police responded to a room at the Dunes Motel for a reported armed robbery and serious assault that had taken place. When they arrived on the scene, the officers found an adult male victim with several serious injuries. The victim was able to tell police a sordid tale about the events leading up to his attack.

The victim told police he met several individuals on the Boardwalk earlier in the evening and agreed to meet them later at his motel room. Some time later in the evening, the victim got a telephone call from one of the individuals instructing him to come down and meet them in the parking lot. The victim told police he went down to the parking lot and met with one of the individuals he had met earlier in the evening and the pair went back up to his room.

Once in the motel room, two other suspects arrived and at that point, the three men attacked the victim and bound and gagged him. The victim told police the three men continued to beat him as they ransacked the room looking for money and valuables. At one point, one of the men smashed a beer bottle over the victim's head. During the attack, the suspects discussed killing the victim, according to police reports on the incident.

After the suspects left the room, the victim was able to free himself and contact the police. The victim later told police he met the three individuals earlier in the evening in downtown Ocean City to negotiate an illegal drug transaction. The victim further told police he believed the three men had come to his motel room to complete the transaction.

Throughout the end of July and into the first week of August, OCPD detectives investigating the case traveled several times to Baltimore. Working in conjunction with the Baltimore Police Department, the Southwest District and the Baltimore City Police Violent Fugitive Task Force, OCPD detectives were able to identify the three suspects involved in the July 15 incident in an Ocean City motel room including Joseph Martin Butler, 17, Angelo Dante Moore, Jr., 16, and Marcus Antonio Lennon, 19, all of Baltimore.

Each of the suspects have been charged with first- and second-degree assault, attempted armed robbery, false imprisonment, reckless endangerment and attempted theft under $500. Because of the severity of the offenses, Butler and Moore have been charged as adults.