Berlin Man Sentenced To 9 Years For Armed Robberies

SNOW HILL -- A Berlin man arrested last December along with three other suspects after detectives were able to connect them to a pair of hold-ups at convenience stores in Ocean Pines pleaded guilty last week in Circuit Court to armed robbery and robbery and was sentenced to nine years in jail.

Jordan Criner, 23, pleaded guilty to robbery for his role in the armed hold-up of the Shore Stop convenience store on Route 589 in Ocean Pines last December and was sentenced to 14 years in jail, all but five years of which was suspended. On the same day, Criner pleaded guilty to robbery for his role in the armed hold-up of the same convenience store in Ocean Pines last August and was sentenced in that case to eight years in jail, all but four of which was suspended, netting him a total of nine years for the two convictions.

Last Dec. 1, Worcester County Bureau of Investigation (WCBI) detectives and deputies from the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Shore Stop convenience store for a reported armed robbery. The investigation revealed two suspects, later identified as Akeem Mason, 17, of Painter, Va., and Dalton Entzminger, 17, of Accomack, Va., entered the store with Mason armed with a handgun and robbed the clerk.


The two suspects stole an undetermined amount of cash and cigarettes from the clerk before exiting the store and fleeing in a vehicle. A short time later, the same suspects, along with Criner and Takeyah Mason, 21, of Melfa, Va., robbed the Dash In convenience store in Willards in Wicomico County using the same basic method.


Wicomico County Sheriff’s deputies apprehended the four suspects a short time later and held them on charges related to the Willards armed robbery. The four suspects were then connected to the armed robbery of the Shore Stop near Ocean Pines.


After the arrest, WCBI detectives were able to connect Criner to a pair of armed robberies in the area in August, including the same Shore Stop convenience store in Ocean Pines. Criner was charged in Worcester County with 16 total counts including armed robbery, assault, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and handgun charges for his alleged role in the August hold-ups in Ocean Pines and Pittsville.