Teen Sentenced In OC Robbery

SNOW HILL - One of three Baltimore teens arrested in August on armed robbery, assault and other serious charges stemming from an incident in mid-July when they bound and gagged a man and threatened to kill him in an Ocean City motel room during an apparent drug deal gone bad pleaded guilty this week to an amended charge of conspiracy to commit robbery and was sentenced to eight years in jail.

Marcus Antonio Lennon, 18, of Baltimore, appeared in Worcester County Circuit Court on Wednesday to face a wide variety of serious charges including armed robbery, first-degree assault and false imprisonment for an incident dating back to July 15, 2008.

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 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. 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.

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. OCPD detectives were able to identify the three suspects involved in the July 15 incident in an Ocean City motel room including Lennon; Justin Martin Butler, 17, of Baltimore and Angelo Dante Moore, Jr., also of Baltimore.

Butler was scheduled to appear in Circuit Court for his trial yesterday, the outcome of which was not known as of press time. Meanwhile, Moore was initially charged as an adult because of the severity of the charges, but his case was remanded to the Department of Juvenile Services following a hearing in December.