OCEAN CITY — During the weekend of Saturday-Sunday, Jan. 24-25, Ocean City police received received nine reports of damage to boardwalk properties ranging from Sixth to 11th streets.
The damage consisted mostly of broken front window displays and light fixtures. Based on the preliminary information provided by the victims, the damage is expected to exceed $5,000.
Those random acts of vandalism created an outcry from the Boardwalk merchants that echoed through the police department and city administration, according to a release.
On Thursday, Jan. 29, Detective Dan Lancaster and Detective Stephen Schaffer dedicated their time to solving those acts of vandalism. The detectives obtained a private surveillance video from a local merchant that showed some unidentified persons on the boardwalk at the approximate time the incidents occurred.
Armed with that video, the detectives, along with Patrolman Charles Cusack (school liaison), requested assistance from the Ocean City High School staff with identifying the persons in the video. The high school was able to provide information on possible suspects based on the video provided by the boardwalk merchant.
As a result of that cooperative effort of the investigating detectives, the boardwalk merchant and the department’s relationship with the high school staff, three arrests were made of the individuals allegedly responsible for the vandalism.
Arrested and charged with nine counts of criminal mischief, and released on a summons was Bryon D. Wheaton, 18, of this city.
Two juveniles, both 17, one from this city the other from Marmora, were each charged with nine counts of criminal mischief and were released into the custody of their guardian.
