On June 11 at 2:15 a.m., Charles County Sheriff’s officers responded to HH Gregg located at 3000 Festival Way in Waldorf after witnesses called police to report a man kicking and punching the business’s front doors. When Officer K. Lerch arrived and confronted the man, the man turned around, made a growling noise, resumed kicking the doors and began to spit on them. The officer approached the man and the man advanced toward the officer aggressively but Officer Lerch and additional officers who had arrived on the scene managed to subdue and handcuff the man. During the subsequent investigation, officers discovered the man had ripped two electrical outlets from the outside wall near the front doors.
The man, who is Hispanic, was speaking only in Spanish, did not have identification and was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, refused to provide his name to the investigating officers. Officer Lerch transported the man to the Charles County Detention Center, where the man would be formally charged with fourth-degree burglary, property destruction, being intoxicated and endangering property, and disorderly conduct. At the Detention Center, the CCSO called for a Spanish-speaking interpreter, who spoke with the man via telephone. The man provided the interpreter with a name – Eliseas Pena – and a birthplace of El Salvador but after the interpreter rejected the man’s attempt to bribe the interpreter with marijuana, the man refused to provide additional information. The man was being held at the Charles County Detention Center pending an appearance before a district court commissioner.
