In January, the operator of Spinning Wheel Iron Works got the shock of the new year when he went to his garage and noticed four guns, including Browning 1885 Creedmoor rifle missing. Other expensive items included a welder two ATVs – one Polaris and one Econ – extensive amounts of power tools, cutting saws, shears and disc grinders were also stolen.

According to Smith, who uses eBay to sell items from time to time, his garage was burgled on the third day of January and the burglar kept on disposing of his property – worth more than $23,000 – until his arrest seven weeks later.

St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Office had questioned the suspect just a week after the robbery at Smith’s place, in connection with a second burglary. “The officers did a lot of good work in this case,” commented Sheriff Cameron, who explained that the Bureau of Criminal Investigations began working on the case to build evidence against the suspect, who was suspected of being involved in multiple other burglaies.

Larry Edward Sams, 35, who has a long history of thefts and burglaries, was the individual who allegedly burgled Smith’s garage. He was arrested by a BCI officer this week.

St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Officer Deputy Walker met Smith who told him he had information his stolen Polaris ATV was parked in a shed located in the backyard of a home on Coomey Neck Road.

The victim had gone about asking people in the area about the burglary. A woman working at a local carryout food store told Smith she heard from a girlfriend, who was friends with the girlfriend of the suspect, about the ATV.

Tamara Lynn Richmond, who was described in court documents as the on-and-off girlfriend of Sams told police he saw Sams putting the ATV in her shed. Richmond said Sams sometimes lived at her place, but does not pay regular rent. She allegedly told police Sams had a serious cocaine addiction problem.

Police then asked Smith to inspect the ATV and he positively identified his property.

According to Maryland State Police Trooper First Class Fred Dollinger, on Jan. 10 Deputy Yingling of St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Office spotted Sams’ Honda passenger vehicle parked off of Wanda Lane.  A check of the suspect’s car yielded burglar tools, court documents show.

Upon questioning by Yingling, Sams has denied knowledge about how the ATV ended up at his girlfriend’s shed.

“This area used to be really quiet until Larry Sams started breaking into other people’s properties,” Smith said.