On Monday, April 2, a man charged with one count of first degree burglary, two counts of second degree assault and a charge of making a false statement to a law enforcement officer was freed after his girlfriend posted 10 percent of the $5,000 bond in cash for him.
Joel E. Roach is awaiting a criminal jury trial for failure to register as a sex offender at the Calvert Circuit Court and is on probation on a charge of theft until 2009.
Roach allegedly lost his cool when he was given a piece of ceramic tile in exchange for $150 as he attempted to buy cocaine.
In a life of alleged crimes spanning 15 years, Roach faced as many as two dozen criminal cases in Calvert and Upper Marlboro courts, including possession of drugs – and in one case with intent to distribute -, assault, failure to register as a sex offender and thefts.
Roach, 36, makes a handsome $800 per week in the carpeting trade and was said to be employed by a local flooring business. The suspect was described in court documents as living with his girlfriend Jennifer Lynn Baden, who is about eleven months older than him, and is stated to be a resident of Alta Drive in Sunderland.
Baden posted $500 in cash to get Roach freed on bond.
According to the report of St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Officer Michael George, at 8.36 am Monday, he responded to the area of the A&E Motel in Lexington Park area on the report of an armed robbery and made contact with the complainant Joel Ellis Roach.
“When I made contact with Roach, he was walking on Great Mills Roadswinging a baseball bat around in the air,” Officer George’s statement of probable cause reads.
Roach told the officer a black male, wearing a white shirt and blue jeans, and a white female wearing a black shirt and blue jeans had just robbed him at gun point. “Roach stated the two came up to him and held a small black color hand gun to his head and told him to give him all his money,” the officer’s report states. Roach told the officer he handed the black male a $100 and a $50 bill, adding the two then ran off in the direction of St. Mary’s Square.
As the officer attempted to locate the two alleged armed robbers, he saw the black male and white female walking in the parking lot of St. Mary’s Square, one block from the alleged scene of robbery, as described by Roach.
On spotting the black male and white female, Roach told the officer those were the two suspects who had robbed him.
“I then pointed my agency issued service weapon at the two alleged suspects ordering them to the ground, which they complied,” said Officer George’s report. “The two were held in this position until other officers could arrive and assist in detaining the two.”
But Officer George said a frisk search of the two revealed they were not in possession of a hand gun or any other weapon.
The two alleged suspects were later identified as being victims, Charles Cornelius Butler and Patricia Louise Tippett.
“While investigating the crime, Victim Butler stated to me defendant Roach approached him this morning and asked to buy some cocaine. Butler stated Roach gave him a $100 and $50 bill of U.S. currency. Butler then returned and gave Roach a piece of ceramic