October 14th, 2015 by WCBC Radio
The Office of the State’s Attorney for Allegany County, the Honorable Michael O. Twigg, State’s Attorney, announced on Wednesday, October 14, 2015, that Joshua Connell, 21 of Cumberland, was convicted in Allegany County Circuit Court of one count of First Degree Burglary and one count of Second Degree Burglary.
The cases stemmed from two separate burglaries, one of which occurred at a residence on Washington Street in October 2014, the other at a business on Henderson Ave in April 2015.
The Honorable Gary G. Leasure, Circuit Court Judge for Allegany County, sentenced Connell to 10 years in the Maryland Department of Corrections, suspending seven years of the sentence. Upon his release, he will be monitored under supervised probation and required to make restitution to the victims.
According to Assistant State’s Attorney Erich Bean, who prosecuted the case, “Mr. Connell’s very minor criminal record prior to these events was a factor in determining the Maryland Sentencing Guidelines in these cases. The way the plea was fashioned, where the sentences are consecutive to one another, he will likely serve the bulk of the actual period of incarceration, and will face seven additional years if he does not abide by the conditions of his probation upon his release. Our office has been able to secure substantial sentences for numerous burglaries this year, and as a result, we’ve seen a reduction in burglaries of 33% since last October, an overall reduction of 10% year over year compared to 2014 and almost 20% compared to 2013. There is still work to do and we will continue to aggressively prosecute all crimes, including serious property offenses.”
The case was investigated by the C3I Unit and the Cumberland Police Department. Connell was represented by attorney Michael Stankan, of the Public Defender’s Office
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