Baltimore Man Sentenced To Over 5 Years In Prison For Dozens Of Commercial Burglaries

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Carl Paschall, Jr., age 32, of Baltimore, today to 66 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for conspiring to commit bank larceny and interstate transportation of stolen goods. Judge Motz also entered an order that Paschall pay $200,000 in restitution.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Assistant Special Agent in Charge Gary Tuggle of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office; Howard County Police Chief William McMahon; Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; Anne Arundel County Police Chief Kevin Davis; Special Acting Special Agent in Charge William P. McMullan of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - Baltimore Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Nicholas DiGiulio, Office of Investigations, Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services; Otis E. Harris, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Coast Guard Investigative Service, Chesapeake Region; and Commissioner Anthony W. Batts of the Baltimore Police Department..

According to his plea agreement, from at least November 2010 until his arrest in July 2013, Carl Paschall conspired with Michael Johnson, Thomas Ellis and others to commit commercial burglaries in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. The conspirators stole cash, money orders, stamps, silver bars, jewelry, cigarettes, lottery tickets, prescription drugs, food, beverages, safes, laptop computers, cell phones, electronics, vehicles and other valuable items from gas stations, convenience stores, banks, credit unions and other commercial establishments during the night. The conspirators often stole or attempted to steal cash from ATMs.

The conspirators usually cut power lines, telephone lines, cables and other wires before entering a business. They used vise grips, sledgehammers, chop saws, grinders and blow torches to enter the business, and then often waited – for several minutes or sometimes up to several hours – before ransacking the business of its valuable items.

Carl Paschall, Jr. admitted that he committed, or attempted to commit, dozens of commercial burglaries and that the loss resulting from these burglaries exceeded $800,000.

On May 26, 2012, Carl Paschall, Jr. stole a van from a car rental agency in West Virginia and used the van during the burglaries. On May 31, 2012, the conspirators drove the van to Newport Road in Woodbine, Maryland and park the vehicle on the side of the road. The conspirators left some evidence of their crimes inside the stolen van, including stolen safes and lottery tickets. The applied an ignitable fluid inside the vehicle and set it on fire. Early in the morning on June 1, 2012, Howard County Fire and Rescue Department responded to the scene and encountered the van fully engulfed in flames.

Michael Johnson, age 25, and Thomas Daniel Ellis, age 24, both of Baltimore, previously pleaded guilty to their participation in the conspiracy. Ellis was sentenced to a year and a day in prison. Johnson was sentenced to three years of probation.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the DEA, Howard County Police Department, Baltimore County Police Department; Anne Arundel County Department, ATF, Department of Health and Human Services - Office of Inspector General; Coast Guard Investigative Service and Baltimore Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein also praised the many local and state agencies in Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania for their assistance in the investigation.

Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys David I. Sharfstein and Andrea L. Smith, who are prosecuting this case.