CITIZEN CALL LEADS TO THE ARREST OF ‘WANTED’ DELAWARE MAN

On Monday, December 15, 2008, at approximately 2:00 a.m. the Ocean City Police Department received a call regarding suspicious activity in the area of Caine Stable Road, near 141^st Street. The caller, a concerned citizen, complained that a mini-van had circled the neighborhood several times and that one of the occupants of the mini-van had exited the vehicle and was acting suspiciously. The citizen indicated that the suspicious activity included one vehicle occupant looking into windows of parked vehicles.

Ocean City Police officers located the vehicle and followed the suspects as they entered the 7-Eleven parking lot on 139^th Street and Coastal Highway. Officers initiated a consensual conversation and determined that the driver was operating the vehicle on a suspended and revoked license.

The OCPD officer attempted to place the driver under arrest for driving on a suspended and revoked license when the driver and one passenger fled on foot. After a brief foot pursuit, the driver of the vehicle returned to the mini-van and fled in the vehicle traveling north on Coastal Highway, towards the state of Delaware.

Ocean City Police officers did not pursue the driver once the driver fled in the vehicle. OCPD immediately contacted Delaware authorities to inform them that the suspect had just fled Ocean City and was possibly heading north bound into Delaware.

Clayton Francis Ricketts, 21-year-old of Georgetown, Delaware, was the second passenger in the vehicle. Ricketts did not flee from police, however it was determined by OCPD that he was wanted for an outstanding warrant in the state of Delaware for robbery. Ricketts was placed under arrest by Ocean City Police for a fugitive warrant.

The third suspect, who was last seen by police in the area of 139^th Street, has not yet been located. The driver of the vehicle was a 21-year-old Delaware resident whose name is not being released due to a single vehicle collision that occurred in Bethany Beach, Delaware following his episode in Ocean City.