COLD CASE DNA EVIDENCE BRINGS ANOTHER CRIMINAL TO JUSTICE

COLD CASE DNA EVIDENCE BRINGS ANOTHER CRIMINAL TO JUSTICE
(Westminster, MD) – An armed robber who might have been thinking he ‘got away with one’ has been charged with a Carroll County armed robbery that occurred nine years ago, thanks to DNA evidence that had been preserved since the original crime.

Maryland State Police investigators from the Westminster Barracks Criminal Investigation Section have charged Thomas C. Ahalt, Jr., 33, with armed robbery, first degree assault, reckless endangerment, and other related crimes. Ahalt is currently serving a sentence in the Maryland Division of Correction for an unrelated armed robbery conviction. He is scheduled to be arraigned on these latest charges in the District Court for Carroll County on March 20, 2009.

On August 16, 2000, Maryland State Police troopers responded to the Amoco Gas Station at 1500 Liberty Road in Eldersburg, for a report of an armed robbery. The investigation revealed that a lone male suspect had entered the business wearing a black handmade mask over his face. As the suspect attempted to force the victim to open the cash register, a struggle ensued, during which the suspect assaulted the victim with a box cutter or similar weapon. The victim received only minor injuries from the assault and the suspect fled the scene with an undisclosed amount of money.

During a search of the area with the assistance of Maryland State Police K-9 personnel, troopers located the handmade ski mask that had been worn by the suspect. This item was forwarded to the Maryland State Police Forensic Sciences Division laboratory where it was processed. Biological evidence was collected and preserved.

Late last year, investigators were notified that the biological evidence submitted in this investigation had produced a match in Maryland’s DNA database, which is coordinated by the Maryland State Police Forensic Sciences Division. The DNA profile was matched with convicted offender Thomas C. Ahalt, Jr. Based on the identification through the DNA database and the follow-up investigation conducted by the Westminster Barracks Criminal Investigation Section, Ahalt, who lived in Carroll County at the time of the crime, has been charged in connection with this armed robbery.