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Press Release

Final Defendant And Leader Of Burglary Ring Pleads Guilty To Dozens Of Commercial Burglaries And To Arson

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland

Robbed Businesses in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania



Baltimore, Maryland – Carl Paschall, Sr., age 54, of Halethorpe, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to commit bank burglary and arson of property used in interstate commerce.

The guilty plea 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; Chief Gary Gardner of the Howard County Police Department; Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; Anne Arundel County Police Chief Kevin Davis; Special Agent in Charge William P. McMullan of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - Baltimore Field Division; 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, Sr. was the leader of a group that included his son, Carl Paschall Jr., Chad Paschall, Thomas Ellis, and Michael Johnson, who conspired to commit commercial burglaries in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Paschall, Sr. also conspired with defendants in a related case, David Paschall, Jr., Mark Johnson, Ronald Henderson and others, to commit the robberies. 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, Sr. 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, Sr. and his son, Carl Paschall, Jr. stole a white 2012 Ford E250 panel van from a rental car office in Martinsburg, West Virginia, which they used during three commercial burglaries committed on May 26th and 27th at businesses in West Virginia. On May 31, 2012, the conspirators drove the van to Newport Road in Woodbine, Maryland and parked 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. After extinguishing the fire, the remaining contents of the van were preserved for law enforcement.

Carl Paschall, Sr. and the government have agreed that if the Court accepts his plea, Paschall, Sr. will be sentenced to 66 months in prison. As part of his plea agreement, Paschall, Sr. will be required to pay restitution in the full amount of the victim’s losses and to forfeit $200,000. U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz has scheduled Paschall’s sentencing for December 1, 2015, at 10:30 a.m.

Carl Paschall, Jr., age 32, of Baltimore, previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 66 months in prison and was ordered to pay restitution of $200,000. Chad Paschall, age 28, of Baltimore; David Paschall, Jr., age 55, of Catonsville, Maryland; Mark Johnson, age 51, of Baltimore; Ronald Henderson, age 52, of Pasadena, Maryland; Thomas Daniel Ellis, age 24, and Michael Johnson, age 25, both of Baltimore, also pleaded guilty to their participation in the conspiracy. All are awaiting sentencing except Ellis and Michael Johnson, who was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and three years of probation, respectively.

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.

Updated January 26, 2015