Charles Co. Call for Suspicious Person Leads to Recovery of Stolen Firearm

newsBot · Sep 20, 2022

On September 13 at 3:27 a.m., officers responded to the 3000 block of Gallery Place in Waldorf to check on the welfare of a man lying in the hallway of an apartment building. When officers arrived, they observed the man on the ground and a round (ammunition) next to him. They also observed what appeared to be a firearm in his pocket. The officers assessed the man’s condition and noted he was conscious, not injured, and was possibly intoxicated. Officers safely recovered the gun and determined it was loaded. The gun had been reported stolen in November 2021. A check revealed the man is prohibited from possessing regulated firearms due to a prior felony conviction. Delonta Maurice Coates, 35, of Waldorf, was arrested and charged with illegal possession of a regulated firearm, possession of a stolen firearm, illegal possession of ammunition, illegal carrying of a concealed weapon, and other charges. On September 14, a judge released Coates from the Charles County Detention Center on personal recognizance. Officer Cannon is investigating.

Delonta Maurice Coates

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The Charles County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) was accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA) in 2001 and has since earned the highest rating of Excellence. Established in 1658, the CCSO is one of the oldest law enforcement agencies in the United States. For more information, visit www.ccso.us.

Charles County Crime Solvers offers rewards of up to $1,000 for information that leads to the arrest or indictment of a person responsible for a crime in Charles County. All individuals who provide tips through Crime Solvers will remain anonymous. Anyone with information about an unsolved crime or the location of a fugitive may contact Charles County Crime Solvers by calling 1-866-411-TIPS. Tips can also be submitted online at www.charlescountycrimesolvers.com or by using the P3Intel mobile app, which can be found in the Android Store and Apple store by searching P3tips. For more information about the P3 program, click on this link: www.p3intel.com.

Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: https://so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at https://so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at https://so.md/expungeme.