OCEAN VIEW, Del. - Delaware State Police have arrested and charged a Bethany Beach man accused of robbing an Ocean View grocery store.
Troopers say it happened around 8 p.m. Wednesday when a man entered Hocker's Deli, located at 34960 East Atlantic Ave. According to police, he approached the register to pay for a 30 cent piece of candy and when the 16-year-old female employee opened the drawer to make change, he lunged across the counter to grab money from it. The employee said she tried to hold onto some of the cash, but the man forcible removed it from her hand and then fled the store in an unknown direction with an undisclosed amount of money.
Troopers said that within 15 minutes of the report of the robbery, the Sussex County Emergency Operations Center received a separate call from someone reporting a suspicious subject running through his yard in the 32000 block of Roxana Road. Responding officers located an abandoned Ford Escort parked near the residence but were unable to locate anyone matching the description of the suspect.
Police said a computer inquiry on the Ford Escort revealed it was registered to Benjamin R. Marx, 24, of Bethany Beach. Troopers said they ultimately found Marx hiding in a bathroom closet of his mother's Ocean View home around 12:15 a.m. Thursday. While conducting a pat-down search of Marx, police said they found him in possession of one bag of heroin (.015 grams) and a hypodermic needle, as well as some of the cash stolen during the robbery.
Marx was taken into custody and transported back to Troop 4 in Georgetown where he was charged with robbery, possession of heroin and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was arraigned and committed to Sussex Correctional Institution on $4,000 secured bond.
