2 Arrested For Armed Robberies At Silver Spring Convenience Stores

SILVER SPRING, MD — Montgomery County Police arrested two suspects they say committed armed robberies at two 7-Eleven stores in the Silver Spring area in December.

MCDP charged 35-year-old Stephen Lavance Oates Jr. and 29-year-old Katrice Ceclia Wood, both of no fixed address, with multiple counts of armed robbery, assault, theft and firearms-related charges in connection with the robberies.

In the first indecent, officers responded 2:52 a.m., on Jan. 8, at the 7-Eleven in the 14100 block of Georgia Ave. for the report of a robbery.

Police determined that two masked suspects, entered the store and demanded employees not to move. While one of the suspects pointed a handgun at the employees, the other sprayed them with pepper spray. After taking an undisclosed amount of money from the store register and stealing the employees' cellphones, the two then drove off in a Ford Expedition, according to police.

On Jan. 10, around 4:21 a.m., officers responded to the report of a robbery at the 7-Eleven in the 11300 block of Lockwood Drive. In this incident, one of the suspects displayed a black handgun and demanded that the employees turn over their cellphones, which they did. The suspects then stole scratch-off lottery tickets and an undisclosed amount of cash from the register. As in the earlier robbery, they drove off in a Ford Expedition.

Over the course of their investigation, detectives identified Oates Jr. and Wood as suspects in the case. On Jan. 11, police located the pair in the 3500 block of Old Annapolis Road in Laurel, where they were taken into custody.

After being taken to the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit, Oates Jr. and Wood were held without bond.