Baltimore resident Eric Lamont Porter, Jr., 43, is facing charges following the investigation by the Aberdeen Police Department into a pair of reported robberies over the past week.
On Wednesday, Aug. 17, a 22-year-old man reported to the department that he was robbed days earlier at the Travel Lodge hotel at 820 W. Bel Air. Ave. in Aberdeen as he was returning to his room.
In that incident, the victim reported that he was approached by a Black man who pulled a handgun from his waistband and demanded the man hand over a cellphone.
Days later, shortly after 11 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 20, officers responded to Ice House Liquors at 758 W. Bel Air Ave., where a 66-year-old employee at the store said he and his granddaughter were leaving the store after closing up for that night.
While exiting the store, police said that a Black man approached the pair with a handgun, demanding money and cellphones before fleeing on foot.
No injuries were reported in either incident.
The investigation by the Aberdeen Police Department Criminal Investigations Division led to Porter being identified as a suspect when one of his victim's cellphones was located in the swimming pool at the Day’s Inn hotel at 783 W. Bel Air Ave.
Porter was arrested by police in Aberdeen at the hotel, where he had been staying.
A search of his room led to the seizure of a BB gun air pistol that matched the description of the weapon used in both armed robberies.
Porter is being held without bond at the Harford County Detention Center. Charges against him are pending.
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