WASHINGTON — A Baltimore man was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his role in a 2015 home invasion of a casino patron’s house in Montgomery County, Maryland.
Kevin Darnell Carroll, 46, began tracking a man who he had seen win at Baltimore’s Horseshoe Casino to the man’s Germantown home, prosecutors said. Using a GPS tracker placed on the gambler’s vehicle, Carroll and another man allegedly learned the gambler’s address in November 2015 and broke into the home after watching the man and his wife leave from the house.
“They had realized that this individual, which had won substantial winnings at a casino, was not at home, so they broke into the home and realized there were two young people in the home,” said Ramon Korionoff with the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office.
The two young people inside were the casino patron’s children, and both were bound with zip ties and duct tape at gunpoint. One of the children was left in the garage of the home, while the other was forced to help the suspects locate money kept inside the home.
Carroll and his accomplice left the home with $6,000 and one of the children’s iPhones, police said.
But it was incriminating video from a private investigator hired by the homeowner’s wife and the DNA on the duct tape that led to Carroll’s arrest and eventual conviction.
Investigators quickly learned that the suspects weren’t the only ones keeping tabs on the homeowner who frequented the casino. The gambler’s wife had hired a private investigator because she suspected he was having an affair. So that private investigator was also at the casino to track his moves.
According to court documents, when the private investigator went to place his own GPS tracker on the homeowner’s car, he saw another device that was later determined to be Carroll’s. The private investigator moved that device and then began recording video when Carroll showed up to the car looking for his GPS tracker, prosecutors said.
Police also found DNA on the duct tape used on the children and ran it through a nationwide database that resulted in a match for Carroll.
“That led investigators in the right direction, coupled with the video from the casino, and we were able to make a very strong case against this individual in the home invasion robbery,” Korionoff said.
Carroll was charged with home invasion, armed robbery, first-degree assault and other charges.
Police are still looking for the second suspect they believe worked with Carroll in the home invasion.
