Man who says he’s guilty goes to trial — to aid co-defendant
On the first day of his federal trial for a string of burglaries targeting high-end homes in Baltimore County, Kamar Beckles gave his own opening statement and informed jurors he was, in fact, guilty.
Yes, wearing gloves and ski masks and communicating with accomplices over two-way radios, the 35-year-old New Jersey man kicked in the door to homes in Cockeysville, Phoenix and Pikesville in 2018, hauling out jewelry, watches, cash and a safe.
So why then is Beckles taking the case to trial? The answer, he said, is because he wants to speak up for a co-defendant, Demar A. Brown, who he said has been wrongly charged and was not part of the scheme.
“I want to do the right thing for a change,” Beckles said, nervously trying to deliver his thoughts from inside a plexiglass cube required by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beckles said he can’t turn the page “if I allow [Brown] to be convicted of these crimes, that I know he wasn’t involved in any way, shape or form.”
Federal prosecutors said the crime spree began in late 2017, with victims reporting men in dark clothing and masks broke into their homes while a Ford SUV drove slowly along the street. In one case alone, more than $50,000 worth of goods were taken.
On Jan. 26, Baltimore County police had an officer in an unmarked car on the lookout for such suspects when a burglary was reported in the 14100 block of North Blenheim Road in Phoenix.
“When the call came out over the radio, the Baltimore County Police Department sprang into action,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Riley told jurors Tuesday.
An officer spotted a dark green Ford Explorer with North Carolina tags, driving very slowly, and pulled behind. Once the driver realized it was the police, he fled but was caught. It was Brown, of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The officer peered through the windows of the vehicle and saw a safe that had been taken in a burglary, as well as bags of property, officials said. They’d later find a hydraulic jack and a large dolly. He also had a key card for a Towson hotel.
Police continued searching the area, believing the burglars were still on foot. At the Chestnut Grove Presbyterian Church nearby on Sweet Air Road, they saw two people in dark clothing laying on the ground near the woods. One of them was Jashon Fields, of Georgia, who told police he was there to meet prostitutes, Riley said.
Beckles was wearing a jacket with a distinctive reflective emblem that had been seen in surveillance footage of prior burglaries, officials said.
“Ladies and gentlemen, these defendants were caught in the act,” Riley said.
Both Fields and Beckles filed affidavits in late 2018 seeking to absolve Brown of involvement in the crimes.
Beckles wrote that he and Fields had committed crimes, along with a third person named “Aubrey,” after Beckles lost his apartment and job. He wrote that Brown “never had any involvement in the burglaries” and that he had asked Brown to meet him in a parking lot, where he offloaded stolen property that he said he told Brown was his.
He said Fields left his cellphone in Brown’s car, and Brown was attempting to bring it back when he was spotted by the police and detained with the stolen property.
“Damar [sic] A. Brown was never a part of the conspiracy to commit burglaries or to transport any stolen property,” Beckles wrote in his 2018 affidavit.
Riley said that in addition to the stolen goods found in the vehicle Brown was driving, Brown is linked through cellphone location data to Milford, Georgia, when additional residential burglaries were committed there. Beckles’ phone also puts him there, Riley said.
Stolen goods also were found in two hotel rooms that Brown, Beckles and Fields had key cards for.
Beckles said he plans to testify and detail information that prosecutors “don’t even have knowledge of that prove Demar Brown is innocent.”
He is being tried along with Brown and Fields.
Brown’s attorney, Ivan Bates, told jurors to keep an open mind.
“This should be a very interesting trial,” Bates said.