Crime & Safety
Davidsonville Murder Suspect Burglarized Dock Bar Where His Girlfriend Worked: Police
A murder suspect stole over $11,000 from a dock bar, Anne Arundel police say. His girlfriend, and fellow murder suspect, worked at the bar.
GALESVILLE, MD — A murder suspect is charged with burglarizing the Anne Arundel County dock bar where his girlfriend worked a week before the killing, Patch confirmed Monday.
The burglary was reported days before the couple was accused of killing a Davidsonville business owner and setting his truck on fire with him still inside.
Court records obtained by Patch allege that Jonah Michael Poole, 18, of Davidsonville stole more than $11,000 from Pirates Cove Restaurant & Dock Bar in Galesville on May 18.
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The eatery shared this surveillance video on social media six days later, asking for help identifying the suspect.
Poole and his girlfriend, 18-year-old Kylee Alyssa Dakes of Harwood, are accused of killing Edward Stephen Koza, 67, of Annapolis on May 24. Police said they found Koza's body inside his burning truck parked outside his Davidsonville store, Tropic Bay Water Gardens.
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"We can confirm that Kylee Dakes was employed by Pirate's Cove and her last day of employment was May 18th," the restaurant's owners told Patch in a statement Monday. "Jonah Poole was not employed at Pirate's Cove and all we know is that they were boyfriend and girlfriend. We have no other information other than what has now been made public by the police."
Officers previously told Patch that Poole worked for Koza at Tropic Bay Water Gardens for about two weekends, roughly a year ago.
Authorities also said Koza reported a burglary at his home on May 12, wherein an undisclosed amount of cash was stolen.
Detectives do not know if there are any connections between the homicide, home burglary or restaurant break-in.
Attorneys for Poole and Dakes have not responded to Patch's request for comments.
Related:
- Davidsonville Murder Suspect Worked For Victim, Break-In Reported Before Death: Police
- Video Of Burning Truck Investigated In Business Owner's Homicide
- Man Found In Davidsonville Vehicle Fire Was Annapolis Resident: Police
$11K Stolen From Dock Bar
Staffers at Pirates Cove, located at 4817 Riverside Drive, said the burglary happened between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.
The restaurant suffered about $6,000 in damages and "$11,432.68 stolen from the safe to also include beer and liquor," the charging documents say.
Police said they were called to the restaurant after a building cleaner noticed the front door wasn't closed all the way, the rear glass sliding door was open and the locking mechanism was broken.
Charging documents said officers found several liquor bottles, plates and a glass T-shirt display case all broken.
A safe containing cash and checks was stolen from the office, authorities said, noting that they collected possible latent prints from the scene.
On May 19, the Pirates Cove owner brought five liquor bottles to be processed for prints at the Anne Arundel County Police Department Southern District station.
The suspect shown in the surveillance video handled those particular bottles, the owner told police, according to the court papers.
The print analysis came back on May 27.
Officers said in the court papers that they recovered prints from two liquor bottles and found a palm print on the sliding glass door where entry was made.
"All three of those prints came back to the defendant," the charging documents against Poole say.
Poole told authorities he was not at the restaurant and he didn't commit the burglary, the court records say.
The owner told police he didn't know Poole and he did not have permission to enter the restaurant.
The case file says Poole faces charges of:
- Second-degree burglary (General).
- Fourth-degree burglary (Store).
- Fourth-degree burglary (Theft).
- Malicious destruction of property valued at over $1,000.
- Theft of between $1,500 and $25,000.
If convicted on all the charges related to the burglary, Poole could be sentenced to up to 29 years in prison and face up to $12,500 in fines.
Poole and Dakes could also be sentenced to at least 145 years in prison if convicted on all charges related to the homicide.
Both are being held without bond at the Jennifer Road Detention Center in Annapolis.
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