A judge sentenced a man to 85 years in prison with all but 32 years suspended for armed robbery, auto theft and attempting to disarm a police officer after faking an illness, the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office said.
A jury convicted Steven Ray Beitzel, 33, aka Stick-up Steve, in March of one count of attempt to disarm law enforcement and two counts of second-degree assault.
After his conviction, Beitzel reached a plea deal on charges of motor vehicle theft, assault, armed robbery, robbery and burglary.
After his November 2021 arrest for stealing a vehicle, Beitzel was sent to Avery Road Drug Treatment Center in Rockville, Maryland, but escaped in less than a day, prosecutors said.
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“Started off with a motor vehicle theft,” said Lauren DeMarco of the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office. “He was then held without bond and given that second chance to enter into a drug facility, which he then took it upon himself to leave, and then continue to commit crimes.”
For two months, Beitzel stayed a fugitive, getting $60,000 by robbing two convenience stores and committing a "rash of bank robberies," prosecutors said.
According to a police witness, Beitzel bought two motorcycles and a car and regularly traveled to Baltimore to buy fentanyl to sell and use.
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“The defendant went up to Baltimore, purchased fentanyl – thousands of dollars of fentanyl at a time – used it himself and then also was selling it in our community,” DeMarco said.
Police apprehended Beitzel again in January 2022.
On Jan. 25, 2022, he faked an illness and was taken to Holy Cross Hospital, where he tried to disarm a sheriff’s deputy, prosecutors said. Two deputies prevented him from getting the gun with help from an off-duty Montgomery County police officer.
The two sheriff’s deputies suffered concussions during the scuffle, prosecutors said.
“This was a one-man crime spree over several months, late 2021 into 2022,” DeMarco said. “He victimized a number of people in our community, and then once in custody, displayed this gratuitous violence against sheriff’s deputies.”
After serving his sentence, Beitzel will be placed on five years of supervised probation.
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