Millsboro man pleads guilty to kidnapping Rehoboth couple
A Millsboro man has pleaded guilty to charges of robbery, home invasion, kidnapping and assaulting an elderly couple at Rehoboth Beach Yacht and Country Club in 2018.
Steven Snell, 29, will be sentenced Friday, Oct. 11 in Delaware Superior Court in Georgetown. He faces a minimum of 17 years in jail and up to 140 years, although prosecutors have agreed to cap his sentence at 22 years.
Appearing before Judge E. Scott Bradley Aug. 30, Snell pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree robbery and one count each of first-degree kidnapping, home invasion, possession of a deadly weapon and second-degree assault.
By taking a plea, Snell will avoid a trial in which he would have faced 19 charges. In July, Snell rejected a plea offer that would have given him a minimum 14-year sentence. If he had gone to trial, he would have faced 42 years if convicted on all counts. Snell’s attorney, Rob Robinson, said Snell had discussed his case with family members while awaiting trial in prison and had a change of heart about accepting a deal.
In taking the plea deal, Snell admitted to breaking into the home of an 82-year-old man and his 81-year-old wife July 28, 2018, taking $60 from the man and $200 from the woman’s purse, along with her ATM card. According to court documents, Snell had held a box cutter to the man’s throat in the house and later told the woman that he had a gun.
He forced the woman into the man’s black BMW, put the man in the trunk and drove to an M&T Bank branch on Camelot Drive.
At the bank, Snell withdrew $500, but not before being captured on the ATM security camera with the woman, who later recognized him by a three-star tattoo on his forearm. Prosecutors say that when Snell tried to leave with the woman after withdrawing the money, she struggled. When another customer intervened, Snell fled in the car with the man still in the truck. Snell parked the car in the rear of a Subway restaurant near the bank. The man was later able to free himself from the trunk by jimmying the lock.
Delaware State Police were later able to track down Snell using a cellphone locator after obtaining Snell’s number from his mother. Robinson had attempted to have this evidence thrown out, but Bradley ruled evidence obtained from the cellphone locator was admissible. Police had narrowed in on Snell as a suspect after the couple also mentioned Snell’s shaky hands, consistent with Tourette’s syndrome. When police searched their database for offenders with Tourette’s, Snell’s name came up.
