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Suspect in murder denied bond
Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008
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A judge denied bond last week to the Waldorf man charged with stabbing a Florida man to death near a Hooter's restaurant in Waldorf, according to court documents.
During his Dec. 9 preliminary hearing and bond review, Judge Louis Harrington, a visiting judge from Montgomery County, decided Joseph John Plass, 57, would be held without bond and also decided there was probable cause to prosecute him, court records show.
Former Washington, D.C., police officer Plass was arrested Nov. 12 inside the Waldorf Hooter's restaurant after sheriff's officers found the victim, Shelton D. Stephens, dead on the floor of the nearby Super 8 motel, according to court papers.
A witness reported seeing two men talking as they walked from the restaurant.
One of the men allegedly made a "jabbing motion" toward the other man, who then ran toward the Super 8 motel, according to the charging document.
The second man stood in the parking lot for a short time and walked back to the Hooter's, the witness told police.
Stephens, 52, of Dunnellon, Fla., stumbled into the motel and collapsed on the lobby floor, suffering from a stab wound to his upper body. Police responded to the area at about 7:38 p.m., and Stephens was pronounced dead on the scene.
The officers found Plass, who was allegedly carrying a blood-stained folding knife, inside the Hooter's, the court records state. Plass was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, first-degree assault and carrying a weapon with intent to injure.
