January 10, 2014 By SHAWN J. SOPER OCEAN CITY – A rare blue lobster hauled in off the coast of Ocean City by a commercial fishing vessel in June 2012 found a permanent By SHAWN J. SOPER Mysterious Armed Robber Nabbed Rare OC Blue Lobster Joins National Aquarium Exhibit The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch NEWS EDITOR Page 27 NEWS EDITOR WEST OCEAN CITY – An Ocean Pines man is being held on armed robbery, assault and other serious charges late this week after first allegedly portraying himself as a police officer at a West Ocean City trading post that sells guns and later threatening a female victim with a rifle at an ATM near Ocean Pines. Around 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Maryland State Police troopers and Worcester County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a silent alarm activation at Larry’s Trading Post in West Ocean City. Once officers arrived on the scene, they learned a white male wearing a black suit, black hat and black gloves entered the store, identified himself as police officer and requested to inspect some of the handguns in the establishment. The store owner did not observe a police badge or any other police credentials, nor did the owner observe the suspect wearing a handgun on his hip. The store owner CORY C. became suspicious RICHARDSON and asked to see the suspect’s credentials and activated the store’s silent alarm. The suspect told the store owner he needed to go to his vehicle and then quickly left the area in a white 2014 Dodge Avenger. Later around 11:50 p.m. on Wednesday, a female individual pulled up to an ATM machine at a bank on Racetrack Road to withdraw money. The female victim observed a white male exit a white 2014 Dodge Avenger and approach her at the ATM machine carrying a black rifle with a scope. In fear, the victim fled the area and contacted local law enforcement, reporting what had just occurred. An all-points bulletin was broadcast and the Dodge Avenger was stopped by a Worcester County Sheriff’s Deputy a short time later. The suspect was identified as Cory C. Richardson, 29, of Ocean Pines. Richardson was arrested and taken to the Sheriff’s Office for questioning by the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation (WCBI), which connected him to both incidents. Richardson has been charged with armed robbery, first-degree assault, impersonating an officer, reckless endangerment, the use of a firearm in the commission of a violent crime and other weapons charges. He is being held on a $250,000 bond. home at the National Aquarium on Baltimore this week. In June 2012, Captain John Gourley and mate Tim Aulinskis aboard the “Pot Luck” out of the commercial harbor in West Ocean City discovered a rare blue lobster in their harvest and donated the specimen later named “Toby” to the National Aquarium. For the roughly year and a half since, Toby was housed at the now-defunct National Aquarium in Washington, D.C. This week, however, the very special lobster joined the ranks of the 17,000-plus animals at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. On Tuesday, Toby became the newest resident in the Atlantic Shelf gallery in the larger Maryland: Mountains to the Sea exhibit. The exhibit depicts the continental shelf habitat off Maryland’s Atlantic coast and has plenty of cave-like structures perfect for lobsters. According to the National Aquar-ium, the blue lobster caught off the coast of Ocean City in 2012 and now a resident of the National Harbor in Baltimore is a rare mutation of the lobsters that call the coast off Ocean City and the midAtlantic home. Toby’s odd color comes from a rare genetic variation that occurs just once out of every two million lobsters. The rare lobster harvested by the “Pot Luck” is bright blue. A genetic mutation causes a blue lobster to produce an excessive amount of a particular protein. The protein and a red carotenoid molecule known as astaxanthin combine to form a blue complex known as crustacyanin, giving the lobster its unique blue color.