Chesapeake man sentenced to 25 years in crime spree case

Pictured: Orbeta at his Accomack County sentencing last week.

By Linda Cicoira

A 29-year-old man was sentenced Monday in Northampton Circuit Court to 25 years in prison for his part in a crime spree that started at an auto parts store in Pocomoke, Md., and ended with a car crash at a Lankford Highway intersection in Exmore in December 2023.

Christopher Allen Orbeta, of George Drive in Chesapeake, was sentenced to five years each for the armed robbery of a local woman, the Royal Farms store in Cape Charles, and the Hampton Inn in Exmore. All of that time was suspended. Judge Lynwood W. Lewis Jr. gave him another 10 years for abduction with intent to extort. All but six years and two months of active time was suspended. Orbeta will be on five years of supervised probation and good behavior upon release. He was ordered to have no contact with the victims and is prohibited from visiting the businesses involved.

This was “a pretty heinous crime spree,” the judge said.

Orbeta pleaded guilty earlier this month in Accomack Circuit Court to counts of robbing a delivery worker at the Temperanceville Corner Mart and robbing, abducting, stealing, and taking a credit card from an employee at the Nelsonia Corner Mart. The maximum term for the Accomack crimes is life plus 60 years in prison and a fine of $100,000.

Northampton Commonwealth’s Attorney Jack Thornton said Orbeta was not the ringleader in the spree. He suggested the sentence that was given in the Northampton cases.

    Commonwealth’s Attorney Spencer Morgan of Accomack said Orbeta was a principal in the second degree. At the Nelsonia convenience store, the defendant stayed in the car when an accomplice struck a store worker in the face with a soup can, forced him to go into the store’s office, and was robbed. Sentencing in Accomack was set for July 17.