A Highland Township couple was arraigned on three counts of armed robbery from a July 28 bank heist at the Comerica Bank inside the Kroger store at 6625 Dixie Highway in Independence Township.
Michael Wade Carter, 43, and Aretha Deanna Carter, 31, were arraigned in 52-2 District Court by Magistrate Thomas Raguso on Aug.1. They will be back in court on Aug. 14 for a preliminary examination.
The pair allegedly made away with more than $3,000 in the July 28 robbery, but were stopped by Clarkston Police Chief Ernest Combs, who was driving in the area of the crime when the call for a robbery in progress was released.
Police reported finding evidence linking the couple to not only the Comerica robbery, but also a July 26 theft at the Flagstar Bank at Crescent Lake Road and M-59 in Waterford Township.
The Carters were taken to 51 District Court and arraigned facing similar charges for that case.
Police are accusing the couple of using their children as a cover after the family’s four kids were supposedly discovered in the getaway vehicle during their July 28 arrest.
‘It was more of a cover’who would suspect a mother and four kids?? Undersheriff Michael McCabe said.
‘This is as low as it gets. I am appalled that parents would use their innocent children as cover to commit a crime that not only places the children in jeopardy, but the bank employees and the general public at large,? Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said in a released statement.
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office release said Michael Carter allegedly instructed his wife to round up the kids because it was time to go (commit a robbery) in both cases.
At nearly 4 p.m. on July 28, Michael Carter allegedly entered the Comerica location and handed the manager a note announcing the holdup and implying he had a gun. A guest inside the bank called 911 and gave a description of the man to the police, who alerted officers over the radio system.
The couple has no prior criminal history, but they do have a noted drug abuse problem, the sheriff’s department said.