Two people allegedly admit to robbery, needing money for apartment
On January 5, officers with the New Carlisle Police Department were called to a liquor store for a robbery report.
When officers arrived, they spoke with the store clerk, who said that a black male and black female had robbed her, according to reports.
She said the male and female entered the store together but the female stayed at the door while the male went to the counter and demanded the clerk give him the money in the cash register, reports said.
The male collected the cash and took tobacco products before leaving the store, according to reports.
The store clerk said the male was holding a gun the entire time and the gun was pointed in her direction, according to court documents. She said she was afraid the male would shoot her.
Video surveillance from the store and neighboring stores showed that the two arrived in a red Chrysler Sebring convertible.
Officers reviewed all registered owners of these convertibles in Indiana.
Officers also noticed that video showed the male holding a silver revolver handgun with his fingers on the barrel. The manner and angle in which the male held the handgun struck the officers as strange.
In spring 2021, state troopers made a traffic stop on a red Sebring convertible in Kosciusko County.
The convertible was registered to Makaela Martin, who was the passenger in the vehicle.
The driver was identified as Antuan White.
During the traffic stop, officers discovered a .357 silver revolver that matched the revolver seen in the surveillance video, according to reports.
Troopers noticed the cylinder of the revolver would fall out if the gun was not held in a particular way and that the barrel needed to be stabilized with a finger.
These defects matched the odd way the male in the store robbery held the gun, according to police.
In July 2021, officers spoke with Makaela Martin, who said she and Antuan White robbed the liquor store in January, according to reports.
Martin said White had the gun and she stood by the door.
They robbed the liquor store because they needed money, she said.
When officers spoke to White, he also said he and Martin robbed the store, reports said.
He also said the revolver used in the robbery was the same one found by the state trooper in Kosciusko County, reports said.
White said the gun would still fire but it had to be held a certain way to keep the barrel from falling out.
He said the two committed the robbery because they needed money to move out of his mother’s house and into an apartment, reports said.
Martin and White were cooperative with law enforcement.
Both are being charged with armed robbery.