Oakland County Sheriff’s detectives from the Rochester Hills, Oxford Township and Commerce Township substations are investigating a series of jewelry thefts at their Meijers stores. Thefts are also being investigated by detectives from Waterford Township PD and White Lake Township PD. The Meijers stores were open for business during these incidents, but customer traffic was light due to the early hour.
On Monday, December 8, uniformed deputies from the Rochester Hills? sub-station responded to the Meijer on Rochester Road when it was discovered that approximately $20,000 of jewelry had been removed from display cases. Store surveillance indicated that shortly after 3 a.m., a man walked behind the jewelry counter and allegedly used a screwdriver to pry open the cases. The man allegedly removed 25 rings from their boxes, put them in his pocket and left the area.
Cameras in the parking lot recorded that man and another man get out of a pickup truck that had been driven there by a female. (The man who allegedly stole the rings, and the female driver, were later arrested and charged with this theft.) The second man has not been charged in this theft.
Later that morning, uniformed deputies from the Sheriff’s Office Oxford Township sub-station responded to their Meijer for a similar theft. That Meijers reported that jewelry valued at over $8,000 had been stolen from the store’s jewelry cases at approximately 5:30 a.m.
While detectives were investigating these thefts, they learned that Waterford Township and White Lake Township police had just arrested two men and a woman at a Waterford township home, based on crimes committed some days earlier. Property from some of the thefts was recovered, including jewelry from the Rochester Hills and Oxford Township thefts.
Sheriff’s detectives went to that location, and subsequently arrested the woman as the driver in these thefts. Robin Hughes, a 47-year-old Waterford Township resident, is in police custody. One of the men, Charles Clever, a 38-year-old resident of Lyon Township, was also arrested. At the Oxford Township store, he allegedly stood watch nearby, while another man went behind the counter, allegedly pried open the jewelry cases, and took the jewelry.
Detectives also learned the identity of the man who allegedly took the rings in these two thefts, Christopher Goddard, a 20-year-old Springfield Township resident. Sheriff’s Office detectives conducted surveillance at a Springfield Township duplex where it was believed that Goddard lived, and at approximately 1 p.m.that day, he was located and arrested.
On Thursday, Goddard and Hughes were charged before 52-3 District Court Magistrate Marie Soma on the Rochester Hills? theft. Each was charged with one count of Retail Fraud ? First Degree, and Conspiracy To Commit Retail Fraud ? First Degree. Each offense is punishable by up to five years incarceration.
Goddard is being held at the Oakland County Jail on $40,000 bond, and Hughes is being held on $10,000 bond in the Rochester Hills? theft.
On the same day, Sheriff’s Detectives from the Oxford Township sub-station charged the same three suspects for their thefts. All three were arraigned before Magistrate Soma with the same crimes as in the Rochester Hill’s theft. Goddard and Clever were each given $40,000 bonds and Hughes an additional $10,000 bond. All three remain jailed and may face more charges from a theft in Commerce Township that Sheriff’s detectives are now following up on.
Goddard and Clever have prior convictions for both Larceny and Retail Fraud. They are being held pending a December 16 court date.