By David Fleet
Editor
A Clarkston man will now spend a minimum of 30 years in prison for an attack in Atlas Township last year.
On Nov. 13, Charles Gamble II was sentenced by Seventh Circuit Court Judge Archie Hayman after he was found guilty on Oct. 10 of assault with intent to do great bodily harm and assault and battery in connection with the Oct. 7, 2016 attack on a woman and her son on a cross country trail located behind Oaktree Elementary School, 7500 Gale Road.
Gamble, 42, is also charged separately in an assault that took place one week earlier on a female jogger in the Davison Regional Park.
He also received credit for 389 days served in jail since the attack.
His bond was set at $2,000,000.
In 2003, Gamble was also convicted in Macomb County of kidnapping, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and two counts felony firearms. Per Michigan Department of Corrections, he was sentenced as a habitual offender fourth offense a 25 year mandatory sentence.
According to police reports, Gamble, came out from behind a tree and attacked the women. The victim’s 7-year old son, who was running behind his mother, began screaming at the alleged assailant who fled the scene.
The testimony during the trial revealed Gamble laid in wait and assaulted the victims causing facial bone fractures and other injuries.
The woman’s 11-year-old daughter was also nearby but was unharmed.
Sheriff investigators believe Gamble cased the area near the Goodrich Middle School the night before. Security footage from the Goodrich Middle School caught the suspect leaving the area in a black Chevrolet Tahoe SUV with over sized, chrome, after-market rims and a carrier rack.
Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell said that on Oct. 12, 2016 deputies pulled over a vehicle matching the description of the SUV on M-15 near Horton Road in Atlas Township. Gamble was held for questioning and his SUV was searched by investigators. He was released about 3:30 a.m , but his SUV was retained and a warrant was obtained by the Genesee County Prosecutor’s Office.
Investigators found Gamble changed the rims of the vehicle a day after the attack in Atlas Township. The chrome rims were found in garbage bags in Gamble’s garage. Cell phone records also showed he was near the scene of both attacks around the time of the assaults.