Crime & Safety
Shirtless Man Displays Butcher Knife in Armed Robbery Attempt
A Royal Oak man is being held on $250,000 bond after he allegedly tried to rob a local gas station with a butcher knife. The charge is punishable by up to life in prison.
A shirtless man armed with a butcher knife was apprehended without incident after he tried to rob a Royal Oak gas station Sunday afternoon.
The man, later identified as Matthew Robert Bainter, 54, entered the Speedway Gas Station, 1620 E. 12 Mile Road, at 3:21 p.m. and demanded cash as he produced a large kitchen-style butcher knife, Royal Oak Police said in a news release.
The suspect fled the store before obtaining any money and fled before obtaining any money or merchandise, and employees locked themselves in a back office and called 911.
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A K-9 officer was deployed after the Royal Oak Police Department secured the perimeter of the area. Information received during the investigation led them to a home in the 1700 block of N. Altadena and Bainter.
Bainter was arraigned on a charge of armed robbery, a felony that can carry a sentence of life in prison, Tuesday in 44th District Court in Royal Oak. Judge Derek Meineke set bond at $250,000.
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Police said Bainter has two prior convictions on a felony charge of receiving and concealing stolen property, two counts of felony larceny in a building and a felony charge of use of a stolen financial transaction device.
Bainter’s next court date is July 11.
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