OXFORD – Five people were arrested after police accused them of interfering with an investigation into a robbery at the Oxford Quickway – one they say never took place.
Saturday afternoon, the Oxford Police Department was contacted by three people from Norwich who reported a mugging that took place while they were pumping gas at the Oxford gas station.
Police Chief Richard Nolan said they investigated the incident for two days, interviewing witnesses, reviewing surveillance footage and actually locating the suspected thief.
But police ended up arresting the three people who made the complaint, saying it appears they created it out of a personal vendetta.
Police arrested 34-year-old Bobbi L. Conant, 30-year-old Gary L. Nichols Jr. and 18-year-old Sadie M. Migdal, all living at 23 Division St., Norwich, and charged them with third degree reporting of a false incident and making a punishable false written statement, both misdemeanors.
According to their original complaint, Conant was pumping gas and holding about $70 cash in her hand while the other two waited inside the vehicle. The three said a unidentified woman approached Conant and grabbed the cash from her hand and ran towards Main Street. An hour later, after returning to Norwich, they contacted police, said Nolan.
Nolan said the alleged robber had a personal relationship with the defendants that they never acknowledged during the investigation.
“They said it was an unidentified woman, but it now appears that indeed these individuals were very familiar with each other, even friends with each other. There was a certainly a personal connection,” he said.
Nolan also said police found evidence to suggest that the woman accused of the robbery actually traveled from Norwich to Oxford with the defendants and got out of the car at the Quickway following a personal dispute.
“No supporting evidence was discovered of any robbery at the location after reviewing videotapes and talking to eyewitnesses. We also received testimony from other individuals involved in this case that contradicted the defendants’ story, and then found evidence that led us to believe it was manufactured by the defendants,” said Nolan.
After taking the three into custody Monday, two other people were charged in the case after they went to the Oxford Police and began fighting with officers and refused to leave the police station.
Police charged a husband and a friend of the defendants with second degree obstruction of government administration after they allegedly began harassing officers as they attempted to process the first three defendants.
Sherman Conant, 48, of 23 Division St., Norwich, and JoAnn Beeching, 59, of 17 Prentice St., Norwich were both charged with hampering the investigation after refusing a police order to leave the area, said Nolan.
Bobbi Conant was arraigned in Village of Oxford Court and remanded to the Chenango County Correctional Facility in lieu of $2,500 cash bail.
Gary Nichols Jr. was arraigned in Village of Oxford Court and remanded to the Chenango County Correctional Facility in lieu of $1,200 cash bail. All other individuals arrested in the case were released.