News (Media Awareness Project) - US MI: Police: Heroin Drove Honor Student To Rob |
| Title: | US MI: Police: Heroin Drove Honor Student To Rob |
| Published On: | 1999-01-31 |
| Source: | Orange County Register (CA) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-09-06 14:30:18 |
Photo: Plumb: The teen is awaiting trial as an adult on charges of armed
robbery. She faces a possible life sentence.
POLICE: HEROIN DROVE HONOR STUDENT TO ROB
Crime: The 16-year-old girl-also an athlete-allegedly committed holdups to
feed a $200-a-day habit.
Berkley, Mich-A high school honor student and gymnast in this Detroit
suburb has been charged with armed robbery and is a suspect in several
others, allegedly committed to support a heroin habit.
Sarah Plumb, 16, is in a juvenile lockup, awaiting trial as an adult on
charges that could land her a life prison sentence.
In all of the stickups, the robber said she had a weapon but did not show
it, police said. Michigan law requires only the threat of a weapon for an
armed-robbery conviction.
Defense attorney Howard Arnkoff said Plumb should have been handled as a
juvenile and should have been charged with something less than armed
robbery, since no weapon was displayed.
"If she gets convicted, its a nonprobational offense. She must be
incarcerated. She must be sent to prison. And I seriously doubt she could
get the help she needs," he said.
Police said she had a $200-a-day heroin habit.
"That's a pretty chronic stage of their addiction. Generally, clients buy
in $10 increments," said Bruce Goldberg, a therapist at Botsford General
Hospital's Eastwood Clinic who said Plumb probably was sharing the drug
with other people.
News of her arrest shocked the low-crime community of 16,000 that typically
has only a half-dozen holdups each year.
Though she denies committing the robberies, Plumb admits she is a heroin
addict. She was arrested Dec. 21.
She told police she began using the drug at 14 when a co-worker at a pizza
parlor introduced her and her boyfriend to heroin.
The robberies began last month, police said.
About 6 p.m. Dec. 2, wearing a skull Halloween mask, she allegedly entered
an Amoco station next to the high school and told the 17-year-old clerk - a
fellow student - that she had a weapon.
Plumb made off with $300, then went to her gymnastics team practice, police
say.
She later tried to rob a BP station in Royal Oak on Dec. 14, then robbed a
beer and wine store in Berkley the same day, a pizzeria in Clawson on Dec.
15 and another pizzeria in Southfield on Dec. 16, Detective Sgt. Ray Anger
said. She has not been charged in those holdups.
robbery. She faces a possible life sentence.
POLICE: HEROIN DROVE HONOR STUDENT TO ROB
Crime: The 16-year-old girl-also an athlete-allegedly committed holdups to
feed a $200-a-day habit.
Berkley, Mich-A high school honor student and gymnast in this Detroit
suburb has been charged with armed robbery and is a suspect in several
others, allegedly committed to support a heroin habit.
Sarah Plumb, 16, is in a juvenile lockup, awaiting trial as an adult on
charges that could land her a life prison sentence.
In all of the stickups, the robber said she had a weapon but did not show
it, police said. Michigan law requires only the threat of a weapon for an
armed-robbery conviction.
Defense attorney Howard Arnkoff said Plumb should have been handled as a
juvenile and should have been charged with something less than armed
robbery, since no weapon was displayed.
"If she gets convicted, its a nonprobational offense. She must be
incarcerated. She must be sent to prison. And I seriously doubt she could
get the help she needs," he said.
Police said she had a $200-a-day heroin habit.
"That's a pretty chronic stage of their addiction. Generally, clients buy
in $10 increments," said Bruce Goldberg, a therapist at Botsford General
Hospital's Eastwood Clinic who said Plumb probably was sharing the drug
with other people.
News of her arrest shocked the low-crime community of 16,000 that typically
has only a half-dozen holdups each year.
Though she denies committing the robberies, Plumb admits she is a heroin
addict. She was arrested Dec. 21.
She told police she began using the drug at 14 when a co-worker at a pizza
parlor introduced her and her boyfriend to heroin.
The robberies began last month, police said.
About 6 p.m. Dec. 2, wearing a skull Halloween mask, she allegedly entered
an Amoco station next to the high school and told the 17-year-old clerk - a
fellow student - that she had a weapon.
Plumb made off with $300, then went to her gymnastics team practice, police
say.
She later tried to rob a BP station in Royal Oak on Dec. 14, then robbed a
beer and wine store in Berkley the same day, a pizzeria in Clawson on Dec.
15 and another pizzeria in Southfield on Dec. 16, Detective Sgt. Ray Anger
said. She has not been charged in those holdups.
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