(Michigan City, IN) - A man is accused of robbing and briefly kidnapping two female customers of a liquor store on separate days in Michigan City.

 

Anthony Rivers, 47, is charged in La Porte Superior Court 1 with two counts of Robbery and two counts of Kidnapping, all Level 3 felonies, along with five other counts.

 

Both incidents occurred roughly two weeks apart in December, outside of King Richards Liquors in the 3300 block of Franklin Street.

 

Two women came out of the store after making purchases and climbed behind the wheel of their vehicles just before Rivers allegedly sat down in their front passenger seats. Then, at gunpoint, police said he emptied the purse of the first victim and took $15 in cash.  He also wanted her to drive him to an ATM, but all she had was a food stamp card. 

 

She then complied with his order to drive him to a location a short distance away, where he stepped out of the vehicle and fled.

 

According to court documents, the second victim, also at gunpoint, was requested to drive to an ATM before then showing him her bank account to prove she had no money to withdraw from the machine. She then obeyed his commands to drive before stopping in an alleyway where Riversm wearing a ski mask, left with the woman’s purse along with her rings, necklace, and earrings she had on.

 

Neither one of the victims was physically harmed, police said.

 

Court documents also revealed surveillance camera images of Rivers, bearing a close description of the suspects in each robbery, helped result in his arrest.

 

Vehicle registration data, compiled by license plate reading flock cameras, narrowed down his location to a residence in the 1400 block of Tennessee Street where a car linked to Rivers was found.

 

In 2005, Rivers was reportedly arrested and later convicted of robbing two U.S. immigration agents in Calumet City, Illinois.