Staff Report

Anita Faye Slabaugh

BREMEN — More details have been released on a 2020 burglary at Rentown Country Store in Bremen.

Anita Faye Slabaugh, 29, 6675 W. CR 850N, Etna Green; and Labrand Jay Holt-Spencer, 40, 134 Laurel St., South Bend, are each charged with armed robbery, a level 3 felony; and theft, a level 6 felony.

Slabaugh was arrested in this case on March 2 with a $25,000 cash bond.

A warrant for Holt-Spencer’s involvement in the case was issued on June 10, 2020.

On Jan. 11, 2020, Marshall County dispatch received a report of the Rentown Country Store being robbed at gunpoint. The two suspects left the scene prior to officers arriving.

Bremen Police and Marshall County officers spoke with the store owners about the robbery. One of the owners said he was preparing to close the store for the day while he was in his office when he saw a vehicle park near the building.

According to court documents, when the owner walked to the cash register, one of the people who arrived in the vehicle pointed a gun at his head. The person who pointed the gun was later identified as Holt-Spencer.

Holt-Spencer demanded the owner open the cash register. However, the only register drawer remaining was almost empty since the owner was closing the store for the day. Holt-Spencer then allegedly demanded to know where the safe was. The owner took Holt-Spencer to his office and opened the safe.

Holt-Spencer stole about $15,000 in customer checks and coin money from the business. The owner said his wife went to the front of the store and noticed Slabaugh at the register pressing buttons.

Officers collected evidence from the scene and also spoke with two witnesses who said they saw the suspect vehicle and found it suspicious. One witness noticed one of the people in the vehicle was wearing a ski mask with only eye holes.

On May 14, 2020, Plymouth Police officers informed Marshall County officers that an object found at the scene had DNA that matched Holt-Spencer’s. Officers learned Holt-Spencer was arrested on Feb. 26, 2020, by the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department in Michigan.

In May 2020, officers contacted the Berrien County officer who arrested Holt-Spencer. The officer said upon his arrest, Holt-Spencer was in possession of a handgun, black ski mask and crowbar. An officer also noticed the vehicle used in the Rentown robbery matched the vehicle Holt-Spencer was in during his February 2020 arrest.

On May 15, 2020, Marshall County officers spoke with Rentown’s owners and showed them pictures of Holt-Spencer’s vehicle, handgun and mask. The owners said that Holt-Spencer’s vehicle was the exact one used in the robbery.

On May 19, 2020, a Marshall County officer went to Jackson, Mich., to interview Holt-Spencer. While being read his Miranda rights, Holt-Spencer said he wanted a lawyer.

When the officer said he applied for a search warrant to obtain Holt-Spencer’s DNA, Holt-Spencer said that since he’s been arrested in the past, officers already had his DNA. When the officer said again he wanted a DNA sample, Holt-Spencer refused to comply.

He eventually agreed to provide a DNA sample and waived his Miranda rights after asking the officer why it was believed he committed the robbery.

The officer showed Holt-Spencer a picture of the Rentown store. Holt-Spencer said he did not recall the place but that he’s only been in Marshall County while traveling on US 31. When asked who he was with when committing the robbery, Holt-Spencer denied robbing Rentown and said his DNA could not have been there. The officer told Holt-Spencer the gun and ski mask that he had were the same types used in the robbery. Holt-Spencer said, “I rob drug dealers and don’t wear ski masks,” and denied robbing Rentown.

Holt-Spencer said his sister purchased the handgun for him and that he only used the firearm to rob drug dealers.

Officers later received information that Slabaugh may have knowledge of the robbery.

On Jan. 6, officers spoke with Slabaugh about the robbery. Slabaugh said Holt-Spencer was her boyfriend and that she was the second person involved in robbing Rentown. She said Holt-Spencer took money from a safe while she took money from cash registers.