Teens Charged With Robbing Party Store Across From Michigan Police Station

BAY CITY, MI — A pair of teens is accused of robbing a party store located kitty-corner from the Bay County Law Enforcement Center.

The product they allegedly stole? Some ready-to-drink cocktails.

Police responded at 6:45 p.m. on Jan. 10 to Liberty Food Store, 1020 N. Madison Ave., after the male clerk reported two youths stole liquor bottles and threatened to shoot him.

The clerk said he had followed their footprints through the snow, which led to an apartment building in the 400 block of North Madison Avenue, according to police reports contained in court files.

When officers arrived at the store, the clerk said he saw two teens enter and make their way to the liquor aisle. He suspected they were going to steal something, so he kept an eye on them, he said.

The teens ran out the door and the clerk chased after them. One of the teens started reaching into his front pocket and grabbing his waistband, gestures the clerk interpreted as him trying to pull a gun. The teens shouted threats that they’d kill the clerk, with one adding he would beat him up and that “we do this (expletive) all the time,” reports state.

The clerk showed officers surveillance camera footage of the teens inside the store, both wearing hooded sweatshirts and one with a backpack, reports state.

Police walked toward the apartment building the teens had run toward and encountered them outside. The teens fled when officers said they wanted to speak with them, reports state. Officers grabbed one of them, age 16, and briefly scuffled with him before he too took off running, reports state.

Officers pursued the teens as they ran down alleys and jumped fences. They soon located and arrested them. They also recovered a backpack containing two BuzzBallz, premade alcoholic cocktails sold in plastic spheres for $19.99 apiece, reports state.

Police took the younger teen to the Bay County Juvenile Detention Center, where he refused to exit their car and told them they’d have to drag him inside. Officers did so.

Police interviewed the older of the pair, 17-year-old Ethan M. Lago, in the Bay County Jail, located diagonally from Liberty Food Store.

Lago admitted he and his friend entered “the party store right across from the police station” and each stole a bottle of BuzzBallz. Lago said they then ran outside, pursued by the clerk, who fell while chasing them.

Lago said his friend yelled threats at the clerk while he remained silent. He denied they had a gun, reports state.

Prosecutors have charged Lago as an adult with armed robbery and assaulting, resisting, or obstructing police. The former is a life offense, while the latter is a two-year felony.

They have filed a juvenile petition against his younger accomplice.

Lago is to appear for a preliminary examination on April 9.

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