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Last Wednesday Circuit Court Judge Donald Teeple arraigned Thomas Richard Grates of Harbor Beach in District Court. Grates was charged with armed robbery and larceny from a person.

State Police troopers were dispatched to the convenience story at the corner of Deckerville Road and M-25 in Forester Township in the early evening of Nov. 18. The 19-year-old female clerk reported a white male had entered the store wearing a heavy dark colored coat and stocking-cap mask over his face.

The robber gave the clerk a bag and ordered her to put money in it. He indicated he had a weapon but none was seen. The man fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash, running past customers in the parking lot. Nobody was injured in the robbery.

Troopers investigated a number of people, but with help from the Huron County Sheriff Department they zeroed in on Grates. The police served a search warrant on his Harbor Beach home, and seized additional evidence. The troopers were also assisted by the Harbor Beach Police.