Police: Man arrested stealing sewing machines at gunpoint

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - The Summerville Police Department has arrested a man for stealing multiple sewing machines from a Jo-Ann Fabric Store.

Jail records say Michael Coffy has been charged with armed robbery armed with a deadly weapon.

Police say they first responded to the fabric store at 3:55 p.m. on June 20. incident reports say they were responding to calls about an armed robbery.

Witnesses saw two men walk into the store, grab three sewing machines and walk out with them, but incident reports say one man was holding a black handgun down by his leg.

Police say the men passed all points of sale without paying and three sewing machines had an estimated value of $1,000.

The two men left the scene in a brown colored sedan, but witnesses couldn’t make out license plate numbers, officers said.

Police tried to fingerprint the shopping cart used to move the three sewing machines out of the building, but incident reports say they were inconclusive.

The manager of the JoAnn was unable to provide police with immediate security camera footage because all footage is managed through another company off-site.

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