Charges Filed in Armed Attacks on Amish Buggies

Police have made an arrest after several Amish buggies were held up at gunpoint in Gladwin and Clare counties, where large groups of Michigan’s 10,200 Amish citizens live. (Photo: Pennsylvania State University)

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Police in a rural Michigan county think they have the man responsible for a spate of armed robberies of Amish buggies in in custody.

The buggy robberies date back to May in Gladwin and Clare counties, where deputies were joined by troopers from Michigan State Police in tracking down the suspect.

Last week, Doyle Robert Dell, 20, of Gladwin was arrested after authorities served a search warrant at his home and found evidence tying him to the robberies, MLive/The Saginaw News reports.

Police have released few details about the robberies, including what was stolen or how many attacks there have been. WJRT-TV reported the robberies normally occurred at night, and the suspect, later identified as Dell, used the bright lights of his vehicle so his victims would be unable to identify him.

Michigan State Police Det. Pete McNamara told UpLiveNorth.com that crimes against the peace-loig Amish sects are rare.

“There aren’t many reported crimes from the Amish community,” he said in July after police appealed to the public for help in identifying the suspect. “They’re very quiet people that tend to stay to themselves, and (it) is unusual that someone had victimized them in a crime such as these.”

Police allege Dell demanded cash after stopping the buggies.

“These are very serious crimes,” McNamara said in July. “The fact that they’re stopping a buggy and demanding something from them – it’s a very serious crime. We don’t take that very likely.”

Amish sects have lived in Michigan since the late 1800s, but didn’t settle in large numbers in Clare and Gladwin counties until the mid-1980s. There are currently 251,000 Amish living in 456 settlements the United States and Ontario, Canada, including 10,200 Amish living in the Great Lakes state, according to the 2010 Religion Census.

Researchers from Ohio State University found that a new Amish community is formed every three and half-weeks and that more than 60 percent of Amish settlements have been founded since 1990. The Amish didn’t come to Clare County in significant numbers until the mid-1980s, and both Clare and Gladwin counties are home to large groups of Amish.