MARRIOTT-SLATERVILLE, Utah -- Weber County deputies have arrested a man they say robbed his mother, and now cops think the two may have been working together on a staged crime.
The incident began Sunday morning at a Maverik station in Marriott-Slaterville. A female manager said that as she left the station to make a bank deposit, she was kidnapped and robbed.
Lt. Mark Lowther of the Weber County Sheriff’s Office said the woman told police the suspect was a man in a mask.
"She says she's confronted by a male wearing a black mask and is told to get in her car,” Lowther said. “She feels something cold and metal on the back of her head, the gun, and he gets into the driver's side back seat and tells her to drive to a park that's about a mile away.”
Witnesses found the manager zip-tied to the steering wheel of her car at Slaterville Park. One of them also noticed a suspicious vehicle that police said belongs to the woman’s son, 24-year-old David Charles Conerly. Cops said Conerly has confessed to the crime, initially saying he acted alone, then telling police his mother was in on it.
Lowther explained: "He comes up with 'OK, I’ll tell you guys the real truth, this was all staged, she was in on it with me. We set this up together. It wasn't a real robbery. It was both of us taking the money and claiming it was a robbery, and I tied her to the steering wheel for realism.’”
Police said the $7,000 was stolen from the Maverik. Conerly has been arrested, but his mother has not.
She’s sticking to the story that she was robbed by a stranger. Police are questioning why the woman wouldn’t recognize her son’s mannerisms or voice. She remains on investigators’ radar in this open investigation. Meanwhile, her son has bailed out of jail but may face aggravated robbery and kidnapping charges, plus possible firearms-related charges.
