A Michigan City couple accused of stealing from a blind Chesterton widow
will each have to raise a $100,000 cash-only bond if they want out of jail.
On Wednesday, Porter Superior Court Judge Mary Harper refused to grant the
motion of Bary and Robbin Bostic for a reduced bond.
The Bostics are each charged with one count of theft—a Class C felony
punishable by a term of two to eight years—after Chesterton Police said they
sold or pawned tens of thousands of dollars worth of gold, silver, and
platinum bars belonging to the widow, whom they were caring for.
As the Chesterton Tribune reported last month, CPD officers were
initially called to investigate a burglary in the 300 block of South 10th
Street, the widow’s home, on March 16. The widow was not at the residence at
the time but staying instead at a hotel in Michigan City, according to the
probable cause affidavit filed by Det. Lt. Dave Adkins.
Responding officers were told by a woman taking care of the home in the
widow’s absence that she found a safe in the living room open and a file
cabinet opened and all paperwork pertaining to the widow’s late husband’s
estate missing, Adkins stated.
A short time later, one of the widow’s co-guardians arrived at the scene,
where she advised officers that the safe in question had contained sliver
and platinum bars and coins and that Bary and Robbin Bostic, as the widow’s
caregivers, both had access to the residence, Adkins stated.
Further investigation determined that a Michigan City jeweler who had, over
the course of 30 years, sold multiple gold, silver, and platinum bars to the
widow’s husband had recently re-purchased many of those bars and had issued
multiple checks to the Bostics or to their real estate broker on their
behalf, Adkins stated. Those checks included two on Feb. 8 in the amounts of
$96,695 and $56,224.45; one on Feb. 9 for $67,080.55; and three on March 9
for $42,695, $14,755, and $45,000, Adkins stated.
In addition, Adkins stated, in May investigators learned that Ameripawn had
re-issued to the widow $118,755.55 for silver and platinum bars and jewelry
which the Bostics had pawned there.
The Bostics had argued, in seeking a lower bond, that they have health
issues. Judge Harper, in response, noted in her order that, should the
Bostics fail to bond out, their medical appointments will be the
responsibility of jail personnel.
The Bostics are scheduled to go to trail on March 25.
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