Police arrest duo in robbery of elderly woman

Published 4:17 pm Thursday, January 16, 2014

By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

The Mountain Brook Police Department arrested two Alabaster residents after stopping the suspects’ vehicle on Jan. 10, a few days after they allegedly robbed an elderly woman in the parking lot of a Hoover Publix.

Mills

Mills

Mountain Brook Police arrested Alabaster residents Christopher Joseph Stone, 36, and Stephanie Robasciotti Mills, 32, on Jan. 10 after the Hoover Police Department issued information regarding a Jan. 6 robbery to area media and law enforcement agencies.

Stone

Stone

Both suspects list an address in the 700 block of U.S. 31 in Alabaster.

Mills has been charged with six counts of fraudulent use of a credit or debit card and one count of second-degree robbery. Stone has been charged with one count of first-degree theft of property and one count of second-degree robbery.

Both suspects are being held in the Shelby County Jail on bonds totaling $90,000 apiece.

Mills and Stone were charged in connection with a Jan. 6 robbery in the parking lot of the Publix supermarket on Doug Baker Boulevard off U.S. 280. One of the suspects allegedly “reached out of the passenger window of the vehicle and snatched the purse” from an elderly woman’s shoulder.

“The victim was thrown to the ground as the suspect and driver fled the scene in a small, silver vehicle,” read a Hoover Police press release.

Mills allegedly used one of the victim’s stolen credit cards to make a purchase at the Pelham CVS about 30 minutes after the robbery, according to Hoover Police.

If convicted of the crimes, Mills could face between two and 20 years in prison for the second-degree robbery charge and between one and 10 years per fraudulent use of a credit card charge. Stone could face between two and 20 years in prison for each of his charges.