Crime & Safety

Royal Oak Man Charged With Carjacking Woman at Clawson Blockbuster

Police say man threatened woman with a knife and took off in her vehicle.

A 59-year-old Royal Oak man was charged with carjacking a woman with a knife on Sunday evening in the parking lot of .

Clawson Detective Lt. Scott Sarvello said Robert Tell was arraigned on Monday in 52-4 District Court and is being held at the Oakland County Jail on a $25,000 cash bond.

Sarvello said a police investigation revealed that Tell approached the 25-year-old West Bloomfield woman near her car around 8:30 p.m. in the parking lot and told her she was going to drive him somewhere. Tell then pulled out a three to four-inch blade, police said, and when the woman screamed, he grabbed her keys and took off in her Cadillac, driving east on 14 Mile Road.

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Officers said they spotted Tell near the intersection of 14 Mile and Rochester, surrounded the vehicle, and then arrested him. Sarvello said the woman was not injured and police were able to interview one witness from the carjacking. 

Carjacking incidents are not common in the Clawson area, Sarvello said.

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"This is a serious crime," Sarvello said, adding that carjacking is a felony punishable by up to life in prison.


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