Serial 7-Eleven armed robbery suspect ordered to trial
A man charged with two armed robberies at 7-Eleven stores in Ferndale, and a suspect in four similar robberies in nearby cities, was ordered to stand trial Monday.
Rayshawn Sealy, 24, waived his right to a preliminary examination in Ferndale 43rd District Court and was bound over for trial in Oakland Circuit Court.
Sealy was also ordered to trial last week for 7-Eleven robberies in Royal Oak and Madison Heights, according to court records, and is charged in Macomb County with a seventh armed robbery at one of the stores in Warren near Nine Mile and Ryan roads.
In Oakland County, Sealy is jailed on a total of $450,000 in cash bonds in connection with the multiple robbery charges.
All the cases came together after Ferndale police arrested him Nov. 14.
Ferndale police said they tried to stop Sealy for a bicycle violation that day after he was seen “casing” the 7-Eleven store at Nine Mile and Hilton roads.
Sealy was caught after a brief foot chase. Police said he matched the description of an armed robbery suspect wanted in two 7-Eleven holdups in Ferndale.
He is accused of robbing the 7-Eleven at Nine Mile and Pinecrest on Oct. 20.
Police said he went to the counter and pulled out a folding knife, demanding the clerk give him money from the cash register.
The clerk opened the register and handed over about $300 in cash, police said, then fled from the store. Sealy is also charged with robbing the 7-Eleven store at Nine Mile and Hilton roads in Ferndale on Nov.1.
During that robbery, the suspect had his hand in his left pocket and implied he had a weapon when he approached a clerk at the counter, police said.
“The clerk opened the register and handed over approximately $805 cash,” Ferndale public information officer Jill Mahlmeister said at the time in a news release. “The suspect also stole the clerk’s cell phone and store phone.”
Ferndale police follow-up investigations revealed that the suspect would “case” the areas before each robbery and flee on a bike after robbing the stores at knifepoint, police said.
During a police interview Sealy said he had planned to come to Ferndale and rob the 7-Eleven at 9 Mile and Hilton again, police said.
Ferndale investigators worked with a few nearby police departments and learned that the suspect committed a series of robberies in the area.
Royal Oak police said Sealy is a suspect in the Oct. 23 armed robbery of the 7-Eleven at 1121 N. Campbell Road.
In Royal Oak, police said he threatened a clerk with a knife, got about $100 and fled on a bicycle.
The first in the series of robberies in southeast Oakland County appears to have happened Oct. 18 in Madison Heights when police there said he wielded a knife and got about $250 from the store at 815 W. 11 Mile Road, east of I-75.
Five days later, Madison Heights police said Sealy returned to the same store, but the store clerk fled from him and he failed to get any cash.
All the robberies have been consolidated for a trial in county Circuit Court.
Sealy is set to be arraigned for trial in the Ferndale, Royal Oak and Madison Height robberies at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 8 before Circuit Court Judge Kwame Roe. He faces five counts of armed robbery in Oakland County, each a felony punishable by up to life in prison.