TOWN OF POUGHKEEPSIE – Town police in Poughkeepsie have arrested a husband and wife on felony robbery charges after an incident on Monday, March 7, at a laundromat near police headquarters. The couple has taken to social media to defend themselves.
Forty-three-year-old David Defranco, and his partner, Michelle Jones Defranco, 42, both of Poughkeepsie have been charged with a crime and have defended themselves on the Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department’s social media page.
Police officials say that on Monday, March 7, at approximately 7:42 p.m., officers responded to a report of a robbery that had just occurred at the 44 Laundromat at 51 Burnett Boulevard. When officers arrived, the victim stated that a man and woman had just stolen his wallet and drove off in a vehicle. A description of the vehicle was broadcast over the police radio and the vehicle was located moments later by another officer who stopped the vehicle.
An investigation revealed that the suspects displayed a nail gun at the victim, prior to fleeing the scene. A nail gun was recovered from the stopped vehicle. As a result of the victim’s statement and police investigation, the couple was charged with felony robbery and arraigned on March 8th. David Defranco was remanded to the Dutchess County Jail and Michelle Jones Defranco was released under the supervision of Dutchess County Probation.
Mrs. Defranco responded to the police department’s social media post, saying in part “You are not safe at any time a sledgehammer carrying lunatic could burst out of a building swinging it at your head it’s terrifying! It’s weird the article doesn’t mention that or the fact the ‘victim’ had his wallet in the end of the incident and we drove away peacefully,” she wrote. “Thank god my husband was there to protect me and defuse the situation or I could be dead!”
With regard to the use of a weapon, the woman said of her husband, “He only pulled out a nail gun after the ‘victim’ would not put down the sledgehammer!” Defranco insinuated that his wife was threatened and commented on the thread saying “No one that try to hurt my wife is safe ever.”
