LANSING -- One of two men arrested this week in connection with a gas station robbery in Delhi Township is a former Lansing police officer.
Wilbert Brewer, 37, of Lansing, was charged Tuesday with unarmed robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery.
Brewer was hired as a Lansing police officer in 1998, then fired in 2002 for allegations of misconduct and a drunken driving offense.
His bond was set at $25,000, and he's due back in front of Judge Boyd in Ingham County District Court on Tuesday, May 1.
"When you put the uniform on, and you got the badge and you take the oath -- it's everything," said Robert Merritt, the public information officer for the Lansing Police Department.
He worked with Brewer on the force.
"I knew Wil, and he was active in some of the sports programs we had in the department, and when I was younger in the department -- 10 years ago -- we shared some of those same sports," he said.
Brewer and Alvin Franklin, of East Lansing, are accused of entering the Speedway station at M-99 and Bishop Road on Saturday morning and demanding cash and lottery tickets.
The pair allegedly threatened the clerk and then escaped in a U-Haul truck.
Brewer, if convicted, faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
"When you have somebody that loses their job for the department, such as this, and then falls into a bad area -- your heart kind of goes out and you hope for the better," Merritt said. "However, there are laws out there, and we're the officers that uphold them."
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