Ind. woman, 3 others charged in Amish attacks

BERNE, Ind. — Four northern Indiana residents are facing felony charges in connection with a series of attacks and robberies on local Amish traveling in horse-drawn buggies.

Court documents allege that 42-year-old Michelle Rodriguez hatched a plan to rob Amish residents in the Adams County town of Berne to get money she needed to move from Berne to Fort Wayne and to buy cocaine.

The Journal Gazette reports that Rodriguez, 19-year-old David Veliz, 18-year-old Alejandro Lopez and a juvenile face robbery-related charges in Monday’s attacks.

In one of the four attacks an Amish woman driving a buggy reported that two people wearing masks and one carrying a baseball bat exited a car, demanding money from her. When she refused to comply, the person with the bat struck her in the leg.