Michigan men plead guilty to 2022 violent robbery of Bucks County comic bookstore

Two men from Michigan have pleaded guilty to violently robbing a comic book store in Feasterville.

23-year-old Zackery Maximus Tucker and 36-year-old Caleb James-Lorenze Simpson pled guilty to robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, and aggravated assault.

Tucker and James-Lorenze Simpson were both ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $20,029.88.

The Comic Collection Store, located at 83 Bustleton Pike, Feasterville, was robbed on September 18, 2022, which is when the owner was brutally beaten, and tied up.

Store owner, David Schwartz, has owned the store since 1985. In a statement read in front of the judge in May, Schwartz said “They took the sense of security and safety away from me,”.

On September 18 at 4:45 p.m., officers from the Lower Southampton Township Police Department were dispatched to the store for a report of an assault and robbery. The entire robbery was captured on store surveillance footage that showed Schwartz on the floor, bloodied, beaten, and zip-tied, and Simpson and Tucker wearing masks.

The two men entered the store pretending to be legitimate customers and asking the store owner to assist them in getting merchandise off a high shelf.  After the owner got to the top of the ladder, Simpson violently knocked him off, sending him flipping to the ground and landing on his head. Both Simpson and Tucker then beat Schwartz and tied him up. Simpson also punched the victim while wearing brass knuckles and held a knife to his face threatening to kill him if he did not cooperate.

The men took Shwartz’s laptop, keys, cash, comic books, Pokémon cards, action figures, and other store merchandise. They also took money out of the victim’s wallet and left his credit cards behind.

As a result of the brutal attack, Schwartz suffered numerous contusions, lacerations, broken teeth, and broken ribs.

Police recovered some of the stolen merchandise and clothing believed to be worn by them. Also, during the search for the suspects, the Lower Southampton Township Police Department sent out a news release, asking for the public’s help in identifying them.

On December 19, 2023, Lower Southampton Township Police received information that linked Simpson and Tucker to the Comic Collection robbery.

A DNA test was done and the results linked Simson and Tucker to the crime.

Both men were sentenced to five to 12 years in state prison.