BERWICK — Police are looking for a woman they say beat and robbed another woman, then disappeared with her accomplice’s 13-year-old daughter.

Denise Mary Carter, 44, of 215 E. Front St. Apt. B, Berwick, faces felony charges of aggravated assault, robbery and burglary.

Her co-defendant and the girl’s father, Carel D. “Chaos” Foster, 52, of 209 E. Second St., Berwick, was found unconscious in their victim’s apartment with his pants pulled down to his mid-thigh, according to court papers. He denied having anything to do with the robbery when he was finally arraigned late Thursday afternoon, even though police said they found the victim’s rings and driver’s license in his pockets.

The victim, Regina Welch, 56, told police Foster called her from outside the Shain Building, 100 N. Mulberry St., where she lives in an apartment, around 3:30 a.m. Thursday, according to court papers.

He told her his wife, Sadie, was in trouble and he needed help, she said. So she buzzed him in.

But when she opened her apartment door, Foster was accompanied by Carter, she said. The pair allegedly walked into the apartment without being invited and began demanding money, telling her, “We need to get some drugs.”

‘Going to kill you’

When she told them she didn’t have money to give them, Carter forced her onto the bed in the bedroom, pinned her down, and began punching her in the head and chest, court papers said. Welch turned her head away, but that’s when Foster punched her in the head, she told officers.

The pair muffled her cries with a towel or rag, she said. Carter also allegedly told her, “I’m going to kill you tonight.”

Afterward, Carter took Welch’s purse and dumped it on the floor to search for her debit card, she said.

That’s when Welch was able to escape to another apartment, where the tenant called 9-1-1, officers said.

Police arrived to find Welch, whose face was bleeding. Her eyes, nose and mouth were swelling. Blood was in the white of her eye.

Man out cold

Foster was lying on her bed, face up, with his pants down, according to court documents. Police said they couldn’t wake him.

A bottle of the pills belonging to Welch was sticking out of one of his pants pockets, they said. Officers gave him several doses of Narcan to reverse any narcotic overdose, but their efforts weren’t very successful, they said.

He was taken to Berwick Hospital Center, and didn’t wake up until 8:30 a.m. Hospital staff found the rings and Welch’s driver’s license in his front pants pocket when they removed his pants, according to court papers.

Inside the apartment, officers said they found a towel at the foot of the bed with what appeared to be blood on it. They also allegedly found $26 in cash balled up on the floor — the same amount of money Welch said had been in her purse.

Foster admitted seeing Carter choke Welch into unconsciousness several times, police said. He said he told her to give Welch her money back and to leave.

‘I didn’t do it’

Foster was still protesting his innocence when he was brought in his hospital gown and non-slip socks to be arraigned before District Judge Knecht.

He moaned occasionally as the charges were read, and sometimes huddled down, his head almost touching his lap as he sat at the defendant’s table.

He asked if Welch was going to be at the proceeding.

“I know she’s upset right now, but I know if she was here, she’d drop the charges, because she know I didn’t do this stuff,” he said.

District Judge Richard Knecht explained victims don’t normally appear at arraignments, but that she might be there to testify during his preliminary hearing Jan. 30.

“She invited us over,” he protested.

Welch had asked him to put her rings and driver’s license in his pocket to protect them from Carter he said. And she had offered him ibuprofen because he had run out of pain medication for a back and ankle injury.

Girl missing

When Knecht asked him if he had children under 18, he said he had two: one is 18 months old and lives with the mother, he said. The other, a 13-year-old, lives with him, he said.

That worried the judge.

“Where is she now?” he asked.

“Probably at school,” Foster replied.

“But it’s 4:30,” the judge said. “School is out.”

“It’s 4:30?” Foster asked.

That’s when Det. Greg Martin explained that he had contacted the child’s mother, who had spoken on the cell phone with the girl around 3:30 p.m. The mother said the teen was with Carter.

“But no one will tell us where,” he said.

“She said she was O.K.,” he added.

“Except she’s with a felon,” Knecht replied.

He set Foster’s bail at $100,000.

“Oh God, I’m going to lose my job, everything,” Foster mourned. He had been working at Wise Snacks for about five months and has been a good citizen since moving to Berwick, he said as he begged to be released without having to post bail.

“You’re facing three serious felonies,” the judge replied, refusing to budge. Foster was taken to Columbia County Prison.

Carter, meanwhile, remained on the loose.

Susan Schwartz covers the Berwick area. She can be reached at 570-752-3646 and susan.schwartz@pressenterprise.net, or followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/PESueSchwartz.