Couple goes to extreme lengths to get money for engagement rings

A couple in the US has gone to extreme lengths to buy engagement rings.

North Carolina convenience store clerk Callie Elizabeth Carswell told police a man entered the Big Daddy's store carrying a knife demanding money from her.

However, investigators say they noticed discrepancies in her story and surveillance video from the store allegedly showed the knife-welding man was in fact her boyfriend, Clarence William Moore III.

Police are accusing the couple of staging the robbery and using the money to purchase engagement rings, according to a Morganton Department of Public Safety news release.

"Carswell and Moore planned the armed robbery and stole a total of $2,960 ($4367 AUD) in cash," the news release states, according to WWAY TV 3. It added that after authorities searched Moore's vehicle they found money from the store and a handwritten list of items needed to carry out the crime.

Investigators claim they later found the weapon and the clothing Moore used during the robbery.

Authorities then searched Carswell's phone and found video footage of the couple getting engaged at Walmart early the next morning.

Receipts showed engagement rings were purchased at Walmart with police alleging the stolen cash was used to buy the rings.

Police said Carswell was charged with armed robbery, misuse of 911, and filing a false police report. Moore was charged with armed robbery.

Carswell is denying having been involved in the robbery.

"I didn't do it. ... I wasn't involved," she told reporters on Tuesday.