Allen Park
Man caught stuffing toy cars in pockets
After being caught concealing two toy cars and an MP3 player in his pants pockets at Target, 3100 Fairlane Drive, about 10 a.m. Monday, a 32-year-old Dearborn Heights man confessed to taking much more.
He told a loss prevention officer he had been stealing merchandise from the store since November. The man said it began with the cars and candy before evolving into higher-priced items.
He wrote out a confession statement and signed a restitution agreement saying he stole items with a combined value of more than $3,700.
Employee caught stealing
About 10 a.m. Monday, a store employee at Target, 3100 Fairlane Drive, was questioned about a tub that recently contained five MP3 players that had just four in it when he transported it to the store floor.
The 27-year-old Lincoln Park man admitted to taking the player, along with a screen cover and case (the items’ combined value is about $178) that day, as well as several other items during the past six months. He said he had taken items from the back room and hidden them in his car during his lunch break.
He admitted to previously stealing 10 $60 video games, eight $20 DVDs, one $13 CD and one other $145 MP3 player during the past few months. Total value of the thefts is nearly $1,100.
Dearborn
Armed robbers take electronics from man on porch
A man was robbed at gunpoint about 1 a.m. Aug. 13 while sitting on his front porch in the 7600 block of Neckel.
The man told police he was using his laptop computer when two men approached him, one wielding a silver handgun. The gunman told him to empty his pockets, and the man said he didn’t have any money to give them. The gunman then demanded the man’s laptop and cell phone and the man complied. Both suspects then fled north on foot toward Tireman.
The robbers are described as thin black men between 17 and 20 years old. At the time of the incident the gunman was wearing all black and the other suspect was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt.
Police patrols from Dearborn and Detroit searched the area for about 30 minutes but were unable to locate the suspects.
Gunpoint request for bike results in preteens’ arrest
Police arrested two Detroit boys, ages 10 and 11, for armed robbery about 3 p.m. Aug. 13 near Gould and Greenfield.
A resident said the two children had just tried to rob his son at gunpoint. His son reported he was riding his bike when the boys stopped him. He said one of the boys pointed a BB gun at his head and demanded the bike. Knowing it wasn’t a real gun, the boy told police, he denied the request.
His refusal caused the other boy to punch him twice in the face before he was able to escape and pedal away to safety. After his son returned home, the boy’s father pursued the suspects and kept them under watch until police arrived.
Officers found a BB handgun tucked in one of the boys’ waistbands and a knife tucked into the others. Both were arrested and transported to the Wayne County Youth Home for processing.
Lincoln Park
Children’s DVDs gone from garage
Lawn items and children’s DVDs were taken between Aug. 8 and last Sunday from a garage in the 400 block of Detroit.
The owner said the door had been left unlocked. Missing items included a lawn mower valued at $250, a weed trimmer at $125 and about 60 movies on DVD collectively valued at $600.
Shirtless bike snatcher stopped
A man and his daughter thwarted the theft of her $300 bicycle about 3 p.m. on Monday in the 1400 block of Michigan.
Police said the two were in their living room watching television when she saw a 14-year-old Detroit boy wearing no shirt walk onto the porch and take her bike. The father and daughter got into his car and followed the boy as he pedaled east on Michigan.
When confronted, the boy dropped the bike in the street and took off on foot. The father and daughter recovered the bike and continued to follow him until police arrived.
The boy was taken to the police station and detained for fingerprinting.
Southgate
GPS, tennis shoes disappear
Several items were stolen between midnight and 8 a.m. Monday from a 2002 GMC vehicle parked in a driveway in the 15100 block of Glenhurst.
The owner said missing items included a Global Positioning System unit, a cell phone charger and a pair of tennis shoes, collectively valued at $400.
Men grab free beer
Two men stole a case of beer each just before 8 p.m. Aug. 14 from CVS/pharmacy, 11125 Allen Road.
The manager said they walked through the cosmetic aisle toward the cooler at the rear of the store, removed a case of beer each and began walking toward the front of the store.
He confronted them, but they continued walking and left the store. He yelled after them, but they began running east toward Fountain Park Apartments and lost him after passing through a break in a wall.
The store surveillance video captured images of the men. Both were white and between 18 and 20 years old. One was wearing a gray, short-sleeved T-shirt and red gym shorts; the other wore a black short-sleeved T-shirt and black shorts.
The beer was valued at $39.
Taylor
Break-in nets jackets, games
Eight jackets, a video game system and an unknown number of video games were taken last week from a house in the 12500 block of Pine.
The owner left about 1 p.m. Aug. 9 and returned about 10:30 a.m. Aug. 11 to find her front door kicked open and the items missing.
Police did not list a value for the items.
Utility trailer unloaded
A number of tools were removed from a 12-foot utility trailer last week parked in the 26500 block of Brest.
The trailer was parked near a garage, and the lock on the rear door was broken off. Missing items included an aluminum brake, three saws, two drills, two framers and a roofer gun.
The owner last saw the trailer secured Aug. 10 and reported the thefts Aug. 12.
Trenton
Would-be robber was online ‘friend’
A resident in the 400 block of St. Joseph identified a neighborhood boy through an online social media site as the person who was attempting to rob his vehicle last week.
Police said the man called them just before 3 a.m. Wednesday after spotting the boy going through the man’s GMC Yukon. He approached the boy and told him to get out of vehicle, and the boy asked him to “just let me go” before running north on Fourth toward Cherry.
Officers arrived on the scene and found the owner in his car driving around the area looking for the suspect, who he told them he recognized the boy after using an online social media site. The man told them it was the same boy who was trying to break into a van parked in his parking lot a week earlier.
The man told police the boy visits friends at a house in the 2500 block of Fourth and may have headed there after the man ordered him out of the car. A witness who identified himself as the owner of the van that sustained a recent break-in attempt said he saw the Yukon’s owner confront the boy.
The Yukon owner said he wanted to press charges and described what he believed was the boy’s pickup truck, which police traced to a Wyandotte address. Police said, however, that they found no such truck in the area of Wednesday’s incident.
Cash, checks removed from parish office
The owner of a vacant house in the 2700 block of Fifth found a stack of personal checks under the welcome mat at the back door about 5 p.m. Monday.
He told police they belonged to St. Joseph Catholic Church, and that all were dated one or two days prior. A yellow piece of paper around the checks bore a tallied amount of $3,300, $2,300 in checks and $1,000 cash. All of the checks were for $100 each. Only $2,200 in checks was recovered from the stack. One check for $100 was missing, along with $1,000 cash.
Church officials noticed the cash and checks missing about noon that day, and said the call from police confirmed their fears that they had been stolen. Police said a man doing community service through the 33rd District Court was in the church’s office area around the time the cash and checks went missing.
Melvindale
Drive-through destruction
A malicious destruction of property was reported about 4:45 p.m. Tuesday at Burger King, 18520 Allen Road.
A woman at the restaurant said a white truck hit the roof of the drive-through and took off without reporting the incident. She was unable to describe the driver, but noted the truck’s license plate number.
A check of the police computer system found no record of the plate number.
Cousins fight outside bar, but don’t know why
A fight took place about 12:30 a.m. Aug. 14 in the parking lot of Jake’s Crossroads Bar, 2704 Oakwood Blvd.
Officers arrived to find two men with facial injuries.
Bar patrons said the two fought in the parking lot before the fight could be broken up. Both men admitted to fighting, but neither knew what the fight was regarding. Both declined medical attention for facial contusions and bloody noses.
A woman said she was the girlfriend of one of the men, and that the other man was his cousin. She said she didn’t see the fight and didn’t know why they had fought, but offered to drive her boyfriend home.
The other man said a friend from Lincoln Park was coming to pick him up. Officers stood by until the one man left with his girlfriend.
Wyandotte
Man flashes female drinking buddy
A 60-year-old resident called police about midnight Wednesday to report she had been flashed approximately a week prior at her residence in the 3300 block of Eighth.
The woman said a 56-year-old resident man was drinking with her at her house when he removed his penis from his pants and exposed himself.
The woman told officers she became highly upset, approached the man, grabbed his penis and forcefully twisted “until his face turned red,” at which point she shouted at him and demanded he not “treat her like a whore.” She said the man put his penis back in his pants, fell asleep and left about an hour later.
Police during their interview noticed the woman was highly intoxicated. She said she didn’t contact them sooner because she had just been arrested and was afraid of them after going to the “nut house.”
Officers advised her to call again if the man returned.
Accidental gunfire leaves man shaken
Police were called to the 500 block of Elm about 7 a.m. Aug. 12 by a 62-year-old man who wanted to file a report that he had accidentally discharged his handgun inside his apartment.
Police said the man appeared visibly shaken. He told them he was removing his gun from its lockbox to clean it when it discharged, leaving a bullet hole in the ceiling. He said he never leaves his guns loaded and was unaware that it was loaded. He also said the apartment above his was vacant, and that he already had reported the incident to his landlord.
Officers confirmed that the upstairs apartment was vacant and that the bullet exited the south living room window of the upstairs apartment after coming up through the floor.
The man provided a permit listing several guns registered to him. The gun was taken and tagged as property; the man was given a complaint number to begin the process of getting his gun back.
(Compiled by Chris Jackett, J. Patrick Pepper and Tom Tigani.)