Allen Park
$25k in construction equipment taken from site
About $25,000 in equipment was stolen from a construction site at on the southwestern corner of I-94 and Southfield Freeway about 9:30 a.m. Monday.
The stolen equipment was dragged through the site, across the eastbound I-94 ramp to Pelham Road, over the dirt embankment and through a hole in a chain-link fence, where an unknown vehicle was waiting near Cortland and Van Born Road.
Stolen items included about 1,500 feet of copper electrical cable that had been cut off from various machines; a small air compressor; three shovels; two 10-pound sledgehammers; two battery-operated 18-volt grease guns with cases; a 100-foot-long, 3/8-inch diameter air hose with an air wand; two cases of grease tubes; three 30-foot-long, 5/8-inch-thick chains with hooks; a Johnson bar; a pack of leather gloves; a pack of jersey gloves; six 100-foot extension cords; three hand grease guns and two hammer drills.
Classic cars taken from hotel
A gray 2001 Ford F-250 truck was stolen from the northern edge of the parking lot at Best Western, 3000 Enterprise Drive, between 9:30 p.m. Sept. 11 and 7 a.m. Sept. 12.
The truck was towing an off-white, two-axle, enclosed 1988 Haulmark trailer that contained two classic cars.
Security footage was supposed to include the area where the truck was parked, but the desk clerk did not have immediate access to the video during the initial police investigation.
The hauler contained a black 1931 Ford Model A pickup and a black 1916 Ford Model T touring car convertible. A welding machine also was within the vehicles.
Dearborn
Crook with a conscience arrested
A 47-year-old Redford Township man was arrested Sept. 10 for several larcenies from Ford Research and Design offices, 20801 Oakwood.
The man arrived about 3:45 p.m. toting some $10,000 in computers and computer accessories in his car. He told a security officer that he formerly worked for an information technology company that contracted with Ford.
He told police he stole the components during his term of employment with the contractor. But unable to bear his guilty conscience any longer, he wanted to return them.
The man was detained until police arrived and arrested him. Recovered items included eight desktop computers, two laptops and two prototype radiators valued at $1,500 each.
Convenience store robbed
An armed robber stole $150 on Sept. 13 from 7-Eleven, 2600 Telegraph.
A clerk told police the man walked in about 10:05 p.m. with a plastic bag covering his right hand and what appeared to be a black, cylindrical object, presumably a gun. The man demanded the clerk open the cash drawer and proceeded to grab a fistful of tens and singles, she said.
In the process he knocked the fives onto the floor, which the clerk went to retrieve. But when she got up, the man had fled in an unknown direction.
A witness told police he saw a dark-colored Ford Tempo speeding in the adjacent neighborhood shortly after the robbery. Police searched the area but couldn’t locate the car.
The suspect is described as a white man between 45 and 50 years old, standing about 5 feet 10 inches and weighing 180 pounds. At the time of the incident he had a goatee and mustache and short brown hair with a bald spot in the rear and a pronounced widow’s peak in the front. He was wearing dark sunglasses, a red T-shirt, gray or khaki-colored shorts and white tennis shoes.
Dearborn Heights
Neighbor suspected in bedroom burglary
A man in the 5000 block of Merrick suspects his neighbor of stealing several items from his house on Sept. 12.
The man called police after discovering a wedding ring, engagement ring, an MP3 player, and a pair of basketball shoes missing from his bedroom. But the size-9 shoes that were stolen had been replaced with an identical pair in size 10 1/2, leading the man to believe it may have been his next-door neighbor who committed the crime.
The victim asked his neighbor’s mother if her son had a pair of shoes like the ones that were stolen, and she said he did. Coupled with the fact that the victim’s pit bull wouldn’t have bitten or attacked the neighbor, the victim told police he was fairly sure his neighbor was responsible.
Change chiseler stunned
Police electronically subdued a 19-year-old resident of the 4400 block of Academy about 3:30 a.m. Sept. 14 after they caught him rummaging through a neighbor’s car and he attempted to flee.
Officers were dispatched on word that a car alarm was going off and arrived to find the suspect sitting in a pickup truck. Noticing that he was being watched, the suspect got out of the car and began running through backyards, jumping fences as officers yelled for him to stop.
Police finally caught up to the man, and when they asked him again to stop, he tried to run in the other direction, officers said. Police then deployed the stun gun, which allowed for the suspect to be arrested.
Officers recovered about $30 in loose change from the suspect, who said the money had come from the truck officers spotted him in.
Lincoln Park
Computer, change, jewelry taken
Thieves got thousands of dollars worth of jewelry and electronics last Sunday from a house in the 1300 block of Washington.
The resident returned from work just before 5 a.m. and found the house had been ransacked. She said she had left several windows unlocked and partially open to air it out.
About $3,000 worth of jewelry was taken from a box in the basement, along with a large jar containing $127 in loose change, a laptop computer valued at $1,400 and a box containing personal information, several inactive credit cards and uncashed personal checks, along with several bottles of wood glue.
Account of break-in disproved by video
Police were called about 4:30 a.m. last Sunday to the Sunoco gas station, 3216 Dix, in response to a building alarm.
They saw fresh wet tire marks leading from the street into the driveway before spotting a 37-year-old Detroit man exiting the front door and running around the corner of the building. The man held out his hands and was holding two brown gloves.
When ordered to the ground and handcuffed, he told police he had been set up and had never gotten inside the building. Surveillance video, however, clearly showed he kicked the front door repeatedly before entering and moving a metal cabinet in an office area. It also showed him holding what appeared to be bolt cutters and two large pry bars.
Police found a car three houses away on Richmond that they determined was owned by the man’s son and driven by the man. The tools seen in the video were on top of the car.
The man was arrested and refused to answer officers’ questions once at the police station.
Southgate
Boxed TVs gone from flooded house
Two flat-screen television sets still in their boxes were discovered missing just after 9 p.m. last Sunday from a house in the 11300 block of Willow.
The house was unoccupied and its basement was flooded. A rear window had been broken to gain entry.
Police said a rear sliding glass door was open and a path through the backyard was visible, leading them to believe the TVs might have been taken to a vehicle waiting along I-75.
The sets are valued at $800 apiece.
Bike, power tools disappear from shed
A mountain bicycle and some power tools were reported missing about 1 p.m. last Sunday from a shed in the 14200 block of Plum.
The bike is valued at $1,500. Also missing were a chain saw valued at $300, a leaf blower ($100) and a lawn mower ($100).
Trenton
Rental saga just the pits
A resident of the 2900 block of Concord said that his black rotisserie barbecue pit had been stolen sometime between Tuesday and Sept. 5.
He said he had rented it to a man over Labor Day weekend and called the man when it was not returned. The renter told the resident he had dropped off the pit about 10:30 p.m. Sept. 5 and parked it in the street in front of the resident’s house.
The pit is a 50-gallon drum welded onto a trailer that does not bear a registration plate.
The resident said the renter picked up the pit with another man was driving a Toyota pickup truck for which he had recorded the license plate number. Police checked the plate number and found no record of criminal activity.
The pit is valued at $5,000.
High-end bling goes missing
Police were summoned about 9 p.m. Sept. 11 to a house in the 2400 block of Sherwood on word of a burglary.
The resident said she was getting her clothes ready for work the next day when she saw that a dresser drawer had been disturbed.
Missing from the drawer were a woman’s $3,000 gold wedding ring described as three-quarter carat emerald diamond with princess diamonds surrounding the main diamond; a man’s $900 gold band with princess diamonds; a $1,500 tennis bracelet with 1-carat of small diamonds’ and a $50 gold men’s ring with the word “dad” inscribed on it.
The resident said she and her husband recently asked their 18-year-old stepdaughter to move out, and
believes that the stepdaughter, who still has a key to the house, may be responsible for the theft.
Melvindale
Church tent sliced overnight
A hole was cut in a large tent Monday in the parking lot at Faith Tabernacle Church, 17431 Allen Road.
The pastor told police he left about 9:30 p.m. last Sunday and returned about 5:45 p.m. Monday to discover two separate cuts along the west side of the tent, which faced the alley.
Nothing was taken from the tent.
Man finds window open
A man called police to his house in the 17100 block of Henry about 7:15 p.m. Sept. 11 after he discovered an open window with a chair under it.
The man had just evicted his 58-year-old sister the day before. He believed she had climbed in through the window and wanted police to check the house to make sure no one was there in order to avoid a confrontation.
After officers found no one inside the house, the man looked around and said nothing was missing or damaged, so he did not want to file any charges.
Riverview
Insurance employee’s car stolen with keys inside
A black 2002 Mercy Sable with a tan interior was stolen Sept. 10 from an insurance agency in the 17100 block of Quarry Road while its owner was working inside the building.
The employee parked her car in the lot about 2:30 p.m. and discovered it missing when she returned about 4:45. She said she normally leaves the keys in the ignition or drops them on the driver’s floor while away from her car, but did not remember which she had done that day.
Gunman gets away during three-city foot pursuit
About 2:15 p.m. Sept. 9, Riverview, Southgate and Wyandotte police responded to Kmart, 16705 Fort Street in Southgate, on reports of a man who had just carjacked an elderly man in the parking lot.
The suspect, described as black and about 30 years old, was chased on foot east through the Southgate Ford property and southeast into the Village Green Apartments with gun in hand before he disappeared.
Officers from the three cities combed the area south of Pennsylvania Road without success.
Memorial Elementary School, two blocks south of the crime, was placed on semilockdown as a precaution and officers stood by during student dismissal at 3:15 p.m.
Wyandotte
Crisis call believed to be false
A phone call from the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office to Downriver Central Dispatch about 3:15 p.m. Sept. 12 prompted Wyandotte officers to jump into action on a potential murder/suicide.
Officials in Ottawa County, 187 miles away and just west of Grand Rapids, said a woman called the crisis center there to say she had just shot her 11-day-old baby and was going to soak a rope in gasoline and hang herself. She then stopped talking, but left the phone on the hook for nearly an hour as crying was audible in the background.
The woman gave her name and a second partial name that officials believed was her maiden name. Ottawa officials found a woman listed as living in the 2000 block of Second Street who had a matching name and a maiden name matching the partial name, which they relayed to Wyandotte police.
Wyandotte officers went to the house and found a 35-year-old woman with the matching name who answered the door with her 7-year-old son. Her husband, 15-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter also were home. Officers did a sweep of the house and found nothing wrong. The family also said they didn’t know anyone who lives in Ottawa County.
Police in Holland, Mich., since have determined the phone call was fake and are searching for the woman who made it.
Shopper picks up extra item
While checking out at Family Dollar, 165 Maple, about 11:30 a.m. Sept. 9, a resident left her navy blue wallet on the counter and left the store.
She went into another store and realized her wallet was missing, so she returned to Family Dollar and found it was missing.
The wallet contained a driver’s license, Social Security card, Medicare card, Medicaid card, proof of insurance, proof of registration and about $42 cash.
The woman and the store manager who was working the cash register at the time recalled a black woman with two young white boys who were in line behind the victim. Security footage showed the suspect taking the wallet before walking into the foyer, adjusting her bags in an apparent effort to hide the wallet, exiting the store and heading to the western parking lot.
Additionally, as the responding officer made a traffic stop nearby, the parking lot was in the background and showed a continuation of the store’s footage. The manager said the suspect was a regular customer.
She is described as 25 to 35 years old, about 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighing about 175 pounds. The two children were between 5 and 6 and 2 and 4 years old, respectively. The suspect was driving a large, light-colored sport utility vehicle or van and headed south near Yack Arena.