Allen Park
Alleged car thief strikes twice
A 2007 burgundy Honda CR-V was reported stolen shortly before 8:30 a.m. Jan. 17 from the 16000 block of Sherborne.
It was parked in the owner’s driveway, police said, and the keys were inside it at the time. A suspect, described as a younger black male, allegedly attempted to steal another vehicle in the area of Arlington and Larme recently.
Dearborn
Rifle carrier’s getaway thwarted
A Jan. 15 reporting of a home invasion led to the arrest of a man who was carrying a rifle.
Dearborn officers assisted Detroit police about 1:30 p.m. after a witness said they saw a black male wearing a dark coat and carrying a snow shovel walking south on Wyoming and then east into the parking lot of CVS/pharmacy, 8936 Tireman.
The man then started walking toward the cars in the lot. After being approached by police, he went over to a Chevrolet and showed the driver he was carrying a wooden-handled assault rifle under his shirt.
When he then tried to get into the driver’s seat of the car, police then arrested the man, who the witness later identified as the person responsible for the home invasion.
Traffic stop leads to stolen vehicle arrest
A 21-year-old Detroit man and a 20-year-old Roseville man stopped for traffic violations Jan. 4 at Fairlane Town Center, 18900 Michigan Ave., turned out to be driving a stolen car.
Officers stopped them about 5:40 p.m. after the Detroit man turned the 1998 Chrysler four-door he was driving onto Town Center Drive from Lone Oak without signaling. The officer also saw that the driver was not wearing a seat belt.
A background check revealed the driver was driving with a suspended license, and the passenger had a prior arrest warrant.
The car bore Dodge emblems rather than Chrysler. The vehicle identification number plate was scratched, and the ignition was separated from the steering column and could be removed by hand.
The VIN under the rear seat was different than the one on the dashboard. A check on the former number revealed the car was stolen.
Both were taken to the police station where the passenger also was detained on his warrant.
Dearborn Heights
Unhappy coffee customer breaks container
A 25-year-old woman broke a coffee pot Jan. 15 at 7-Eleven, 27150 Cherry Hill, after deeming the contents unsuitable.
The woman entered the store just before noon and demanded that the clerk make a new pot of coffee for her. When told the coffee on the warmer was fresh, the woman went behind the supply counter and prepared to make coffee for herself.
The clerk, who said she has had trouble with the woman and the woman’s sister in the past, confronted the customer, who then started to call the clerk vulgar names.
The woman then threw the coffee pot on the ground, left the store and got into a 1994 Chevrolet. The clerk, who got behind the car in an attempt to get the license plate number, said the woman tried to back over her.
Cart full of parts purloined
Two suspects got away with $1,015 worth of items Jan. 12 at AutoZone Auto Parts, 24940 Van Born Road.
The store manager said two suspects wearing heavy winter coats entered the store shortly after 4 p.m., took a shopping cart, filled it with items and then left.
They set off the alarm as they ran for the door. One of the suspects had a beard and a mustache, the manager said.
Wallet, credit cards stolen from car
Electronics and a purse containing several cards were stolen Jan. 12 from a 2003 Ford Explorer parked in a driveway of a house in the 6000 block of North Silvery Lane.
The sport utility vehicle was unlocked.
Missing were a Global Postioning System unit and a black leather wallet containing credit cards, a Bridge card, health insurance cards and personal and insurance checks.
Lincoln Park
Diner’s van robbed
A Global Positioning System unit and a cell phone charger were taken between 2:20 and 2:40 p.m. last Sunday from a 2005 Chrysler Town & Country parked at Tijuana’s Mexican Restaurant, 1679 Dix.
The van’s owner said it was locked, and that he returned to find the passenger-side window was broken out. The GPS unit is valued at $600, the charger at $30.
Damage to the van is estimated at $150.
Trip to dryer results in stolen SUV, chase
A blue 2002 Ford Explorer was stolen about 6:30 a.m. Monday from a driveway in the 1700 block of Michigan after its owner left it unattended to retrieve her coat from a dryer.
She said she heard the sport utility vehicle’s engine rev as she walked up the stairs from her basement, and saw it headed west on Michigan toward Dix as she reached the door of her house.
She then got into her other vehicle and followed it onto northbound I-75 and east on Schaefer Road before losing it in the area of Dartmouth and Corbin.
The owner said she got next to the stolen vehicle on the freeway and could see it was being driven by a black male wearing a dark-colored coat with fur on the hood.
Jewelry box emptied
A total of $2,500 worth of women’s jewelry was taken between 6:30 a.m. and 9:45 p.m. Tuesday from a house in the 2100 block of Champaign.
The resident said the front door apparently was kicked in and found a partial shoe print on it. The jewelry was missing from a box in a bedroom.
Melvindale
Vandals strike apartment complex
Items were discovered missing Jan. 18 from a company-owned vehicle parked in front of an apartment complex in the 18900 block of Allen Road and a dryer in the complex was vandalized.
A resident reported that a snowblower and an electric plumber’s snake were missing from the vehicle, which had been unlocked. She also said someone apparently had struck the dryer in the laundry room with a crowbar in an attempt to open its money box.
The box had not been opened.
Vehicle keyed
A Ford Expedition was keyed while parked in an apartment complex at 2395 Outer Drive.
Scratch marks were found around the driver’s side, the passenger’s side and the rear.
The owner said the damage may have occurred between 10 p.m. Jan. 16 and 6:30 a.m. Jan. 17.
Riverview
Drunken driver cited at library
A Southgate man was cited Jan 13. on a third drunken driving charge after picking up his daughter at the Riverview Public Library.
He was sitting in his gold Chevrolet truck in the fire lane in front of the library, but pulled into a parking spot when he saw officers in the parking lot. When asked, the man could not produce a valid driver’s license, and he said he did not have one.
He told police he had had a few beers an hour earlier. He failed field sobriety tests and on a breath test registered a blood alcohol content of 0.15 percent. The legal limit in Michigan is 0.08 percent. His license plate was destroyed and his vehicle was impounded.
Southgate
Router ripped off
A computer router valued at $2,000 was discovered missing about 3:50 p.m. Jan. 14 from Zanaware Technologies, One Heritage Place.
The owner said it was in a back room that is rarely used, and that there were no signs of forced entry.
Thrift store patron’s wallet disappears
A shopper at the Salvation Army store, 14275 Eureka Road, said her wallet was stolen from her cart about 1:15 p.m. Jan. 15.
The wallet contained $53 cash, a bridge card and Medicaid cards.
Taylor
Thieves steal girl’s homework
A resident went into the police station last Sunday to report that several items had been stolen from a vehicle in the 22600 block of Ecorse Road.
It contained his daughter’s backpack, economics textbooks, homework and a digital camera.
Trenton
Woman tries for free lunch with debit card
A resident reported Jan. 12 that his wife, whom he is in the process of divorcing, is using his debit card fraudulently.
He said that twice in November the card was used to buy pizza from a local restaurant and have it delivered to her workplace, which also is in Trenton.
The resident said his bank already has reimbursed him for the money taken, and that his wife may have obtained the card number while she was at his residence visiting their children.
Man refuses to go quietly
A 53-year-old man missed two chances to avoid arrest just before 5 p.m. last Sunday at an apartment in the 2800 block of West Jefferson.
Management had called police to ask that they escort him off the property. When they arrived to do so, he cursed at an officer but then turned to leave.
The man walked down some stairs at the property but turned around and again cursed at the officer, who again advised him to leave.
The man then stepped toward the officer and struck him in the chest with his left hand, at which point he was arrested.
Wyandotte
Liquor theft smashed
A man made off with one bottle of whiskey Jan 15 after attempting to steal three at the CVS/pharmacy, 131 Elm.
He dropped one of the bottles inside the store, then ran out with two others. He dropped one just outside the door of the building, then ran west on Elm and through an alley alongside the store.
The officer found the stolen third bottle in an alley and a second officer apprehended the suspect. The liquor was valued collectively at $47.
Footprints lead to arrest
Prescription drugs were confiscated last week from an 18-year-old man accused of vandalizing several houses in the area of 12th and Spruce.
Before 11 a.m. Jan. 14, an officer stopped the man walking in the alley nearby in violation of a city ordinance.
The man was carrying a BB gun and told the officer he was not from the city and might need it for protection. The man was warned verbally about the gun and released. The officer then followed a trail in the freshly fallen snow that matched the man’s distinctive shoe prints. According to the report, the footprints led to several garages on Cedar and Spruce, “as if he were casing them out.”
The officer made contact with the man at his house in the 1300 block of Spruce. Earlier in the day, reports had been made of projectiles being shot through windows of the houses across the street. The officer told the man he had followed his footsteps, and the man replied, “I didn’t go through any yards through any fences or try any garage doors.” Officers gained the man’s permission to search his room for the BB gun he was seen with earlier.
Once inside, they witnessed the man putting a marijuana pipe into his pants pocket. They also located a sandwich bag containing three pills for anxiety for which the man did not have a prescription. He then was handcuffed.
Officers asked if he needed the shoes he was wearing that morning, and the man pointed out a pair of shoes inside his room. They noticed, however, that on his feet were completely wet shoes with treadmarks matching those left in the snow.
(Compiled by Daniel Heraty, Andrea Poteet and Tom Tigani.)