Allen Park
Nail gun swiped
A $300 nail gun was stolen from a vehicle parked in front of a house in the 9700 block of Ruth early Tuesday morning.
The owner said he heard a vehicle running in front of his house and saw a dark-colored Ford Explorer parked next to his vehicle on the street. The back door of the vehicle was opened and someone was inside the vehicle with a flashlight.
The resident yelled at the man, who then got back into his car and fled east on Moore.
The lock to his vehicle was broken.
Dearborn
Bumper decorations stolen
Cosmetic vent pieces were taken March 16 from a 2004 Mitsubishi Endeavor in the 7000 block of Normile.
The owner discovered the pieces missing the following day. Their value is unknown.
Company’s equipment cleaned out
Thousands of dollars’ worth of cleaning equipment was taken between March 16 and 18 from a vacant house in the 7000 block of West Miller Road.
The house is being restored and currently is vacant. The side door was found open and the deadbolt lock was damaged.
The cleaning equipment, which belonged to a company hired to clean the house, is valued at more than $17,000. A light fixture, a 60-inch television set and clothes also were taken.
Dearborn Heights
Identity theft traced to Colorado
A North Charlesworth resident reported March 16 that he and a group of friends were dining March 1 at a restaurant in Berkley when their debit card information was stolen.
The man and several of his friends were at 24 Seconds Bar & Grill, 3071 12 Mile Road, and paid with their debit cards.
Purchases were made later with the same information in Brighton, Colo., for a total of $164, and Hudson, Colo., for about $125.
The victims’ friends said they also have experienced similar problems.
Home invasion at apartment building
Police confiscated two guns, a case containing a magazine with six bullets and $150 cash March 14 from an apartment in the 8000 block of Canfield.
Officers were responding about 5:30 p.m. to another break-in at the complex when they came upon the apartment where the items were found.
Entry to the apartment with the guns and cash apparently was gained through the front door with a crowbar, police said.
A television of unknown value was missing from the apartment with the confiscated items. It was unclear if the items belonged to the resident or the burglars.
Lincoln Park
Garage cleaned out
Nearly $1,500 worth of tools were discovered missing last Sunday from the 1000 block of Harrison.
A resident told police the house used to belong to his parents, and that the accompanying garage had been broken into sometime overnight.
Missing items included power tools, hammers and sockets, he said, adding that he would give police a more complete inventory later.
A hammer and screwdriver believed to be used to gain entry to the garage were taken as evidence.
Man arrested; vitamins gone
A man was arrested on outstanding warrants last Sunday after being spotted near a vehicle that had just been robbed in the 1500 block of University.
The owner said she went to her 1992 Nissan about 11 p.m. and found that a $15 bottle of vitamins had been taken, and that the car had been rummaged through. Minutes before, her friend had spotted a neighbor standing near her car, but never saw him touch it or tamper with it, police said.
When they arrived, she was speaking with the neighbor about the incident after knocking on his door. A record showed two outstanding warrants for the man’s arrest; police then arrested him.
Tools disappear
Some $550 worth of tools were taken Monday from a garage in the 1400 block of New York.
Missing items included a lawn mower valued at $200, a snowblower ($150), a circular saw ($150) and various loose tools collectively valued at $50.
Melvindale
Checkbook missing
A checkbook belonging to a resident of the 19100 block of Wood was discovered missing about 9 a.m. March 18.
A check for $180 and $100 in cash also were missing.
The resident said the items had been in her purse, which had been kept inside the house for the past few days.
Southgate
Car wash equipment torn out
An industrial vacuum and a coin machine were discovered missing last Sunday from Penn Station Car Wash, 13932 Pennsylvania Road.
The owner said he had checked video surveillance cameras from his house the night before and didn’t see anything amiss.
A review of the video showed two men placing a chain around the vacuum about 3:45 a.m. and attaching it to a car, believed to be a dark blue or black station wagon or hatchback. They then pulled the vacuum away from its moorings.
The two returned about 4:30 a.m. and used a similar method to pull the coin machine from its moorings.
The vacuum was found just before 10 a.m. in Kennebec Park in Riverview. It is valued at $4,000. The coin machine, valued at $9,000, contained between $800 and $1,000 cash.
The men in the video are described as white, in their mid- to late 20s and wearing blue jeans, brown jackets and hooded sweatshirts.
Taylor
Maintenance truck targeted
Vandals broke into a maintenance truck sometime before 2 a.m. March 19 at Georgetown Place Cooperative Apartments, 24276 Rosewood.
The front passenger-side window was broken out, and a tool pouch was removed, along with a remote control for a snowplow on the truck.
Electronics taken
A television, a laptop computer and a video game system were removed from an apartment in the 13200 block of Princeton between 8 p.m. March 12 and 9 a.m. March 14.
The resident said she had been at work and returned to find the front door closed but not locked. Scratches and pry marks were found on the molding around the door.
Trenton
Man arrested for kidnapping
Police were called just before 5 p.m. last Sunday to the 200 block of George on word that a man was threatening to kill his 9-month-old child.
At Fourth near Harrison, an officer ordered another woman and the custodial parent to take the baby from the man, who was resisting. After they did so, police tried to grab the man and take him into custody.
He continued resisting and had to be chemically subdued before being handcuffed and arrested for parental kidnapping and resisting and obstructing police.
Couple caught passing bad bill
A man and a woman tried to pass a counterfeit $10 bill March 19 at Future Fuels, 4407 Fort St.
A clerk said they had given her the bill in exchange for lottery tickets and then sat down in the gas station’s restaurant section to eat. The clerk soon realized the bill was fake, approached the couple and demanded a real one.
When they refused to comply, she called police.
The bill had no watermark, no plastic strip and a number in the corner did not shift in color, police said, and the print ink had changed color and appeared blurry. The couple said they had no other fake bills in their wallet and did not realize the bill they had given to the clerk was counterfeit.
A records check showed a warrant for the woman’s arrest out of Woodhaven and one for the man out of Eastpointe,
both for driving with a suspended license. Eastpointe told Trenton officers to advise the man and release him, but the woman was booked on the Woodhaven warrant and released later after posting bond.
Wyandotte
‘Grandson’ scammer gets $4,000
A 97-year-old resident allegedly was bilked out of $4,000 by a man claiming to be her grandson.
The man called the woman, a resident of the 2600 block of Biddle, at 10:35 a.m. Tuesday and told her he had been arrested and needed $4,000 for bail. He identified himself by name as the woman’s grandson and asked her to bring the money to a money transfer service inside a meat market in the 3500 block of Fort Street in Lincoln Park.
The man also told the woman to tell the clerk there that the money was for family in Madrid, Spain. The woman followed the instructions.
Later that day, the man called back and asked the woman for another $4,000 to bail his friend out of jail. The woman declined and told that man to ask his family for help. She then phoned her grandson directly, and he told her he had been home the entire day and had not been arrested.
A phone number given to the woman by the “grandson” was traced back to Quebec, Canada.
Thief steals grandma’s jewelry
Officers stopped a man who allegedly had stolen jewelry and cash from his grandparents’ house in the 600 block of Pine as he was exiting the scene Tuesday afternoon.
The man, 31 and from Riverview, was stopped at gunpoint as he was exiting the apartment via a ladder he had placed near a window. Officers responded to the call at about 3 p.m. after a concerned neighbor spotted the ladder.
He told police his grandmother had locked herself out and needed him to let her back in. When contacted, the grandmother denied giving her grandson permission to enter the apartment.
Jewelry belonging to the woman valued at $100 and $36 also was found on the man.
Drugs found on driver
Crack cocaine residue and other drug paraphernalia were found on a 37-year-old resident stopped about 1:30 p.m. Monday when officers noticed her driving with her hazard lights on.
The 1993 gold Chevrolet Lumina also had a broken left taillight. A records check revealed the woman’s license was suspended.
A burnt crack pipe along with cocaine residue and two sandwich bags containing marijuana residue were found in her purse.
(Compiled by Daniel Heraty, Andrea Poteet and Tom Tigani.)