Allen Park
Break-in nets valuables
More than $3,000 worth of belongings were stolen May 7 from a house in the 9300 block of Chatham.
About 10 a.m. the next day, the two roommates who occupy the house returned from a visit with a friend to find the house broken into and their belongings gone.
Entry was gained through an unlocked bedroom window. Police believe the suspect used a small barbecue grill as a step to enter through the window.
Missing were a video game system valued at $350, two laptop computers valued together at $900, a desktop computer ($1,600), two guitars ($200 each), a third guitar valued at $1,600 and a drill set valued at $250.
Phony check passer arrested
A 19-year-old Detroit woman was arrested Tuesday after attempting to cash a fraudulent check at TCF Bank, 3350 Fairlane Drive.
About 6 p.m. that day, a teller contacted police to say the woman had attempted to pass a check in the amount of $933 from a company that recently had reported its checks stolen. The teller contacted the company and learned the check had not been issued to the woman. The check was not the style used by the company, and the account and routing numbers were incorrect.
Someone had attempted to cash the check at eight other banks.
Dearborn
Equipment taken from bar, damaged
Two stand-up propane heaters and three aluminum kegs were stolen from Oakwood Bar & Grill, 17621 Oakwood Blvd., between noon and 2 p.m. May 6.
The owner of the bar said the thieves also damaged two rooftop air conditioners, a rooftop heating, ventilating and air-conditioning vent dome and a rooftop kitchen vent hood while trying to steal them.
The items are valued collectively at $700.
Van disappears
A white 2007 Chevrolet Express cargo van was stolen between 7 p.m. May 5 and 8 a.m. May 6 from an alley behind a house in the 6000 block of Schaefer.
The van contained tools for installing windows, such as a table saw and a hand drill. The owner told police he has the keys, but that he kept another key elsewhere on the vehicle.
He said the van has an alarm, but that he didn’t hear it go off during the night.
Dearborn Heights
Pipes pulled from house
A vacant house for sale in the 6000 block of Heyden was broken into about 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Police said the south-side door was forced open and the southwest bedroom window was broken out. Ceiling tiles in the basement were pulled down and copper pipe was stolen. The thieves also got away with a furnace and a hot water tank.
Airline ticket purchased with stolen ID
A 57-year-old Lila Lane resident reported his identity stolen about 9 a.m. Monday after he received a bill in the mail for an airline ticket he didn’t buy.
The man told police the suspects obtained an online account number and used it to pay for the ticket. He said he also received credit cards in the mail that he didn’t apply for and canceled them before they were used.
Burglary yields electronics, money
Two televisions, a lock box and a water jug containing $4,000 in bills and coins were stolen between 7:30 a.m. Monday and 3 p.m. Tuesday from a house in the 5000 block of Rouge Court.
The homeowner was on vacation, and when her mother went to check on the house, she saw the rear sliding glass door and the front bathroom window open.
Dresser drawers and a closet in the southeast bedroom also were rummaged through.
Lincoln Park
Apartment thieves hit it big
Thousands of dollars worth of items were taken sometime between Monday and Tuesday from an apartment in the 900 block of Goddard.
The resident said he left after locking up about 6 p.m. Monday and returned about 8:30 p.m. the next day to find the door had been damaged. The apartment had been ransacked in order to get the missing items, some of which were hidden, he said.
The loot included a 32-inch television valued at $400, a 42-inch TV ($1,0000), a laptop computer ($450), a CD player ($800), a desktop computer and printer ($1,000), two electric guitars ($3,000 each), a video camera ($500), a digital camera ($100), carpet cleaner ($70), a window air conditioner ($200), miscellaneous jewelry ($2,000), a designer wristwatch ($1,300) and several hundred dollars in cash.
Patio items cleared out
A glass-top patio table and two matching swivel chairs were taken between 1 and 7 a.m. Monday from a house in the 1500 block of Wilson.
The items are valued collectively at $300.
Neighborhood vandals strike
Three houses and three cars were spray painted Sunday evening in the area of College and Lafayette, causing $1,000 total in damage.
A doghouse and two sections of sidewalk on College had been painted, and an obscenity was spray painted over a resident’s garage door.
Police questioned an 11-year-old neighborhood boy about the incident, for which he and his mother denied responsibility. Police said he changed his story three times.
Riverview
Thieves strike church
An air-conditioning unit was discovered missing May 7 from Immanuel Lutheran Church, 17225 Fordline.
A man cutting the grass at the church said he discovered the unit, valued at $1,000, missing at about 11 a.m. that morning. Its electrical and copper wiring had been cut. He last had seen it intact May 1.
Movie quoter cited
A resident of an apartment in the 17400 block of Fort Street was cited for loud noise after officers heard him and another man loudly yelling “Terminator” movie quotes at about 10:30 p.m. May 8.
The officers responded to a call of a disturbance at the apartment and heard the yelling from the parking lot.
The 34-year-old resident declined to step out of his apartment to talk to police or to keep the noise level down. When officers warned him that this would result in a citation, he said “go ahead” and closed the door.
Officers taped the citation to his apartment door.
Southgate
Neighbors watch daylight burglars
Several items were taken May 6 from a house in the 15400 block of Kennebec by three males who arrived there in three vehicles.
A neighbor saw the first car, an older black or dark sedan, pull up about 11 a.m. A white male teenager about 5 feet 10 inches tall wearing a black pullover hooded sweatshirt and black basketball shorts then got out and walked up the driveway toward the back of the house.
About an hour later, a black or dark Ford Fusion pulled up. A tall, thin white male wearing a T-shirt, jeans and a baseball cap got out and walked toward the rear of the house. A green Chevrolet pickup truck, possibly a 1998 model, then pulled up and a tall, thin teenage male wearing a blue T-shirt and jeans got out and also went to the rear of the house.
The neighbors said they saw the three carrying boxes of items along the driveway to the vehicles parked in the street, but thought the three were friends of a boy who lives at the house.
The boy came home about 3:30 p.m. to find that a television valued at $600, a video game system ($200), video games ($100), a yellow gold ring ($200) and miscellaneous gold jewelry valued at $2,500.
Vending machine robbed
A vending machine was damaged and robbed of $300 sometime May 6 or 7 at 1 Heritage Drive.
Damage to the lock is estimated at $300.
Mower missing
A lawnmower valued at $500 was taken sometime before 7 p.m. May 6 from a house in the 13600 block of Wesley.
The resident said she had been out for a walk and returned to find the garage door pushed up and off its rollers. Only the mower was missing, police said.
Melvindale
Shopping trip ends in purse theft
A shopper at Noor Fruit Market, 18942 Dix, came out of the store about 7:30 p.m. Monday to find two men running from her car with her purse.
The woman said she had not locked her door, and that her driver’s-side window was open when she left it in the store’s parking lot a few minutes earlier.
One of the men was described as 6 feet 2 inches tall and wearing baggy blue jean shorts and a white tank top. The other was described as about 5 feet 9 inches tall and wearing a blue T-shirt with red lettering on the back, a red hat and blue jean shorts.
Taylor
Purse snatched from vehicle
A purse was stolen overnight last Sunday from the vehicle of a woman who was visiting relatives in the 6500 block of Cornell.
She had left it in the vehicle about 10:15 p.m. May 7 and returned just before 9 a.m. the next day to find it missing.
The purse contained $300 cash, a bank card and health insurance and Social Security cards for the woman and her children.
Power tools taken from garage
A number of items were stolen sometime before 2 p.m. May 6 from a garage in the 11000 block of William.
The resident family returned from out of town to find that entry had been gained into the garage. Missing items included a chain saw, a pole saw, a power sprayer, an 1800-watt generator, a power concrete.
Trenton
Truck driver allegedly punched by peer
An employee at Michigan Roads Maintenance Co., 2438 Vreeland Road, reported being assaulted as he got his truck ready for work early Monday.
He said at about 4:30 a.m. he and other truck drivers were preparing their trucks for the day when another employee approached him and asked for a piece of equipment. After the victim handed the man the equipment, the man jumped off the truck, then jumped back next to the cab and allegedly punched the victim in the face.
The alleged assailant told the victim he was tired of people talking about him, and that the alleged assailant planned to “kick everyone’s ass.”
The victim’s right eye was bruised and swollen, police said, adding that he did not plan to pursue charges.
Woman caught leaving damaged car
Police were called about 1:30 a.m. May 5 to the 1900 block of Longmeadow on word of a vehicle in the roadway flashing its lights and trying to move forward and backward.
They arrived to find a green Ford Escape in the road with extensive front-end damage, apparently from an accident that did not occur at the scene. Witnesses told them the driver, a woman in her 30s, had just left the scene walking south on Longmeadow. One of the witnesses offered assistance, but the driver, the vehicle’s lone occupant, declined, saying she lived a short distance away.
The witness said the driver did not realize her vehicle was inoperable, and that the driver believed she would be able to drive away from the scene.
Another officer patrolling nearby found a woman matching witnesses’ description and made contact with her. A records check showed she was the vehicle’s registered owner and was carrying its ignition key; police then arrested her.
Wyandotte
Drugs found in student’s car
A 17-year-old high school student was arrested after officers found 3.7 grams of marijuana and six prescription anxiety pills in his vehicle.
At about 1 p.m. May 6, officers responded to Theodore Roosevelt High School, where a female student had told the principal that she purchased a prescription anxiety pill from the student. The boy admitted to the principal and to police that he had sold her the pill, and that he had more pills as well as marijuana in his car, which was parked in the school’s parking lot.
He granted permission to police to search the vehicle, and they found the marijuana and pills.
He was arrested for possession of narcotics with intent to deliver.
(Compiled by Daniel Heraty, Andrea Poteet and Tom Tigani.)