Allen Park
Man thwarts robbery
A Taylor man reported fighting off an attacker who attempted to rob him at knifepoint while walking on Ecorse Road near Cortland shortly after midnight Sept. 9.
He said he was talking on his cell phone when a black male in his mid 20s approached him, pulled out a knife and demanded his wallet. The man was described as 6 feet 2 inches tall with a thin build and wearing a red shirt and shorts.
The Taylor man said he attempted to disarm the suspect, and during the struggle was cut in the hand. The suspect then fled the area in an unknown direction. No items were taken from the victim and he was treated by Allen Park firefighters for the cut on his hand and later sought treatment at Oakwood Hospital and Medical Center.
Furniture store robbed
Thieves at a furniture store made off with more than $9,000 in cash and checks overnight Sept. 9.
Employees of Metropolitan Furniture, 6670 Allen, reported at 9:16 a.m. that they arrived at work that morning to find $8,165 in cash and a check for $1,395 missing from a locked cash drawer.
The store clerk said she had closed the store at 8:35 p.m. the night prior, locked the cash drawer and replaced the key to its normal hiding place.
A locking bar to a storage room door leading to the exterior of the building’s east side had been removed and was on the floor but the door had no signs of damage.
Dearborn
Sound system quieted
A 12-inch subwoofer and two amplifiers, together valued at $400, were stolen from a 1995 GMC Jimmy sometime before 1 p.m. Sept. 3 from a house in the 3000 block of Chestnut.
The vehicle’s owner said the sport utility vehicle was left unlocked and parked in the driveway.
Rims, tires taken from rental car
Four tires and aluminum rims were stolen sometime before 7:45 a.m. Sept. 1 from a rented Chevy Malibu parked in front of a house in the 7000 block of Freda.
No value was given for the tires or rims.
The victim said the car was left on four blocks taken from the the yard in front of the house.
Dearborn Heights
Stolen car recovered
A 2001 silver Ford Focus stolen from a church festival sometime before 8:30 p.m. Sept. 10 was recovered during a traffic stop.
Officers pulled the car over after noticing it traveling at a high rate of speed and nearly running a red light near Evangeline and Hass. The driver, a Dearborn Heights resident, said the car belonged to a friend.
The car’s owner said he and his family went to the St. Linus Parish festival and left the vehicle parked in the area of Gulley and Evergreen. He said the car was rummaged through and a small tool kit and a global positioning system unit power cord were missing.
TV taken from home
A 42-inch television valued at $500 was stolen from a house sometime before 1 p.m. Sept. 7 in the 6000 block of Burger.
The owner said he found the side door on the house’s south side kicked in. he said he spoke with a neighbor who said he may have seen a brown van parked in front of the building earlier in the day.
Credit card taken
A credit card was stolen sometime before 12:15 p.m. Sept. 11 from a house on the 22000 block of North Brookside.
The victim said she left her purse on the living room floor when she left the room. When she returned, a friend who had been visiting was gone and her wallet had been rummaged through.
The victim said the suspect has a history of taking credit cards.
Lincoln Park
‘Friend of a friend,’ indeed
Suspected thieves told police they had permission to loot a vacant house, they just didn’t remember who provided the go-ahead.
Lincoln Park police were called to a house in the 1900 block of Keppen in response to two unknown men entering a vacant house. Responding officers first checked the front door, which was secured with a lock box, before looking in the back yard.
There they observed one suspect leaving the shed carrying a motorcycle handlebar.
“We are just trying to get some scrap metal,” the suspect told police.
A second suspect was seen trying to pry open the back door, which also had a lock box. The suspect explained that, his “friend’s friend” told the two it was okay to “take what we wanted” from the house.
Neither suspect knew the name of the friend, or the second friend in question.
The man who called police about the break-in, an inspector for a bank which holds title to the property, was sent to inspect the grounds, and said he at no time provided permission for salvage work.
The two suspects were taken into custody and issued violations. They are expected in court Monday for arraignment on charges of breaking and entering.
During the ride to the police station, neither could remember the name of the “friend’s friend,” and were advised to explain the incident to the detective at a later time.
Burglary nabs TV, electronics
A Lincoln Park woman returned to her house in the 1600 block of Ethel Ave. and discovered a daytime burglary and the loss of a flat-screen TV and laptop computer.
The victim arrived home shortly after 7 p.m. Monday and immediately noticed interior lights on that she recalled turning off. Before entering the house, she called police, who met her at the residence and looked inside.
Police were unable to find any suspects, and discovered the likely means of entry at the back door, which had been pried open.
On first review, the woman reported that the only missing items were the TV, valued at $400, and Toshiba laptop computer also valued at $400.
Melvindale
Parent cited after verbal attack on principal
A parent of a student at Strong Middle School may have gotten the last word in a fight in which she allegedly yelled profanities at a school principal, but officers got the last action.
The mother allegedly became very disruptive and began yelling at Principal Phillip Howard after he suspended her daughter sometime before 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Officers asked the woman to leave the school several times, but she refused and continued to swear at Howard before walking toward her car.
An officer then informed her she was parked illegally and notified her of the parking signs posted in the lot.
The mother retorted that she was illiterate and drove off.
A records check for the woman revealed a suspended license and officers mailed her a citation for driving with a suspended license.
Mobile home burglarized
A resident of the 18600 block of Dix reported that someone stole $165 in cash and various electronics from his mobile home while he was down the street for 15 minutes about 9 p.m. Sept. 9.
The front door had been pried open and it is believed the suspects exited through the back window after stealing the cash, a DVD player, a flat screen television, a CD tower with 28 CDs and a stereo from the living room.
A K-9 search and fingerprinting yielded no results.
Southgate
Smash-and-grabs target motel lot
Two overnight guests at Motel 6, 18777 North Line Road, awoke Monday to discover their vehicles had been broken into, resulting the the theft of audio and electronic equipment.
Both victims arrived at the motel late Sunday evening, and early Monday discovered the thefts. The first victim reported a broken passenger-side window on his 1998 Chevy 1500 and the loss of a car audio system. The second was driving a rental vehicle, a 2010 GMC Yukon, and property loss included a GPS system unit, digital camera, digital video recorder and several other smaller items.
Both vehicles were secured at the time of the break-ins. No values were estimated on the stolen merchandise.
Taylor
Home looted lock, stock and barrels
A resident’s 24-hour absence from his home in the 13000 block of Marvin Avenue provided one or more thieves with the opportunity to break in and make off with thousands of dollars worth of merchandise.
Police were called to the scene shortly before 1 p.m. Sept. 11. The victim said that he left home early afternoon on Saturday for a wedding, where he stayed overnight, and returned to a ransacked home. A rear steel entry door was pried open, officers reported, with extensive damage done to the door frame.
Inside, each room was torn apart, and the victim said that items were taken from most every room. A complete list and values of stolen items was being prepared, among which include two televisions, two rifles, money and other valuables. The victim told police it would take at least two people to carry one of the televisions, a 55-inch model.
Outside of the home, a backyard shed was broken into and a lawn mower was missing. The victim showed police an area near a fence where the lawn had been trampled. At a nearby creek, the victim found two flannel shirts that may have belonged to the thieves.
Trenton
Condemned apartment looted
A woman flagged down Trenton police in the 4800 block of Fort Street to report a burglary of a guitar, golf clubs and possibly a gun from a condemned home rented by her brother, who is currently in prison.
The woman told police that her brother paid the rent on the apartment house, and allowed a friend to reside there. Due to a fire, the home is currently condemned, and the brother’s friend was allegedly removing items from the house. The woman said that a set of Taylor Made golf clubs, valued at $1,000, and a $500 Martin D-25 guitar were missing, as was possibly a firearm.
The woman’s brother has not lived in the home since 2009, and the tenant friend was last known to live there in November 2010.
The woman told police that the building owner and manager had keys to the apartment; the owner referred her to the manager, and her contact efforts were unsuccessful.
Riverview
Girl reports attempted abduction
An 11-year-old girl reported someone may have attempted to abduct her while she was walking home from a school bus stop at the corner of Koester and Hale at about 3:15 p.m. Sept. 8.
The girl was walking south on the sidewalk with a friend when a white man in his 30s driving a blue minivan pulled up next to her. She said the driver, who had short brown hair, pointed at her and motioned her over with his hand. She said she screamed and ran home to tell her father.
Her 13-year-old friend said he was walking with his head down and did not see the vehicle, but heard her scream and start running.
Apartment theft nets electronics
Two roommates in the 14800 block of Brookview reported their apartment was broken into while they were at work Monday.
The men had left for work before 9 a.m. that day and one roommate returned home for lunch shortly before 2 p.m. to find the front door had been forced open and electronics, including an Mp3 player and docking unit valued together at $350, a video game system ($450) and four games ($50) were missing.
Wyandotte
Panhandler arrested
A teen panhandler who allegedly spat and swore at patrons of Aldi, 2931 Fort St., when they declined to give him change was arrested at about 9:30 p.m. Sept. 10.
The 15-year-old resident registered a blood alcohol content level of 0.115 percent on a preliminary breath test. The legal limit for minors in Michigan is 0.02 percent.
Baby food bilker strikes
A man who allegedly stole baby formula from a Kroger in Southgate struck CVS/pharmacy, 131 Elm, minutes later, police said.
The suspect, described as a white male in his 20s standing about 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing 180 pounds, allegedly stuffed 13 cans of baby formula into a red backpack before fleeing the store on foot at about 5 p.m. Sept. 10.
He was wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt that read “Shaddy” in white lettering on the back and had dark hair and a thin beard.
A white woman, described as having shoulder-length blond or light brown hair, was sitting in a 1995 beige Mercury Sable parked in the parking lot but drove away just after the man ran out of the building. The vehicle and both suspects matched the description of the Southgate robbery.
The formula is valued at $270.
(Compiled by Daniel Heraty, James Mitchell and Andrea Poteet.)