Allen Park
Spray painter strikes
Several cars and houses in the area of Cleveland, Quandt, and Hanover streets were found vandalized the morning of Dec 16.
Four vehicles and one garage door were reported marked with spray paint, some of which contained vulgar language and drawings.
Most of the spray paint reported was red, but black and tan also were reported.
Gas station vandalized
Someone smashed out the west window of Marathon Gas Station, 9121 Allen, sometime before noon Dec. 16.
Wires were also found cut to the business, which was closed for several weeks.
It appears as though entry was not gained to the building, as nothing was out of place or missing.
A key holder could not be located, but the window was boarded up.
Foot chase leads to arrest
A 46-year-old Detroit woman was arrested about 4 p.m. Dec. 17 after allegedly running from police after shoplifting clothing from Old Navy, 3260 Fairlane Drive.
The woman allegedly stole clothes valued at more than $480 and concealed them in a Target shopping bag. When a loss prevention officer confronted her, she threw the bag of clothes at him and ran toward a restaurant in the shopping center, where she was apprehended.
Dearborn
Purse stolen outside toy store
A purse of undetermined value containing credit cards, identification, a cell phone and a digital music player was stolen sometime before 2 p.m. Dec. 15 from the parking lot of Toys R Us, 24411 Michigan Ave.
The victim said she placed the purse on the back of her car, which was parked in the first parking spot in front of the exit doors, as she unloaded merchandise.
She said someone took the purse when she wasn’t looking.
Thieves get away with credit cards, purse
A black purse of undetermined value containing credit cards was stolen about 7:30 a.m. Dec. 14 from a car parked in the driveway of a house in the 1000 block of Highview.
The victim said the purse was in her car while it was warming up. The car was unlocked and she did not see who took the purse.
Activity on her accounts revealed both cards were used at various area gas stations, but she had no statements and could not verify where they were used.
Dearborn Heights
Armed robbery at gas station
Officers are searching for two men who robbed a Shell gas station, 5624 N. Telegraph about 10:18 p.m. Dec. 18.
The victim said two masked men came into the station. One of the suspects, who wore a black jacket and jeans and spoke in Arabic, pointed a black handgun at the victim and told him to turn off the lights.
The suspect walked the victim over to the cash register and took an undetermined amount of money before fleeing in an unknown direction.
Thieves rob tanning salon at gunpoint
Two armed gunmen stole about $270, two cell phones, a wallet and car keys from Skin Deep Tanning, 25411 West Warren, about 6:36 p.m. Dec. 15.
The victim said she was sitting at the front counter when two black men in their 20s or 30s, under 6 feet tall with medium builds and wearing black clothing, gloves and ski masks, walked into the store.
She said one of the men was holding a small black automatic pistol. He demanded money and her cell phone before ordering her to lie down.
As the suspects were leaving, they forced a customer, who was leaving a tanning booth, back into the tanning room where they took his cell phone, wallet and car keys before fleeing in a westerly direction.
Package thief strikes
Officers are searching for a suspect who stole a package of undetermined contents about 2:39 p.m. Dec. 14 from a house in the 6000 block of Plainfeld.
A witness said the suspect, described as a Middle Eastern boy in his teens, got out of a black Lincoln with silver trim and tinted windows and took the package.
The victim said she was expecting deliveries from a cable shopping channel and didn’t know what items were in the package.
A check of the license plate revealed the car was registered to an employee of Zaire Auto Sale, Inc. in Detroit. Employees of the company said the car is owned by another employee and his teenage son drives it.
Replacement part taken from house
A remote control for a toy car valued at $50 was stolen about 10:40 a.m. Dec. 14 from a house in the 7000 block of North Charlesworth.
The victim’s neighbor said a vehicle stopped in front of the victim’s house. An unknown man got out of the vehicle’s passenger side, walked to the front porch and took the package. The neighbor said the driver and passenger were either white or Middle Eastern men.
The victim said he contacted officials at United Parcel Service, who confirmed the remote control was delivered that day.
Lincoln Park
Smash and grab burglar nabbed
An early morning alarm kicked off a foot chase Wednesday involving several officers and a K-9 tracker before a convenience store burglar was caught.
Broken glass triggered the alarm at D & B Market, 1086 Dix about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday. The first responding officer observed a smashed front window, but did not see anyone inside. Waiting for store management to arrive, the officer heard a noise from inside, and saw a man jump over the counter and out the broken window.
Told to stop by the two officers, the man dropped several grocery bags — filled with an estimated $800 worth of instant lottery tickets — and ran north on Dix. As he ran, lottery tickets fell from his pockets.
The first responding officers chased the suspect, through the parking lot of Rising Star Motel, 1028 Dix and into an alley between Council Avenue and Montie Road.
Additional officers and a K-9 unit arrived, and the suspect was located hiding under a backyard tree in the 200 block of Montie. The suspect did not comply with police orders, and the police dog was deployed; the suspect ran from the trees and jumped a fence before being caught and tackled by officers. The suspect was taken to the Lincoln Park Police Department for processing, and at press time was awaiting arraignment in 25th District Court.
Quick thief takes off in Grand Prix
The owner of a 1998 Pontiac Grand Prix valued at $3,000 left the vehicle running in the driveway of his home in the 700 block of Mill Street Monday evening, long enough to run inside for a restroom break and also for one or more thieves to take off with the car.
The man said the vehicle was paid in full and the only keys were the ones inside. A description of the car was entered into the Law Enforcement Information Network.
Melvindale
Present, car missing
A Scrooge allegedly made off with a wrapped Christmas present and the victim’s car from a house in the 19000 block of Wall Street Dec. 18.
After leaving about 6:30 a.m. that day, the woman’s mother stopped by to find the car, of unspecified year and model, missing.
The house’s only occupant was the woman’s boyfriend, who was home sick and apparently left the front door opened. The car keys were left on a table and the gift was also missing. A back door that had been locked was found opened.
Burglar leaves behind wallet
A thief allegedly stole a lawn mower and weed trimmer from a storage shed in the 19100 block of Harlow Tuesday, but left behind a wallet with possible identification.
The wallet contained receipts, an address book and a citation for possession of burglary tools from Melvindale police.
Attempted break-in thwarted
A neighbor in the 2700 block of Margaret Avenue stopped an alleged burglary in progress about 2 p.m. Tuesday.
The man said he saw a white man in his 20s with long brown “puffy” hair attempting to pound a wooden board into the rear door wall of the house to pry it open.
The man questioned the suspect, who said he was trying to get into his house. When the neighbor said he knew the man did not live there, he ran to the front of the house where he was picked up by a white female in a tan or gold Ford Taurus or Mercury Sable.
Riverview
Door opened, nothing missing
The rear door of Nail Designs, 19178 Fort St., was found pried open about 9 a.m. Dec. 12, but nothing was found missing.
Unspecified damage was found on the door frame.
Southgate
Vehicle stolen, another recovered
Police found one stolen car when they answered a call of another missing vehicle Monday evening.
A woman attending a dinner party at Chuck E. Cheese, 15300 Dix Toledo, locked and left her 2001 silver Chrysler Concorde, valued at $10,000, in the east parking lot about 6:30 p.m. She discovered the vehicle missing at 9 p.m., and called police.
Responding officers were shown the parking space where the victim last saw her car; a running, vacant Dodge Stratus was in the adjacent space. The Stratus’ ignition system had been punched in and the car was started without a key.
Police confirmed through the Law Enforcement Information Network that the Stratus was stolen, had the vehicle impounded, and entered the description of the stolen Concorde into LEIN.
Taylor
Water system stolen
The maintenance man of a mobile home park told police that sometime overnight Dec. 16 one or more thieves broke into a pumphouse and stole a backflow preventer, cutting off the park’s residents from water.
The reporting man told police he discovered the theft shortly before 9 a.m. Saturday. The door to the pumphouse had been forced open, and various brass pipes were stolen along with the backflow preventer. Police did not report an estimated value of the hardware, although the maintenance man said that thousands of dollars worth of lost water resulted from the theft.
Trenton
Chase leads to abandoned, stolen car
When police approached a white two-door Lincoln with its lights on at the Hass Park Building, 86 Washington St. near Sibley, a quick computer check showed the registered operator as having a suspended license.
Patrol officers approached the vehicle, which took off and turned into an alley south of Sibley Road. Police followed, and after turning the corner they saw the Lincoln parked but abandoned.
With assistance from Riverview police, the area was searched. A resident reported seeing two men running south from the alley through backyards on Cleveland and New York streets.
Two wallets were found in the abandoned Lincoln, containing IDs for a 30-year-old woman and a 32-year-old man — neither belonging to the registered owner. Also found were one open and four unopened beer cans.
The Lincoln was impounded and put on hold for the registered owner, whose father was contacted by police.
Wyandotte
Puncture marks, cross left at house
The owner of a vandalized vehicle also found a curious surprise on her lawn in the 1700 block of Electric about 11 a.m. Dec. 15.
A cement cross with a name and date was left on the front lawn. A check confirmed it was missing from Mount Carmel Cemetery, to which it was returned.
The driver’s-side rear tire of the woman’s 2001 Chevrolet Malibu also had been punctured.
Mother strikes daughter with car
A 17-year-old student at Roosevelt High School was allegedly struck by a car driven by her mother in the school’s parking lot about 7:45 a.m. Dec. 10.
The two had reportedly been in an argument when the mother was angered that she had to wake up to drive her daughter to school. The daughter said her mother drove erratically, failing to stop at stop signs, before pulling up to an alley near the rear of the school building.
When the student, who is pregnant, exited, the mother put the car in reverse and accelerated, causing the door to strike her.
A witness saw the girl fall to the ground and he assisted her. When questioned by police, the mother said she accidentally put the car in reverse.
(Compiled by Daniel Heraty, James Mitchell and Andrea Poteet.)