Allen Park
Purse snatched in parking lot
A woman shopping at Meijer, 3565 Fairlane Drive, reported someone stole her purse in the parking lot about 9:15 a.m. Dec. 28.
She said while loading groceries into her car, she felt a tug on her brown leather purse and noticed a black man had taken it off his shoulder and was walking to his car, parked two spaces away.
She screamed and got the attention of another shopper, who got the license plate number, which was traced back to a Taylor man.
Vandals hit seminary
An employee of Detroit Theological Seminary, 4801 Allen Road, reported someone had smashed the window to his office sometime before 10:08 p.m. Dec. 30.
He said the window had been broken previously.
No entry was gained. Damage is estimated at $500.
College sees theft
A storage shed in Baker College, 4500 Enterprise Drive, was broken into sometime before 8:34 a.m. Jan. 1.
The storage shed door lock eyelets were cut and the door lock was missing.
Missing were a hydraulic pipe bender, a portable bandsaw, a mechanical crimper, two hammer drills and a pipe bender.
Dearborn
Company vehicle stolen
Officers are looking for a black 2004 Chevrolet Malibu that was stolen about 7:41 p.m. Dec. 31 from Corrigan Moving Systems, 2000 Westwood St.
A manager said the company car was parked near the southwest corner of the parking lot and surrounded by a 6-feet-high chain-link fence. He said several employees have access to the car, which was unlocked, but no one was authorized to take it.
He said the vehicle also was taken in November along with the key, but both were returned a few days later.
Car damaged by unknown vandal
Police are searching for suspects who damaged a 1997 Geo sometime before 4 a.m. Jan. 1.
The victim said nothing was taken but the driver’s-side front and back windows were smashed.
She said a neighbor saw someone in a dark green or blue Ford Explorer drive down the street and damage the windows.
Dearborn Heights
Theft nets thousands in comic books, guns
A box of assorted comic books valued at $9,000 and five guns ($5,600) were stolen sometime before 8:50 p.m. Dec. 30 from a house in the 5000 block of Polk.
The victim said he was out of the house for a short time when he discovered the back door was forced open and glass for a cabinet in the front bedroom, where the guns were kept, was broken. In the basement, the victim said the suspects took the comics and also unsuccessfully tried to open a safe.
Home invasion suspects caught in the act
Officers arrested three Detroit residents after they were allegedly caught about 1 p.m. Jan. 2 removing a water tank from a house in the 8000 block of Riverdale.
Officers also found wires and copper piping of an indeterminate value in a 1996 Ford belonging to one of the suspects parked in the driveway.
A neighbor said he saw the side door open and from his upstairs bedroom window saw one of the suspects crawling through a hallway. Officers entered through the side door and heard scraping and banging sounds coming from the basement.
All three suspects were arrested without incident.
Officers found the water tank dragged about 15 feet to the stairs and water on the basement floor. Faucet handles were also found in the coat pocket of one of the suspects.
The vehicle’s owner said an employee of a real estate agency gave him a key to the house to see if he wanted to buy it. Officers called the employee, who said he did not know the suspect.
Wheels, tires taken
Tires and wheels of an indeterminate value were stolen sometime before 6:41 a.m. Dec. 31 from a house in the 10 block of Eden Park.
The victim said her 2010 Chevrolet Tahoe was in the parking lot overnight.
In the morning, she found the sport utility vehicle on blocks with the wheels and tires missing.
Neighbors reported seeing nothing out of the ordinary.
Jewelry stolen
Rings valued at $2,400 were stolen sometime before 5 p.m. Dec. 30 from a house in the 6000 block of Drexel.
The victim said she returned home and found the side door open.
She said the thieves went through various jewelry boxes in three rooms and took the rings.
Lincoln Park
Drunk nabbed for stealing scooter
A 40-year-old father pointed police in the direction of a drunken driver who stole his 8-year-old daughter’s scooter Jan. 1.
The man’s daughter and a 10-year-old friend rode their scooters to the playground of Foote Elementary School, 3250 Abbott, and were on the swings when two men in a blue Chevrolet pickup truck pulled into the parking lot and began spinning “donuts” on the pavement, each time coming closer to the girls on the swings.
The children walked to a more open area and called the 8-year-old’s father on a cell phone. While waiting for the man to drive from home, she watched the driver stop, grab her scooter and put it in the rear of the truck. The Chevy was leaving as the girl’s father arrived, and he followed south on Abbott to Emmons, and stayed with the truck when it parked near Youth Center Park.
The father and the pickup truck driver both got out of their vehicles, and the father told police the driver appeared to have recently been in a fight, with fat lips and blood-stained knuckles. The father asked for the scooter back, which the driver told his passenger to do since the father had a license plate number for the truck.
There was no further confrontation, and police went to the suspect’s listed address. He was, police reported, “highly intoxicated and appeared to have been assaulted quite some time prior.”
The man was issued a citation and is expected to appear in 25th District Court Jan. 23 to face charges of larceny, non-aggravated assault and reckless driving.
Thieves ransack home
Police were called to the 1700 block of Old Goddard Road Monday afternoon by a neighbor watching three young Hispanic men carting valuables out of a house.
The neighbor called police about 3:30 p.m. and said he saw two men he knew did not live at the house carry out a television set, which they put inside a gray Ford Taurus. The men soon left, and the neighbor lost sight of the vehicle on Northline Road.
Responding officers observed a side door that had been kicked in. The homeowners soon arrived, and told police they left the house about three hours earlier. Inspecting the home, they reported as missing the Visio TV valued at $350, a $250 DVD player, and assorted electronics and jewelry.
Police are investigating descriptions of the vehicle and suspects.
Duel car thefts start new year
Within eight hours, two vehicles left running while the owners ran inside were stolen from driveways late Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
Police were called to the 400 block of Council shortly after 10 p.m. Monday, and to the 400 block of Mayflower Avenue at about 6:15 a.m. Tuesday, where vehicle owners told similar stories of having started the cars then stepping back inside, leaving the keys in the ignition of the running vehicle.
On Council, one or more thieves took off with a white 1994 GMC Suburban valued at $1,000; on Mayflower a 2003 Ford Explorer valued at $8,000 was taken, likely by a suspect who rode to the home on a blue bicycle that was left behind.
Descriptions of both vehicles were entered into the Law Enforcement Information Network.
Southgate
Unlocked SUV invites thieves
Police were called to a house in the 12000 block of Pearl shortly after 10 a.m. Dec. 23, to investigate the theft of a global positioning system unit from an unlocked 2004 Chevy Blazer.
The 28-year-old vehicle owner told police the vehicle was unlocked in the driveway when parked the night before, and in the morning he discovered the theft of a global positioning system unit valued at $200, along with an estimated $600 worth of CDs.
Police discovered no evidence or sign of forced entry.
Taylor
Security cameras stolen
Police hope recordings captured by stolen security cameras will help them find thieves who targeted Van Born Radiator, 26633 Van Born, sometime around midnight Dec. 28.
The business owner called police and said that three security cameras mounted to the building, two on the north side and one on the east, were stolen sometime between 11:45 p.m. Dec. 28 and 12:30 a.m. Dec. 29. Police were reviewing captured footage for evidence.
Burglar loots house for computer, cash
A woman who left her house briefly Dec. 27 returned to find her house ransacked and the loss of a computer, camcorder and other valuables.
The woman told police she returned to her house in the 16000 block of Weddel Street at about 6:20 p.m. after having been away for less than an hour. She discovered the side door open, and responding police observed that the door was kicked in and the house ransacked.
A detailed list was being prepared, but the woman told police the burglars took a computer valued at $650, a video game and accessories valued at $300, a camcorder, cash and jewelry.
Trenton
Cash taken from nursing home
A worker at Aberdeen Nursing Home, 5500 Fort St., told police that sometime between 6 and 7 a.m. Jan. 1, an estimated $275 in cash was taken from her purse.
The woman said the purse was left in a hallway within sight of security cameras. Police were trying to contact the nursing home staff to review the footage.
Melvindale
Vandals strike church
Phone lines were found cut to Faith Tabernacle church, 1743 Allen Road, about 3 p.m. Tuesday.
The pastor said the damage occurred sometime between Dec. 30 and that time, and that his Cadillac, parked on the side of the church, also had been keyed.
A week earlier, someone had placed a padlock on the gate to the parking lot, preventing him from opening it.
Cough syrup thief strikes
A 39-year-old resident was cited for retail fraud after allegedly attempting to steal 18 boxes of cough medicine from Dollar General, 18276 Allen, about 10 a.m. Monday.
The woman allegedly concealed the medicine in her sweatpants and attempted to leave the store. The store manager detained her and asked her to remove the items from her pants. She removed two, and he asked for the rest, at which point she threw more bottles on the ground and ran from the store, before slipping on ice and falling outside the store, where the manager detained her until officers arrived.
While en route to the police station, the woman faked a seizure, which
she later told police was to avoid being “stuck in jail.”
The medicine was valued at $96.
Tires slashed
A resident of the 18900 block of Allen found the right front and rear tires of her vehicle slashed about 8:14 p.m. Dec. 31.
No model information was available for the vehicle.
The resident suspects her mother, with whom she had argued that day.
Riverview
Burglar nabs pizza profits
Money was found missing from Hungry Howie’s Pizza, 19812 Fort St., about 10:30 a.m. Monday.
An employee found the cash bag missing from the safe when she opened the store about that time. A handle was missing from the rear door of the business. Nothing else appeared to be out of order.
Fencing knocked down
A resident of the 17000 block of Galade reported her fence was knocked down about 9:30 a.m. Monday.
It appeared to have been run over by a car.
Wyandotte
Three arrested in brawl
Three people were arrested during a 15-person fight on Maple Street about 4:15 a.m. Jan. 1.
The fight apparently started when one man took a cab another thought was intended for him when both were leaving a nearby bar.
A 29-year-old Wyandotte man was arrested for disorderly person after yelling at officers after they asked him to quiet down. When they asked a second time, he cursed at them and told them to arrest him, rolling onto his stomach and placing his hands behind his back.
A 21-year-old Wyandotte man was arrested for disorderly person and obstructing justice after screaming threats at another person involved in the fight. When officers tried to arrest him, he resisted and pepper spray was applied.
A 23-year-old Lincoln Park woman was arrested after declining to sit on a curb when instructed to and swearing at officers.
Traffic stops yield illegal aliens
Three illegal aliens were apprehended during a traffic stop on Biddle about 9:30 p.m. Dec. 31.
A 2002 Kia Sportage was stopped near Bennett about that time when officers saw it weaving back and forth while driving south on Biddle. They also noticed a cracked windshield that obstructed the driver’s view.
The driver could produce only paperwork stating he was from Honduras. U.S. Border Patrol agents determined he and two other passengers were in the country illegally and the three men were turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol.
GPS unit stolen from car
Two vehicles parked in the 500 block of Riverside were burglarized sometime before 6 a.m. Monday.
A 1999 Ford Expedition and a 1987 Ford F-150 had been rummaged through and the radios in both had been disconnected.
A Global Positioning System unit and various papers had been stolen.
Family feud
A fight between two sisters outside of one’s house in the 3300 block of 21st Street Dec. 30 left the homeowner with a bloody nose, facial swelling and clumps of hair missing.
About 3 p.m. that day, officers responded to the house, where the woman said her sister, a 34-year-old Lincoln Park woman, barged in unannounced after the two had argued via text messages. A physical fight ensued, and the Wyandotte woman was allegedly dragged out of the house by her hair and beaten.
The sister said she only slapped the woman, but later admitted to punching her and pulling her hair. The Wyandotte woman said she refused to fight back as her sister is pregnant. No injuries were found on the Lincoln Park woman.
The women were told to not speak to each other for the rest of the night and warned that criminal charges may be pursued.
(Compiled by Daniel Heraty, James Mitchell and Andrea Poteet)