Allen Park
Swanky snack shoplifter arrested
A shoplifter at Meijer, 3565 Fairlane, apparently had caviar taste on a less-than tuna budget Jan. 7.
A 56-year-old Allen Park man allegedly pocketed a can of the delicacy along with several watch bands about 4:30 p.m. that day.
The man passed all points of purchase with the items tucked into his jacket. A loss prevention officer followed him, and he ran into a wooded area near the store, where he dumped the merchandise before police officers caught him.
The items were valued together at $25.89. The man was arrested.
Pharmacy struck twice in two days
A burglar left behind the loot stolen from the pharmacy inside Park Urgent Care, 15101 Southfield Road, Jan. 14.
Just before 1 a.m. that day, officers responded to an alarm at the facility and found $108 in $10s and $1s in the snow behind the building.
Entry was apparently gained through the sliding glass window of the pharmacy, which officers found broken.
Nothing else appeared out of order and no evidence was found inside the building.
Two days later, officers responded to the same location, on another burglar alarm that sounded about 7 a.m. that day.
Surveillance footage showed a heavy-set black man dressed in black clothing and a white bandanna smash both glass windows and jump the pharmacy counter.
A $20 bill was missing from the register.
Dearborn
Car part stolen in front of house
A catalytic converter valued at $500 was stolen sometime before 3 p.m. Jan. 14 from a 2001 Pontiac Sunfire parked in front of a house in the 7000 block of Hartwell.
The victim said the car was parked in front of the house. The next day the catalytic converter was missing from the car’s undercarriage.
Rental car’s wheels, tires stolen
Four tires valued at $600 and wheels ($1,600) were stolen sometime before 6:45 a.m. Jan.13 from a rented 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo parked in front of a house in the 5000 block of Palmer.
The victim said he parked the vehicle in the street. The next day he found the vehicle on four landscape blocks. The victim said he wasn’t sure what kind of wheels and tires were stolen.
Fire-damaged house broken into
Two televisions valued at $1,300 and two video game systems, one $250 and one of indeterminate value, were stolen about 9:53 a.m. Jan. 14 from a fire-damaged house in the 7000 block of Yinger.
An employee of Farmer’s Insurance who was checking on the house after the Jan. 11 fire discovered the break-in. She said she found the the house’s side door forced open and contacted the Dearborn Fire Department, which said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
A Fire Department inspector said a police officer required one of the residents to go to the house to check if anything was missing. The homeowner’s 21-year-old daughter confirmed the items were stolen and said no one in her family has been in the house since the fire.
Dearborn Heights
Suspect breaks in while victim sleeps
Officers are searching for a suspect who broke into a house in the 24000 block of Fordson Highway about 12:18 p.m. Jan. 17.
The victim said she was sleeping on a couch in the living room when she heard a loud bang. She looked up and saw the suspect, described as a white man with brown hair, about 25 years old, standing 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing 200 pounds, standing in the doorway.
When he saw the victim, the suspect stepped outside and closed the door. The resident said she saw the man get into the passenger-side door of a Ford Focus parked in the driveway, which fled in an undetermined direction.
Electronics taken during break-in
A laptop computer valued at $400, a video game system ($400), three video game controllers ($180) and about 15 video games ($600) were stolen about 5 p.m. Jan. 17 from a house in the 5000 block of Princess.
A caller said they saw a man running from the location and it appeared a window was broken out. The caller also said the suspect got into a gray Chevrolet Impala and fled.
While walking to the back of the house, officers found a large sliding-glass window missing and the rear door open. Several rooms were also found ransacked.
Central air unit, copper pipes stolen
Copper pipes of an undetermined value and a central air conditioning unit ($400) were stolen sometime before 2 p.m. Jan. 13 from a house in the 8000 block of Hazelton.
The victim said sometime during the New Year holiday, the suspects broke into the house, entered the basement and stole copper piping attached to the water heater and sink. The central air conditioner was stolen from a concrete slab in the backyard.
Money order taken from kitchen
An $830 money order was stolen about 11:44 p.m. Jan. 16 from a house in the 6000 block of Mayburn.
The victim said the house was locked when he left. When he returned, a money order left on the kitchen counter was missing and cigarette ash was found in the kitchen sink.
The victim said the back door was not dead bolted and the handle was not functional from the outside.
Lincoln Park
Purse grabbed after fake emergency
The good deed of an employee of Dollar General, 1119 Fort St., turned costly when a man faking an ailment took off with the employee’s purse.
Shortly after 10:30 p.m., the woman told police, she and another store employee were in her vehicle in the parking lot, waiting for it to warm before leaving. A young black man in his early 20s, approached and asked that they call an ambulance as he wasn’t feeling well “from an old gunshot wound.”
The man stood near the car for a few minutes before asking when the ambulance would arrive. Told it should be there soon, he reportedly reached in and took a purse that was on the passenger-side floor. The suspect then ran off heading north through the parking lot.
The purse contained a pair of shoes and a wallet, with identification and a bank card, but no cash.
Police noted the suspect’s description: about 6 feet tall and weighing between 180 and 200 pounds, wearing black jeans and a black and gray hooded jacket with ghosts on the back.
Melvindale
Resident stops theft
A witness to a theft in the 2400 block of Kincaid Avenue Jan 10 was shocked to realize she was the victim.
The woman pulled to the curb near her house about 2:30 p.m that day and saw a white man in his early 30s wearing a black knitted hat loading a large flat screen television into the trunk of his car.
She made eye contact with the man, also described as 5 feet 8 to 5 feet 9 inches tall and 175 pounds, and he sat the television on the curb and drove off. When the woman approached the television, she realized it came from her house.
The house was ransacked and a list of other missing items was being compiled.
Riverview
Abandoned house burglarized
A house in the process of foreclosure was broken into sometime before 6 p.m. Jan. 12 and someone made off with copper pipe, a furnace, a water heater and a bathroom sink.
The resident had not lived at the house, in the 18700 block of Hinton for two months and was unsure if the house was yet owned by the bank. A co-owner was not interviewed.
Entry was apparently gained through the southeast bedroom window.
Southgate
Electronics taken from vehicle
A Southgate woman left her car unlocked in a friend’s driveway, and after the brief visit turned into an overnight stay she discovered the loss of a suitcase containing about $1,000 worth of electronics.
The woman called police from the 12000 block of McCann, and said that the stolen suitcase — which was on the front passenger seat — contained two Mp3 players each valued at $299; a global positioning system unit worth $300; a $180 Blue-Ray DVD player; and assorted DVDs valued at $180.
Police noted the serial numbers for the missing electronics and are investigating.
Taylor
Second burglary strikes salon
For the second time in a month the Clip’n Time hair salon, 23903 Goddard Road, was hit by one or more burglars looking for quick cash.
On Jan. 9, a wall hanging made of 50 $1 bills was discovered missing. Police were called by a store employee shortly after noon when she reported for work and discovered a broken east-side window and the missing currency.
Previously, on Jan. 3, a faulty window latch was cited as the entry point when a burglar made off with more than $1,000 in cash and a DVD player.
Police collected evidence near the window and are investigating.
Trenton
Apartment looted, spray-painted
Burglars left behind a ransacked apartment in the 4800 block of Fort Street, complete with obscene, spray-painted graffiti.
Police responded to the call shortly after 11 a.m. Jan. 11 from a 51-year-old man who returned home to discover his front door forced open, the theft of a 50-inch TV, a digital camera, a video game system and an estimated $300 in cash.
The apartment was damaged with holes in walls, furniture destroyed, water flooding the bathroom and hallway, cabinet doors ripped off and other damages, including a variety of obscene sayings on the walls and refrigerator.
The victim told police he believed that a 35-year-old woman might be responsible. The man moved in recently after being shown the apartment by the suspect, whom he dated briefly and said misunderstood whether the two of them would share the apartment.
Police are investigating.
Wyandotte
Tools taken from construction site
Tools were apparently stolen from a construction site at Fort Street near Clark sometime before noon Monday.
A hammer drill and two generators were missing.
The site manager said when he arrived at work that morning, the items were there, but when he checked a storage shed where they were kept at noon, they were missing.
Door stolen from construction site
An unknown suspect was spotted stealing the front entry door of a house being built in the 200 block of St. Johns about 1 p.m. Jan. 13.
The white man, about 6 feet tall and 200 pounds and wearing a gray jacket and black jeans, was seen carrying the door near the alley near Clinton and Fourth streets. Footprints were found heading back to Fourth and stopping, as if a vehicle picked the man up.
(Compiled by Daniel Heraty, James Mitchell and Andrea Poteet.)