Allen Park
Employee arrested for embezzlement
An employee of T.J. Maxx, 3320 Fairlane Drive, was arrested for embezzlement Oct. 10 after store loss prevention personnel called to report they found evidence that she had embezzled more than $1,700 from the store.
The 23-year-old Detroit woman, who worked as a cashier there, told police she and another 23-year-old Detroit man had conspired to embezzle the money in a scheme consisting of the man bringing merchandise to her register that she would fill out a return slip for instead of ringing it in as a purchase. She and the man would then split the money from the return. She also said she would sometimes allow him not to pay for everything in his shopping cart and allow him to return all the items later for a refund.
When officers arrived, the man was sitting outside the store in his car and was arrested.
Check-in ‘illuminates’ theft
Two men attempting to check in to Best Western, 3000 Enterprise, about 6 a.m. Oct. 12 instead left with two lamps belonging to the hotel.
The receptionist called police to report that two men entered the lobby about that time to check on the availability of rooms. She told them the price of the rooms and one asked the other if they wanted them. The other man said they did and then both men picked up two lamps from the lobby and left with them.
The lamps were valued together at $100.
The men were described as white, one short and stocky, one tall and thin, and both wearing blue jeans and plain jackets.
Churched burglarized
Someone apparently attempted to steal from the office of Cornerstone Baptist Church, 14910 Southfield, sometime before 9 a.m. Oct. 14.
A pry bar had been used to open the deadbolted rear door. The office desk had been rifled through but nothing appeared missing.
A cash box and safe were undisturbed.
No evidence or fingerprints were found.
Man chases away intruders
A homeowner allegedly chased away two men who entered his house in the 5800 block of Elizabeth Court Monday while he was inside.
About 3 p.m. that day, the man called to report that he was in his basement when he heard his side door open. He went to investigate and saw a man exiting through the side door and another on the staircase.
One man ran away and the other made for the door but the homeowner kicked it into him, following him outside to a red Ford Taurus waiting on the street. The men jumped in the car and the homeowner reached in and punched the driver in the head several times.
The vehicle then sped off west on Dasher.
One of the suspects is described as white, 19 or 20 years old, 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet tall, with brown hair and a black baseball cap.
The homeowner was unable to describe the second suspect.
Nothing appeared to be missing.
Vehicle damaged during shift
An employee of Long Horn Steakhouse, 3190 Fairlane, left work about 11:30 p.m. Oct. 9 to find that someone had allegedly tampered with his 2011 Chevrolet Cruze.
The man said he drove the car home and it started to sputter and then stalled.
A mechanic later found an unidentified foreign object in the gas tank.
Dearborn
Woman discovers purse missing
While in a hospital a woman noticed her purse missing from the waiting room about 9 p.m. Oct. 9.
Between 8 and 9 p.m. the woman stayed in the neonatal intensive care unit at Oakwood Hospital and Medical Center, 18101 Oakwood Blvd., and left her purse in the waiting room for about an hour. When she returned to the waiting room she noticed her medium size blue ladies’ purse missing.
No further information has been reported.
Thrown rock damages vehicle
A man noticed his Land Rover’s back window busted out after someone apparently threw a rock in his vehicle between 12:30 a.m. Oct. 10 and 9 a.m. Oct. 11 in the 6500 block of Barrie.
The man told police he legally parked his vehicle in front of his house and he has no idea who may have damaged it. Another vehicle parked two blocks away had the same damage.
Dearborn Heights
Purse taken from unlocked house
Someone stole a woman’s purse about 5:30 p.m. Oct. 12 while the victim did yard work on her front lawn in the 26900 block of Northmore.
The victim told a reporting officer dispatched to her house that someone entered her house while she worked outside and stole her dark brown purse. The victim said between 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. she did yard work. Her garage door was open and a door inside it leading to the house was unlocked.
The person entered the garage and went through the unlocked door while the victim worked on the west side of the house; the position blocked her view from the front of her house, located near the garage area.
The purse contained her Michigan identification card, car keys, house keys, car insurance, a registration card, AARP card, health insurance card and between $60 and $80 in cash.
Four tires, rims stolen
A car sitting atop landscaping bricks got the attention of a man who discovered his company-owned vehicle vandalized at 7:33 a.m. Oct. 14 in the 22000 block of Ann Arbor Trail.
The man said he legally parked the vehicle in the street on Oct. 13 and he discovered the next day that all four tires and rims from his vehicle were stolen. The thieves jacked the vehicle up with a tire changing jack then left the vehicle on landscaping bricks and fled the scene in an unknown direction.
Lincoln Park
Road rage sparks assault
Five people were reportedly assaulted with a retractable baton wielded by two men who first engaged with the victims during a minor traffic accident.
After leaving a bar in Dearborn about 3 a.m. Monday, a 33-year-old man told police he was sideswiped on the Southfield Freeway while en route to a friend’s house in the 900 block of Harrison Avenue. The man said a red Camaro “came out of nowhere” and hit his vehicle on the driver’s side. After that, the Camaro followed the man into Lincoln Park.
In front of the friend’s house, the man said the driver of the Camaro confronted him, but left after several friends — another man and three women — came outside to see what the problem was. Five minutes later, the man told police, a Chevy Blazer pulled up, from which emerged the driver of the Camaro, a white man in his 30s about 6 feet tall weighing 200 pounds, and another white man of medium build and uncertain age.
The first man had a retractable baton, and during the ensuing argument reportedly struck each of the five victims, who sustained minor injuries.
Police took note of the suspect and vehicle descriptions.
Police seek purse snatchers
A woman called police shortly before midnight Monday to report that two young men grabbed her purse which contained rent money and needed medications.
The woman said she was standing in the doorway of her sister’s apartment in the 4200 block of Ferris and talking with two men who had helped her find the correct building.
Just as she was entering the building one of the two men grabbed her purse, and both men ran toward a red compact car in the parking lot. The woman said they drove off toward Wyandotte.
Police noted descriptions of the vehicle and two men, white, between 17 and 19 years old, about 5 feet 9 inches tall, medium builds, one with light brown curly hair the other with a buzz cut.
Southgate
Woman reports theft after four days
A homeowner in the 12000 block of Helen Street called police Oct. 14 to report a burglary she said took place on Wednesday or Thursday the previous week.
More than $2,000 worth of electronics and jewelry, including a video game console, a gold ring valued at $650, a laptop computer and camera, were reported stolen.
The woman said she believed the theft took place on Oct. 10. She returned home that night about 9 p.m. and went straight to bed. At noon the next day her son called and asked if she had hidden his video game system; she said she hadn’t, and began discovering other missing items.
The woman told police she did not report the crime immediately as the house seemed in order and looked normal, and she wanted to put together a complete list of stolen items before making a report.
Police investigated and believe that entry was gained through a bedroom window that the woman’s daughter typically left unlocked.
Running SUV stolen from driveway
A woman in the 13000 block of Manchester reported the theft of a 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer valued at $5,000 that was taken from her driveway about 7 a.m. Oct. 11.
The vehicle owner told police she started the engine and went back inside while the SUV warmed up. Several minutes later she noticed it was missing from her driveway. She told police her house keys were on the same ring as the ignition keys.
Taylor
Cameras, jewelry taken from house
More than $3,000 worth of electronics and jewelry were reported stolen from a house in the 22000 block of Mary Ave. Oct. 11.
The homeowner called police at 6 p.m. and said he left at noon and returned to discover his fence gate open and a window that he was certain was locked was partly open.
Inside he discovered that someone had ransacked his home office. Missing items included a $1,100 digital camera, $850 watch, a $300 laptop computer and assorted jewelry and electronics.
Police discovered no signs of forced entry and are investigating.
Woman wakes to looted house
A homeowner in the 23000 block of Baker Street awoke at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 13 and found that someone had been through her bedroom and stole more than $700 in cash and costume jewelry.
The woman told police she fell asleep in the living room about midnight, and when she awoke discovered that someone had entered through an unlocked bedroom window. A pillowcase was missing from her bed, along with an estimated $500 in coins and $200 worth of costume jewelry.
Police discovered no sign of forced entry and are investigating.
Trenton
Burglars take TV from home
A man told police his apartment in the 3300 block of Van Horn Road was burglarized Oct. 12 during a three-hour time frame when he was away from home.
The man left his apartment at 7 p.m. and returned about 10 p.m. and found the front door left ajar. He’d locked the door before leaving, he said.
After calling police the man searched the apartment and found a closet rummaged through, clothes on the floor an undisclosed amount of cash missing.
Police checked for evidence and are investigating.
Wyandotte
Computer swiped from house
A laptop computer and computer monitor were discovered stolen from a house in the 1500 block of Superior Oct. 14.
About 4:30 p.m. that day the resident discovered the items missing. She had been gone from the house about 24 hours and had locked the doors.
When she returned, she found a hallway door and a side door to her house unlocked and the items, valued at $850 together, missing.
Driver hits hydrant
A 1999 Dodge Caravan struck a fire hydrant at Pine and Ninth about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, ripping it and three to four feet of pipe out of the ground.
A 22-year-old Inkster man was in the driver’s-seat when police arrived but a caller reported seeing a blonde woman running from the car after the collision.
Police thought the woman, about whom the man declined to give information, was the driver at the time because the driver’s seat was too close to the steering wheel for the man to fit comfortably.
The man insisted he was driving and said he did not know the name of the woman who had been in the car or where she was.
He smelled of alcohol and a preliminary breath test registered a blood alcohol level of 0.079 percent. The legal limit in Michigan is 0.08 percent.
The man was ticketed for reckless driving.
(Compiled by Sherri Kolade, James Mitchell and Andrea Poteet.)