Allen Park
Phone missing during gym class
A student at Allen Park Middle School, 8401 Vine, reported to police about 7 p.m. March 13 that someone had stolen his cell phone while attending gym class about noon that day.
The phone had been in the student’s backpack. He said he notified the principal and his father supplied serial numbers and contacted the manufacturer.
Clothing theft leads to fight
A Detroit woman and two Detroit teens were arrested March 15 after an argument with an Old Navy loss prevention officer that allegedly included threats of violence.
About 7 p.m. that day, store personnel called to report that the three had stolen items from the store and fled after an encounter with the loss prevention officer in a white van.
The employee said two 17-year-old girls entered the store about 6:30 p.m. that day, concealed several items of clothing in a tote bag and left the store without offering payment. The loss prevention officer followed them to the van, driven by the 22-year-old woman. He asked for the clothing back and one of the teens agreed, before the 22-year-old woman told him to leave them alone, threatening that she would shoot him in the face if he did not get away from the vehicle.
According to the report, she reached into her purse and the employee backed away and the three sped off. Officers stopped the van minutes later in a nearby parking lot, confiscated the clothing and arrested the suspects.
The teens were booked on charges of retail fraud; the woman was arrested for felony assault.
Items stolen from house
A resident of the 15000 block of Goddard returned home about 7 p.m. March 17 to find his house had been broken into.
His locked front door appeared to have been pried open. Missing from a living room computer desk was a laptop computer, a camera, a camera bag containing $1,200 in cash and various jewelry.
Fresh footprints were visible in the backyard.
Drug activity could be behind vandalism
A woman in the 14800 block of Morris Avenue called police about 1 p.m. March 17 to report someone had thrown a brick through her back window.
She said in the past few months, she has had to replace all tires four times on her car because of vandalism and other windows have also been broken.
According to the report, police have been called to the house several times on drug-related activities related to grandchildren and their friends living at the house. Officers said in the report that the incidents seem to stem from a real or perceived debt owed by someone in the house.
Dearborn
Valuables, change taken from vehicles
A couple discovered that someone took valuables from their vehicles, parked near their house in the 7600 block of Kendal, about 3:55 a.m. March 18.
The husband told reporting officers that he and his wife heard their 2012 Ford Taurus’ “locking sound go off” that morning and when he looked outside he saw someone walking away from the vehicle into a dark silver “boxy” sport utility vehicle. The vehicle’s headlights were off and the driver sped away east on Diversey toward Schaefer. The couple’s vehicles were parked on Diversey.
Reporting officers saw both vehicles’ rear driver’s-side windows broken out and visible pry marks were found on the back of both sets of windows. The suspect took change and eyeglasses from the Ford Taurus. The suspect also stole a backpack, phone and change from the couple’s 2012 Dodge Charger.
Money stolen from restaurant
An employee of New Mercury Restaurant, 3765 S. Telegraph Road, noticed the restaurant’s front door was damaged near the start of her 7 a.m. shift March 18.
She contacted her co-worker, who called 911.
The employees told reporting officers that about $200 in cash was stolen from the cash register and about $50 in change in a drawer under the cash register was also stolen. The employees told police no one was recently fired or had quit.
Dearborn Heights
Vandal damages school property
After discovering a door to Pardee Elementary School’s concession stand, 4650 Pardee, ajar March 10, a school employee called police about 3 p.m that day.
A reporting officer looked around inside the concession stand and noted that someone squirted liquid dish soap around the stand, broke a broom handle in several pieces and threw a landscaping brick through a microwave then fled.
It did not appear that any items from the stand were stolen, according to the police report.
In-dash car radio stolen
A woman’s in-dash car radio was stolen after she parked her vehicle in her driveway in the 7000 block of Robindale about 11:30 p.m. March 13.
The woman told police she left her house in another car about 7 a.m. March 14 and when she came home about 2:30 p.m. she noticed the left rear window of the vehicle on the ground under the car and her radio missing.
Riverview
Car vandalized overnight
A man reported about 8 a.m. March 15 that someone had vandalized his 2011 Lincoln the night prior while parked in the parking lot of his apartment building, Kings Forest Apartments, 19450 Fort.
Someone had carved an obscene word into the driver’s-side headlight and apparently used keys to scrape into the paint around the entire area of the car as well as on the hood and trunk.
Workout clothes exchanged
A woman’s workout clothes were discovered missing from her 2012 Ford Escape parked in the 14705 block of Shenandoah overnight March 15 and someone else’s clothes were found there.
About 9 a.m. that day the woman came to the station to report finding a men’s tank top in her car that morning and noticing her clothing – Capri pants, a T-shirt and running shoes – missing.
Taylor
Burglar grabs electronics, valuables from home
Police are looking for a suspect who may have been seen by a neighbor the morning of March 13 in the 20000 block of Meadow Woods Circle.
A woman called police shortly before 8 p.m., and said she’d left for work at 7 a.m. and when she returned began noticing missing items. A $600 electronic tablet and $150 cell phone belonging to the woman’s daughter were among items believed stolen. A further look through the home revealed the theft of a $6,000 diamond solitaire ring, video game and Wii system and a $500 video camera.
Responding police noted a basement window that had been broken and pried open, likely the point of entry.
While investigating, police interviewed a neighbor who that morning saw a black man, early 20s dressed in a black pea coat, knit hat and wearing gloves, standing in a corner of the victim’s back yard. The man appeared to be urinating, the neighbor said; when the suspect saw the woman he flashed a peace sign, threw a bag over a back yard fence he then hopped, and ran towards a nearby street.
The woman told police she thought he might have been with a utility company, even though no vehicle was in the street and the man wore no clothing that identified him with any company. The woman did not call 911 to report what she saw.
Police collected evidence, identifying information for stolen merchandise, and are investigating.
Lincoln Park
TV stolen in apartment theft
A woman returned home to her apartment in the 4000 block of Longtin Avenue Monday and discovered a broken door and the theft of a $500 47-inch flat-screen TV.
Police responded to the call about 2:30 a.m. Monday. The woman said she’d left the apartment at 9:30 p.m. Sunday. She’d locked the apartment before leaving, and police noted a glass window had been broken out.
The apartment was ransacked and the woman was uncertain if anything else of value had been taken.
Trailer stolen from lot
A man reported to police the theft of a landscaping trailer, 18 feet in length, that was taken sometime prior to Monday from a lot in the 2100 block of Fort Street.
The trailer, valued at $4,500, was purchased in August 2012 and stored at the lot. Police noted several identifying characteristics of the trailer, to include new welds and other adjustments.
The vehicle’s description and license plate number were entered into the Law Enforcement Information Network.
Trenton
Home invader snatches purses
Two young women may have forgotten to lock the side door to their home in the 300 block of Detroit Street when they returned early morning March 12. They awoke at noon to discover both of their purses missing from a kitchen table, and that more than $1,000 worth of cash and gift cards were taken.
The women told police they’d returned about 2 a.m., left the purses on the table and went to sleep in the basement. About 2 p.m. they noticed the purses were missing and saw a white man walking down the driveway, as if coming from the back yard.
One of the purses was found, empty, on the front lawn. Police looked for signs of forced entry, and noted which pieces of identification were reported missing.
Shotgun stolen during home invasion
Police responded to reports of a residential burglary in the 2900 block of Bridge Avenue, during which a homeowner said a 12-gauge shotgun was stolen.
The man told police he left home about 1:40 p.m. on March 14. When he returned less than an hour later he noticed his dog on the back porch and the rear door — which he had locked — was wide open. Police observed a shoe print on the rear door near the handle; the tumbler lock was bent where the door was kicked open.
No valuables were taken from a bedroom jewelry box, but a 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun of unknown value was missing from a dining room closet.
Police collected evidence and awaited identifying information regarding the shotgun from the owner.
Wyandotte
Meal missing after drinking
A man reported an unusual theft when he returned home from drinking on St. Patrick’s Day.
About 11:30 p.m. that day, the man called police to report finding a box containing two frozen beef kabobs missing from his apartment in the 300 block of Walnut.
He told police he drove home after drinking and saw the empty box on the stove. The door was locked and there was no damage visible. He did not know how someone may have entered the apartment.
According to the report, he appeared highly intoxicated at the time of the report.
Neighbors catch robbers in the act
Vigilant neighbors may have helped stop the theft of an all-terrain vehicle from a house in the 1200 block of Maple March 14.
About 9 a.m. that day, the husband called to report that two men, described as white, were attempting to steal his neighbor’s ATV. He said he saw the men – one on foot and one driving a Jeep – enter the backyard through the alley and enter the neighbor’s backyard, where they used bolt cutters to cut the wires securing the ATV. They then secured it with bungee cord to the Jeep and attempted to drive away.
The wife yelled from her balcony at the men and the bungee cord broke. They drove away.
The callers told police a go-kart and a dirt bike had been stolen from their backyard the week prior, but they did not report it because they did not have the serial numbers.
(Compiled by Sherri Kolade, James Mitchell and Andrea Poteet.)