Firearms were collected by Dearborn police officers from inside a house where a Postal carrier found a resident lying dead on the floor Nov. 7. The carrier noticed that mail and packages were piled on the porch and discovered the resident on the floor after looking through the mail slot. Police Chief Ronald Haddad said the man, who most likely died naturally, was a federal firearms dealer and had the guns secured safely inside the house. The firearms were found during a check of the house by police officers.
By ZEINAB NAJM
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN — Police made several arrests in cases involving weapons crimes, vehicle break-ins, vehicle theft and falsified police reports, Police Chief Ronald Haddad reported at a press conference Nov. 12.
Four people were arrested and weapons recovered Oct. 27 following a report of suspicious vehicles near Jerome and Walwit. Officers responded to the area where they spotted two vehicles containing four people.
Officers observed a rifle leaning against a baby’s car seat inside one of the vehicles, with a baby sitting in the seat. A second firearm was observed in one of the vehicles.
Further investigation revealed that the people possibly were involved in a bar fight and were possibly heading back to the bar, Haddad said.
The four people were arrested and the firearms were recovered.
Detroit residents Brian Williams, 28; Vontez McGee, 28; Ernest Young, 32; and Tamara Hardin, 29, were arrested and changed with multiple firearms-related charges.
On Oct. 30, officers responded to the area of Byrd and Carlysle on a report of people in a neighbor’s driveway. Once police established a surveillance, three people were observed entering multiple parked vehicles in the area.
The three, Adam Tatby, 17; Jonathon Farish, 20; and Jake Klein, 20, from Dearborn and Dearborn Heights were arrested. Haddad said the trio possessed several items from the vehicles they entered at the time of the arrest.
They each were charged by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office with larceny from auto.
Haddad also discussed a case where a 17-year-old boy fled and eluded police in a stolen vehicle on Nov. 7. According to the report, a police officer attempted to stop a vehicle that was listed as stolen, when the alleged driver, Nathan Ling, 17, fled and a pursuit was terminated.
That same night, Haddad said, the same vehicle was observed by a different officer so a second traffic stop attempt was made when Ling fled and crashed into a building in the area of Michigan and Wyoming avenues. Ling then ran to a nearby building where he scaled a wall and taunted police officers and fire personnel by yelling expletives at them, according to the report.
When Ling attempted to climb down from the wall, he fled again but was arrested.
The Belleville resident was charged with stealing the car in Van Buren Township along with two counts of fleeing officers, possession of a stolen vehicle, and obstructing and assaulting law enforcement.
On Oct. 1, a patrol officer stopped a vehicle for a traffic violation when he arrested the driver, Hector Vasquez-Arreguin, 19, from Melvindale for driving without a license.
Following his arrest and release, Vasquez-Arreguin made a complaint at the Police Department that the police officer who arrested him stole $700 from him during the traffic stop. He also said that the arresting officer ignored an unsecured rifle in plain view in the trunk of his vehicle.
An internal investigation determined the allegations were false. Haddad said the work done by detectives, and footage from the body and patrol vehicle cameras helped disprove the allegations.
The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office charged Vasquez-Arreguin with filing a false police report.
(Zeinab Najm can be reached at [email protected].)