A breaking and entering in Oxford nearly two months ago led village police to connections in Warren, Sterling Heights and finally Dearborn, where an officer recovered half of the stolen merchandise last week.
Village Police Officers Thad Lambiris executed a search warrant June 16 in a Dearborn home, near Telegraph and Ford roads, where they recovered four large, expensive televisions stolen from Appliance and Electronic Brokers on the night of April 29-30.
Lambiris, the investigating officer on the case, said he expects to have arrest warrants issued in the ‘very near future? for an 18-year-old Warren man and 23-year-old Sterling Heights man, who are the prime suspects in the burglary of the business located in the Oxford Marketplace Plaza.
The two men allegedly stole eight televisions and one DVD recorder valued at $32,142, according to the report. The televisions included a 50-inch Pioneer plasma TV, a 61-inch Sony plasma TV, four 42-inch Sony LCD projection TVs, and two 50-inch Sony LCD projection TVs.
Ironically, it was a tan BMW illegally parked on S. Glaspie St. that April night that led village police to the two prime suspects and four of the stolen televisions, according to Lambiris.
A village officer on routine patrol that night came across the BMW parked in the middle of the northbound lane of S. Glaspie St., in front of the southern portion of Scripter Park near the tree line. Lambiris said the vehicle was parked in a ‘direct line of sight? with the back-door of the Appliance and Electronic Brokers store.
The BMW’s doors were slightly open and inside was a set of keys, wallet and cell phone. Police determined the vehicle was registered to a woman in Warren. When contacted by dispatch, the woman said her son had borrowed the car that night.
‘She had no idea why the car was out here and parked in the middle of the road,? Lambiris said. ‘She said her son was with a friend from Sterling Heights at his house for the night.?
Contact was made with the Sterling Heights home where police were told ‘everything was OK? and the person ‘did not want to give any more information.?
The BMW was impounded. While impounding the car, Lambiris said the officer on the scene observed a white Chevy Astro van pulling away from the backdoor of the Appliance and Electronic Brokers store. It was described as an ‘older style? van ‘with no windows.?
At 7:20 a.m. a forced breaking and entering was reported by the contractor renovating the store and village police were called to the scene. Lambiris observed the store’s steel rear door had been cut using a reciprocating saw and pried open.
Lambiris said the thieve(s) cut along the door jam right through the dead-bolt lock. ‘Several pieces of broken saw blades were located at the foot of the door outside the building,? the report stated.
In the mean time, the 18-year-old Warren man who was driving the abandoned BMW was contacted by police. He told officers his car overheated and broke down on Glaspie and he walked to the Shell gas station, where he asked a stranger driving a green Thunderbird to drive him home to Warren.
The Warren man said he driving around Oxford awaiting the call of a female friend in the area, but didn’t know her last name, address or phone number.
However, when the man came in to pick up the impounded BMW he told an officer that he walked to the Shell station and called a friend to drive him home.
‘Now, we’ve got two different stories,? Lambiris said.
Further investigation linked the Warren man to a 23-year-old Sterling Heights man. Police learned he was dating the Sterling Heights man’s younger sister.
Police ran a search on all the vehicles registered to the Sterling Heights man’s family and it was discovered one them is a 1988 Chevy Astro van. A drive-by by Sterling Heights police officers confirmed the van was white and had no windows.
Then on June 15 Sterling Heights Police responded to a report of neighbor trouble. At the scene, a woman, the mother of the Sterling Heights suspect, explained she was upset with her 50-year-old common law husband and son over a breaking and entering in which a ‘bunch? of TVs were stolen.
Lambiris said according to the woman, her son (the Sterling Heights suspect) sold four of the TVs to her common law husband for $1,500. She said the husband drove them to a house in Dearborn for storage.
Police executed a search warrant June 16 on the Dearborn home, owned by a 40-year-old man, and discovered four of the stolen TVs in the basement with ‘partially ripped? sales tags on them, which enabled police to identify them as being from the Appliance and Electronic Brokers store.
The owner of the home was on vacation at the time of the search.
Lambiris said he hopes to make arrests ‘within the next couple of weeks after we tighten up the case a little bit more.?
The 18-year-old Warren man and 23-year-old Sterling Heights man will be charged with breaking and entering and subsequent larcenies, while the 50-year-old Sterling Heights man (the father) and 40-year-old Dearborn man could be charged with receiving and concealing stolen property. However, the latter two will probably have to be charged through the Macomb and Wayne county prosecutors, according to Lambiris.
So why was the Warren man’s BMW parked in the middle of S. Glaspie. St?
‘We believe that was the getaway car,? Lambiris said. ‘They thought if they got caught, they could run and hop in the BMW.?
The keys, wallet and cell phone were left inside the vehicle, so the Warren suspect wouldn’t drop anything near the scene and leave evidence behind, Lambiris speculated.
Lambiris said the alleged thieves probably saw the officer impounding the vehicle and had no choice but to leave it.
In the ultimate irony, the getaway car led police straight to the alleged thieves.