Driver faces multiple felonies after police find stolen financial cards, statements, ID
A Madison Heights man is jailed on $50,000 cash bond after police say they stopped him for driving with no license plate and found he had a fraudulent temporary plate, and multiple ID, credit cards and financial statements belonging to eight other people.
Justin Richards, 35, was arraigned on a dozen charges Thursday in Royal Oak 44th District Court. He also had a warrant for disorderly conduct in Troy 52-4 District Court outstanding when he was arrested in Royal Oak on April 29, police said.
Richards was driving in a Ford Escape near 11 Mile and Campbell roads when he was stopped.
Police said they didn’t see a license plate on the vehicle, but later found he had a temporary paper plate in his rear window that turned out to be forged.
Police said the paper temporary plate was printed out with red ink. Legitimate temporary plates are printed in black.
He was arrested for the outstanding warrant and the bogus paper license plate. Police searched his vehicle and said they found financial transaction cards, a state ID card, and financial statements belonging to other people.
Police said they found out from the victims Richards was not supposed to have any of the items, which were illegally obtained.
“He was not a stranger to any of the victims,” said Royal Oak police Sgt. Nathan Heppner. “They knew him.”
One of the victims was a coworker, others included a roommate and an acquaintance from a local establishment, police said.
Richards is charged with about a dozen fraud and theft related counts, nearly all of them five-year felonies.
He is due back in Royal Oak District Court for a probable cause conference on Friday and remains in jails.
More smash-and grab car burglaries, vandalism at parking decks
Smash-and grab car burglars were out again at two city parking decks but walked away empty-handed from all but one of three vehicles.
Vehicle owners reported the incidents late in the night on April 30.
Police said the incidents were all similar and they believe the same culprit or culprits were involved.
A Detroit woman discovered someone broke out a passenger window on her Chrysler Sebring at the 212 S. Center Street deck about 11:50 p.m.
Among items stolen from her car were $150 cash from the center console, $350 worth of assorted hand tools and a fishing tackle box worth an estimated $400.
Passenger side windows were also broken out on a Subaru and a Chevrolet Silverado owned by two Madison Heights men in the parking deck at 300 S. Lafayette Ave.
Police said someone rummaged through both of the vehicles but nothing was stolen.
Eleven days earlier similar incidents were reported at the parking decks at 514 S. Lafayette Ave., 300 S. Lafayette Ave., the deck at Emagine Theater, 300 N. Main, and the 11 Mile Road parking deck..
Owners of two vehicles reported a total of $200 in cash and $1,100 in goods, including sunglasses and a watch, taken from their vehicles.
Also on April 19, three motorists who parked at the Emagine Theater deck and the 11 Mile Road deck found someone smashed windows on their vehicles, but nothing was missing. Police said that’s probably because the owners left no valuables in their cars.
“This is definitely something that has picked up recently,” said Royal Oak police Sgt. Nathan Heppner.
There are no surveillance cameras at the parking decks. Heppner said police have been doing extra patrols at the four downtown city park decks and the one at Emagine Theater.
Man wanted on 3 felony warrants arrested
A driver wanted on three felony warrants out of Macomb County Circuit Court was arrested after a traffic stop on north I-75 near I-696.
Police stopped the man in his Chrysler PT Cruiser about 5 p.m. April 25.
The suspect, 32, of Madison Heights was arrested for possessing a small amount of a synthetic narcotic and giving police a false name because he had a suspended license.
But police discovered the man was also wanted on felony warrants in Macomb County for fraud, witness bribery or intimidation, and fleeing and eluding police.
The drug the man had is called Suboxone, a synthetic narcotic, used in diminishing doses for people addicted to narcotics.
–Mike McConnell, Tribune staff writer