Clinton building owner arrested at airport
He attempted to leave country, authorities said
The owner of a Clinton Township building that exploded on March 4, killing a teenager and injuring a firefighter, was charged with involuntary manslaughter on Thursday after authorities received an alert that he attempted to leave the country with a one-way ticket on April 20.
The Clinton Township Police Department was notified by authorities at JFK International Airport in New York when Noor Noel Kestou, 31, of Commerce Township, attempted to use his passport to fly from JFK to Hong Kong, said Clinton Township Police Chief Dina Caringi. Detectives immediately met with Macomb County prosecutors and issued a warrant for his arrest. Within hours, Kestou was located and taken into custody at the JFK airport.
The detectives later flew to New York and escorted Kestou back to Clinton Township on Wednesday, April 24. He was arraigned on Thursday, April 25, in 41B District Court and charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter, a felony charge with a maximum sentence of 15 years.
Kestou’s attorney could not be immediately reached for comment about his client’s flight to Hong Kong.
The explosion of Goo Smoke Shop/Select Distributors on Groesbeck Highway near 15 Mile on March 4 was due to the illegal possession and improper storage of nitrous oxide and butane cans, which rained down over Clinton Township along with other debris over a mile away.
“There were some businesses that told us they had 30 holes in their ceiling from these rockets that were coming down on top of them,” said Clinton Township Supervisor Bob Cannon.
Turner Salter, 19, of Clinton Township, was approximately a quarter mile away from the site of the explosion when he was hit in the head by a falling canister and killed. Matt Myers, a Clinton Township firefighter, was also injured when debris came through the windshield of a vehicle and glass clipped the side of his face, township officials previously said.
Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido assures that involuntary manslaughter is the highest charge that could be presented based on current evidence, but said that the ongoing investigation may yield future charges.
Kestou’s bond was set for $500,000, cash only, with other conditions upon his release: He must wear a GPS tether, surrender his passport and any weapons, and not leave the state.
Officials maintain that Kestou had been cooperative throughout the investigation and continues to cooperate.
“We don’t know what his ultimate goal was, to stay out of the country with a wife and a child here, but we do know that he is in custody, and I think he maybe made bond last night,” said Lucido.
The Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office had most recently met with assisting departments on April 17 to determine potential charges for Kestou.
Township Fire Chief Tim Duncan said that 30 private insurance investigators walked the perimeter of the explosion on Monday but still have not entered the site. Although the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is handling the police investigation, Duncan says, the explosion damaged most evidence that could help determine the cause of the fire, which was then fueled by nitrous oxide and butane.
“As you see from the picture here, that ball of fire and intensity of this fire essentially damaged a lot of what they would normally look to try to conclude what was going to happen on this scene,” said Duncan. “At this stage, they’re still at the undetermined aspect of it but they cannot exclude human involvement in this fire at this time.”
The Environmental Protection Agency is working hard to clean up the site, recovering over 3,100 canisters of nitrous oxide, not counting the canisters found by other departments.
“You can only take (those materials) on certain highways across this country and certain places, so it’s going to be very hard trying to get that taken care of,” said Duncan.
Since the explosion, township authorities have been checking gas stations, vape shops and other businesses that might have similar materials and discovered several were unaware that they weren’t supposed to possess the gaseous materials in the quantities that they did, or at all. However, all of the businesses have been cooperative in ridding the materials, said Duncan.
“What people are finding out is the community at large has a large desire for (nitrous oxide), and they can make a lot of money off of selling these things. We’re trying to get out there and make sure people are using this in the appropriate fashion. The nitrous is supposed to be used for the food service end of the industry, and obviously, we’re seeing that that’s simply just not happening,” said Duncan.
“This where I would advise basically our county and the state at large to get out in front of this and address this problem, because it’s not just simply in Clinton Township, it’s throughout the state. With the quantities that he had in this building, he’s sending them somewhere; now it’s time to uncover ‘Where are they going?’ ” Duncan continued. “Believe me, with the ATF, the EPA and the police department, they’re going to uncover where this stuff was going and where it was coming from.”
Cannon agreed, emphasizing his desire to bring an end to whatever exchanges of nitrous oxide and other materials that might be slipping right under Michigan law enforcement’s noses between inspections.
“I’d like to see some laws change, and that has to come from Lansing, that allows our building department and our fire department to go into the back room of businesses they might suspect are doing something like this,” said Cannon. “We don’t want this to be a onetime incident in Clinton Township, we want to stop it from happening anywhere else.”