Parolee suspected in rash of thefts from cars
A Detroit man faces a hearing Friday in Royal Oak 44th District Court on charges connected to a recent string of thefts from vehicles.
Michael G. Davis, 25, is jailed on $10,000, 10 percent, bond on a felony charge of larceny from auto, and three counts of breaking and entering cars during a theft spree late last month.
Royal Oak police Lt. Albert Carter said Davis is also a possible suspect in at least three other car burglaries where owners left their vehicles unlocked.
Davis had his girlfriend drive himto neighborhoods in the southeast area of the city, police said, adding that the driver would stay parked while the suspect walked around checking for unlocked cars.
“He’s been doing this for awhile as a way of making his living,” Carter said.
The suspect is accused of stealing cash froma pickup truck in the 700 block of South Laurel; a laptop computer, iPad, cash and sunglasses from a car in the 500 block of South Laurel; and CDs and loose change from other cars on the same street Sept. 24.
The next day, police said items were stolen from two vehicles in the 4000 block of Linwood Avenue, and someone caused damage to a third car while rummaging through it.
About 5 a.m., Sept. 27, a neighbor in the 2400 block of South Wilson called police to report a man had gotten out of a vehicle then rummaged through a parked car.
The neighbor told police the man then got out of the parked car and walked down the street.
Police said they set up a perimeter in the area, found Davis and arrested him.
Davis’s girlfriend, 28, was found nearby waiting in his car. She was arrested for an outstanding misdemeanor warrant from Livonia 16th District Court.
“She claimed she didn’t know what (the suspect) was doing,” Carter said. “The suspect initially lied to officers about what he was doing and said he was in the area to visit his grandmother, but couldn’t say where she lived.
Carter said police have been investigating multiple thefts from vehicles over the last month.
On Aug. 13 a half dozen thefts from cars were reported in the south end of Royal Oak. Those thefts happened on East Sixth, East Fourth, East Lincoln and Cherokee streets. Items stolen included electronics, laptops, credit cards, gift cards and other items.
Those thefts were not connected, police said, to the arrest of a Madison Heights man later in August related to thefts from unlocked cars near 13 Mile Road between Campbell and Rochester roads. The suspect in those cases, Noah Schunck, 18, was charged with two felony counts of stealing/ retaining a financial transaction device. .
Davis was paroled from prison early this year, according to Michigan Department of Corrections records.
He was sentenced in 2015 for felony convictions of first- degree home invasion and larceny from a motor vehicle in Wayne County.
Davis has also been convicted on felony charges of larceny from a motor vehicle and breaking and entering a motor vehicle, MDOC records show.
He is scheduled to appear before Royal Oak District Judge Derek Meinecke at 9 a.m. Friday.