Bandits Steal From, Then Flood Vacant Dearborn Home

The term “wet bandits” usually refers to the lovable Joe Pesci-Daniel Stern crime duo thwarted by a quirky 8-year-old in Home Alone (1990).

But one thief–by design or not–brought the wet bandits’ burglary strategy to life July 31, breaking into a vacant home, stealing copper piping and flooding the basement before making an escape, according to a police report.

Dearborn police officers responded to a report of basement flooding on the 7900 block of Kendal around 12:20 p.m. and observed the house’s side door busted open, the report said.

The officers went into the house’s basement after hearing running water, eventually seeing water flowing freely from the home’s meter. There was around 3 feet of standing water in the basement at the time, according to the report.

The suspect ripped down a number of basement ceiling tiles where copper piping would have been, the report said. Nothing else in the house appeared to be missing, save for copper piping pulled out of the upstairs bathroom’s wall.

While checking the house’s exterior, officers noticed the evaporation line of the home’s air-conditioning unit was cut, the report said. The unit appeared to have been moved a few inches by the suspect but left at the scene.

There was also an attempted burglary at a vacant house on the 23000 block of Cherry Hill that same week, but nothing was stolen, Dearborn police said.

For questions on this blotter, email jessica.carreras@patch.com.