Suspect in Ferndale Business Theft Leaves Clues on eBay: Police

FERNDALE, MI — Police say they caught a suspect in the theft of more than $5,000 in construction equipment from a Ferndale drilling company after the owner’s son perused the online auction house eBay.

The suspect, a 32-year-old Westland man who hasn’t been identified pending his arraignment Friday on felony theft charges in Ferndale 43rd District Court, is accused of stealing submersible water pumps from Detroit Diamond Drilling, 7021 W. Eight Mile Road in Ferndale.

The owners of the business noticed the submersible pumps, valued at $300 each, had disappeared from a storage unit. Investigators traced them to a Westland pawn shop, which was trying to sell some of the equipment on eBay.

“The owner’s son did a search on eBay and found two of his pumps for sale from what appeared to be a pawn shop,” Ferndale Police Detective Brendan Moore told The Daily Tribune.

The drilling company had suspected the Westland man, an employee, of the thefts, but hadn’t fired him because they lacked evidence to accuse him of thievery, according to the report.

The man’s employer called the suspect in for a meeting Wednesday, and Ferndale detectives were there waiting to arrest him.

“They suspected him and sure enough it was him,” Moore said.

The missing items included at least 16 of submersible pumps and two expensive drills, police said.

» For more on this, go to The Daily Tribune.

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