Police Blotter: Tax Fraud, Drunken Driver Arrests, Thefts

An 85-year-old Grosse Pointe Farms woman reported tax fraud to Grosse Pointe Farms police after discovering a 1099 tax form with her social security number showing $17,721.44 in taxable funds. The woman told officers she has not lost any money but wanted the fraudulent use of her social security number to be reported. She also identified a suspect for police, explaining she believes a former medical care provider from Southfield from years ago is involved, according to reports.

Drunken drivers

Grosse Pointe Shores police arrested several people for drunken driving over the weekend. In each of the cases, the drivers were spotted driving erratically or speeding, which is why they were stopped by officers. 

In the first case, officers arrested a 29-year-old Warren woman on Lake Shore near Vernier roads April 3 about 1:15 a.m. The woman was driving 40 to 46 miles per hour in a 35 mile per hour zone and failed three field sobriety tests. She had a 0.18 percent blood-alcohol content. She also has a prior drunken driving conviction. She is charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated. 

A few hours later, Shores officers arrested a 33-year-old Grosse Pointe Farms man who drove off Lake Shore Road and crashed through the iron fence of Osius Park. Officers responded to a crash to find two 10-foot sections of the fence missing and a car whose driver was trying to find a way out of the park. The car had damage on both sides as well as underneath and it was leaking transmission fluid. When the man exited the car, he was swaying and told officers he thought he was in a zoo and was lost. He had a 0.12 percent blood-alcohol content. He is charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, having no insurance and no registration. 

On April 4 about 5 p.m., Shores officers arrested a 55-year-old Detroit man in the 500 block of Lake Shore Road after he was drifting past the center line of the road. The man had a 0.18 percent blood-alcohol content and his driver's license had been expired for more than 10 years. He was unsteady on his feet and failed three field sobriety tests. He is charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated and driving while having a suspended license. 

Shores officers also arrested a 30-year-old Eastpointe man April 5 about 12:40 a.m. near Lake Shore and Vernier roads after attracting a patrol car on Lake Shore with inconsistent speeds and weaving. The man made an abrupt U-turn on Lake Shore Road and the officer did as well, stopping him. The man failed three field sobriety tests and had a 0.21 percent blood-alcohol content. He is charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, driving while license suspended, no proof of insurance and having no valid registration. 

Fishermen removed from park

Grosse Pointe Shores police asked five adult men to leave Osius Park April 2 after an anonymous caller reported them to a 911 dispatcher. The men are not residents of the Shores and were told the park is only for residents. The men were from St. Clair Shores, Clinton Township, Warren, Riley and Harrison Township. The men were fishing but left at the officers' request, according to reports.

Thefts investigated

Grosse Pointe Farms police are investigating three thefts reported since April 2. 

In the first case, a 47-year-old Farms man reported the stereo from his Suburban was stolen from his SUV while it was parked in the lot of Belle Tire after it was dropped off for work. The employees told officers they moved the Suburban back to the parking lot after working on it but did not lock it up and one employee reported seeing a man in the passenger side of the car a short time before the owner came to pick up. 

In another case, a woman in the 300 block of Hillcrest Avenue reported having her car ransacked and an iPod stolen between April 2 and 3. Her car was parked in front of her home on the street. She found the back of her car open and the contents of her car tossed around early April 3. 

In the last case, a resident in the 40 block of Harbor Hill Road reported having a GPS unit stolen from one car and about $15 in coins stolen from the other car parked in his driveway between April 3 and 4. The resident went to the driveway to discover the glove boxes of both vehicles were opened and ransacked. No damage was reported to the vehicles. 

Stolen Cars

Grosse Pointe Farms police recovered a stolen car near Anatole and Mack Avenue about 2 a.m. on April 2. An officer checked the license plate of a 2011 Ford Escape driving past to discover it was reported stolen by a company in Virginia Beach, VA. The driver told officers he pays for the car with an automatic payment on his credit card but hadn't checked lately to see if it was up to date. The 56-year-old Farmington Hills man was arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle and the vehicle was towed from the scene. 

In another case, a patrol officer made a traffic stop on Mack Avenue near Moross Road April 1 to find the car appeared to have been torn apart and redone with a variety of parts from different cars and different years. The driver showed officers a registration and said he bought the car in that condition. The car was taken to the police station for photographing. It appeared that a different vin number had been placed over the car's original and the seat belts were not from the correct manufacturer for the car. In addition, much of the interior counsel was varying in colors from different amounts of fading due to the sun. The locks also looked as if they'd been damaged in way common to car thefts, according to a report.