The Manchester Enterprise
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Teenagers questioned in downtown crime wave
Two high school students and a middle-schooler accused of stealing money for sick boy
By Edward Freundl, Heritage Newspapers
PUBLISHED: March 15, 2007
Three teenagers suspected in a short-term crime spree last week have been identified and apprehended.
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Washtenaw County Sheriff's Sgt. Jim Anuszkiewicz said the boys were questioned about a rash of shoplifting and larceny that occurred the afternoon of March 7 in the downtown district.
"These were two high school kids and one in middle school," Anuszkiewicz said. "We've had previous contact with the two older ones."
A number of merchants along East Main Street described almost identical circumstances occurring within approximately an hour, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Not only was merchandise taken, but the boys also are suspected of stealing donation canisters that were collecting cash for the family of Levi Williams, an infant with a rare blood disease who has spent most of his eight months of life at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor.
Police and merchants say the targets were Pyramid Office Supplies, 108 E. Main St.; Manchester Pharmacy, 128 E. Main St.; The Coffee Mill Cafe, 146. E. Main St.; Riverside Consign, 230 E. Main St.; and Elements art gallery, 131 Adrian St.
Police were alerted after Levi's parents came to the Coffee Mill the morning of March 8 to pick up the canister and discovered it missing.
"It had to have happened the day before when I was by myself and a few boys came in," said Kayla Urda, an employee at the Coffee Mill.
"I know there had to be $100 or more in the bucket, because it was full."
Urda said one customer immediately went to the other merchants on Main Street and verified the same boys had been in their stores, and another customer gave the parents a large donation on the spot to try to make up for the missing cash.
Coffee Mill assistant manager Kelly Englund felt "disgusted" about the brazen theft.
"This stinks, to take somebody else's money like that," she said.
Manchester was not the only place the parents discovered missing donation canisters.
"It didn't only happen in Manchester, it happened at the bakery in Tecumseh," said Levi's mother, Cassy Williams.
The Manchester juveniles are not suspects in that disappearance, however.
Williams was deeply hurt by the incidents.
"I can't imagine anyone who would want to steal from a sick child," she said.
"It's really frustrating to think there are people out there who don't have a heart."
Williams had to give up her part-time job at United Bank & Trust to care for Levi and her other children, Lucus, 6, Logan, 2, and Layden, 1.
She said money from the canisters helps her and her husband travel to and from the hospital from their home near Adrian.
Williams said she is grateful to the Coffee Mill customer who gave her some money.
"There was a very generous lady at the Coffee Mill who donated $100. I don't know her name but I'd like to thank her," Williams said.
As for little Levi, Cassy Williams said he is finally doing better after a period of setbacks.
"Levi's doing OK now, but he had us pretty scared there for a little bit," she said.
"His donor cells (from a bone marrow transplant) are fighting against his bad cells, but they think they caught it in time."
Sonja Rhees, a clerk at the Manchester Pharmacy, said March 8 that a clock had been taken from her store.
"They lifted a clock out of here, a U of M desk clock; that was the only thing," she said.
"Jack (Summers, owner of Riverside Consign) came in here and asked me if we had this clock, and all we had was the box. They took it right out of the box," she said.
"They took it right down to him and tried to sell it."
Summers found himself an unwitting "fence" in the shoplifting scheme.
"They brought in their ill-gotten booty, but we didn't realize it at the time," he said. "We thought they were just good kids trying to make a couple of bucks."
Summers said the boys brought in a pair of earrings, the desk clock, which he later found out were taken from the art gallery and the pharmacy.
But in filling out the consignment paperwork, the suspects managed to implicate themselves.
"They have to fill out a form saying it's their item and they sign it, but while I was making a copy they ripped me off," he said. "They took some rings that I had on the counter."
Pat Vailliencourt, Coffee Mill owner and Manchester village president, sent an e-mail alerting downtown businesses of the incidents, and that's when the "crime wave" came to a halt.
"The next day, Thursday, when I read the e-mail that's when I put it all together," Summers said.
Anuszkiewicz said most of the property has been recovered, but the investigation continues.
"We're going to interview the kids again; apparently, they think telling 80 percent of the truth is enough," he said.
"The parents are cooperative, and their intention is the same as ours: a genuine interest in stopping this behavior and pointing them in the right direction before it's too late."
Reaction to the thefts varies among the merchants, with some urging strong measures and others preferring leniency based on the ages of the alleged perpetrators.
"Whoever is responsible needs to have it handed to them hard," Englund said. "They had no right to do that."
Summers saw it as an opportunity to come up with a way to divert the youths from engaging in such activity.
"If anything good comes out of this, I'm hoping for some kind of after-school program so the kids don't get bored and try stuff like this," he said.
Anuszkiewicz said the young suspects seemed to grasp the reality of the situation.
"Toward the end of the investigation, I think it really hit them about what they had done," he said.
"They could face charges of retail fraud for the stolen merchandise and larceny for the stolen donations, but we'll let the prosecutor's office make that decision."
Edward Freundl is a reporter for Heritage Newspapers. He can be reached at 428-8173 or efreundl@heritage.com.
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