Full Notification

On 12/23/11 at approximately 5:00 A.M., officers from the Harper Woods Police Department investigated two suspicious subjects in the street near Elkhart and Peerless, pushing a large garbage can filled with copper plumbing and air conditioning parts. Investigation revealed that the items had just been stolen from a vacant home in the19900 block of Elkhart. Both subjects were arrested and held without bond pending their arraignment. Prior to the arrest, the city had experienced an increase in vacant home burglaries in the immediate area.

Antoine Butler Jr. (21) and Henry Cook Jr (21), both residing in Detroit, were each charged with the following: Count 1 – Breaking & Entering – Entry without breaking with intent; Count 2 – Larceny in a building; Count 3 Larceny less than $200. Both subjects were video arraigned before Magistrate Jeffery Fanto and placed on a $20,000 10% bond. A preliminary exam is scheduled for January 4, 2012.

Residents are asked to monitor vacant homes in their neighborhoods and to report suspicious activity immediately. Suspicious activity would include loud noises, cutting sounds, odor of natural gas, breaking glass, open windows/doors or unknown subjects and/or vehicles at or near vacant homes. Thieves are targeting copper and other scrap metal at vacant homes, often cutting gas land water lines in the process.