A father and son who allegedly stole nearly $600 worth of power tools from the Oxford Ace Hardware Wednesday, Sept. 22 were apprehended thanks to the cooperative efforts of the Oxford Village Police and Oakland County Sheriff’s departments.
A 50-year-old Imlay City man and his 20-year-old son, also of Imlay City, are expected to be charged with one count each of second-degree retail fraud, a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.
According to the village police report, the pair was shopping in Ace Hardware when they allegedly stole a $300 reciprocating saw, $100 grinder kit and $190 cord-less drill by taking them from the hardware store into the adjoining Dollar King and from there exiting to the outside.
A clerk followed the pair out and requested to see a receipt at which point the father quickly flashed a piece of paper and continued walking away, the report stated.
The father and son then ran north across the parking lot of the Oxford Marketplace, jumped a cement wall and landed in the backyard of 72 Pearl St., where they allegedly stashed the tools under some logs and brush.
The pair then took off again and hid in some woods along Scripter Lake, according to the report.
Village police were notified of the incident at 1:52 p.m. and their units, along with ground, aviation and K-9 units from the sheriff’s department, began searching for the suspects.
During the search, village police detained a 21-year-old Imlay City woman, who was the girlfriend of the son, sitting in a white pickup truck on Pearl St.
She identified the two suspects for police and said she saw them leave the Dollar Store carrying items, then run north of the shopping center.
The woman told police she drove the truck to Pearl St. where the men had run to, but did not know their whereabouts. She also said ‘she knew they had stole something because the three of them had been caught stealing from Kroger,? according to the report.
Although police detained and questioned the woman, Oxford Police Officer Thad Lambiris said she will not face any charges.
Village officers and sheriff’s deputies searched for the suspects with no success for nearly two hours.
Then ‘around the time we were getting ready to clear the scene and call off the search,? according to Oxford Police Officer Thad Lambiris, a resident on Glaspie St. called the dispatch about two men (matching the descriptions of the suspects) walking northbound along Glaspie St.
The suspects were then apprehended by sheriff’s deputies at 3:53 p.m. and turned over to village police.
During questioning, both men admitted to stealing the power tools from Ace (both called it a ‘stupid idea?), running from the scene and hiding them in the backyard of 72 Pearl St.
Both father and son have prior criminal convictions.