By Shelby Stewart
Staff Writer
Brandon Twp.- An area group home has drawn the ire and concerns of residents.
On Monday night the township board of trustees meeting was packed with locals expressing their thoughts on a Sleepy Hollow home near Granger Road.  Neighbors say an adult foster care facility would occupy the home which now housed two convicted sex offenders who have since been removed.

“The two sex offenders were removed from the property on Wednesday May 9. I’m very happy that the department of corrections implemented this action,” said Township Supervisor Kathy Thurman. “The township is in the process of filing s complaint with the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. I am thankful to the residents, Senator Dave Robertson, Representative John Reilly, and attorneys Cooney and DeWitt for working with the township to get these sex offenders removed in a timely manner.”
The spacious 2,800 square foot home was sold last fall to new owners who may have mislead the sellers.
“I sold 301 (Sleepy Hollow),” said Keith Brodkorb, who along with wife Jeanne had owned the home for 20 years. “I was lied to just like all the neighbors were. I was told it was a young couple with a five-year-old girl. They presented themselves this way. I never would have sold to someone like that. I’m a retired police officer, I put people like that in jail.”
A young family never moved into the home.
“We’re working closely with the township attorney, getting all of the information to him so he can lead us down the next course of action,” said Thurman, in a prepared statement on Wednesday. “We have potential violations that we’re trying to follow up on. Brandon Township has been diligently working with Representative Reilly, Senator Robertson and the Township Attorney to resolve the issue of allowing sex offenders to live in the newly licensed group home located at 301 Sleepy Hollow. Representative Reilly and Senator Robertson have been in contact with the Department of Corrections and have assured me that the sex offenders will be placed elsewhere in very short order. We will continue to work toward keeping sex offenders from living in this home and other adult foster care facilities in Brandon Township.”
Jake Mannino lives near the group home. His wife and three daughters are too scared to sleep.
“My kids will not go outside,” said Mannino to the township board of trustees on Monday. “The person who owns this house lied to us, all us neighbors, to our face, and said, to our face, these were going to be special needs, autistic people. We point blank asked him ‘will there be felons? Will there be sex offenders? He said, ‘no.’ If we didn’t go to the sex registry, we wouldn’t have known.”
The residents concerns sparked Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Brandon substation commander Lieutenant Greg Glover to express his feelings on the home.
“My phone has blown up every day, multiple times a day over this home,” said Glover. “I can tell you that the sheriff’s department was never notified of this group home. I don’t care what kind of staff they have, there’s not enough for this type of housing. Things can happen very quickly. I can tell you that I have rearrested more sex offenders than I want to count. They do seem to repeat their crimes. I have never, in my 30 years, seen a halfway house set up for registered sex offenders in this kind of setting. We cannot provide the type of security that needs to be on that street.”
At the meeting on Monday night, the board approved unanimously a motion, to do whatever is legally possible to enforce our zoning regulations and protect residents from state preemptive actions that are contrary to reasonable use of property in order to protect our residents. Which gives the supervisor the ability to move forward without needing future approval from the board on this topic.
“Obviously we know how you feel, we all feel the same way,” said Treasurer Terri Darnall at the township meeting Monday night. “But at this point there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Both residents of the group home can be found on the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry website at www.icrimewatch.net, along with their first offenses. Both can also be found on the Offender Tracking Information System (OTIS) website.
For more information on how to get involved with Mannino’s efforts, email Sharon Schmaltz at
sharonschmaltz@gmail.com.
“The people of this township are amazing,” said Mannino. “The police are amazing, they’ve been patrolling our street every few hours.”
Signs protesting the group home are available at Paramount Signs and Graphix, 910 S. Ortonville Road, Ortonville, and Mannino encourages residents to put in a call to action to the Oakland County Prosecutor, Jessica Cooper, at 248-858-0656