Two Detroit men were arrested following a theft from a Portage jewelry store and a police pursuit on Interstate 94 into Calhoun County.
PORTAGE — Two Detroit men were arrested following a theft from a Portage jewelry store and a police pursuit on Interstate 94 into Calhoun County.
Portage police said the 2:30 p.m. incident Monday at Medawar Jewelers, 5721 S. Westnedge Ave., is the fifth theft reported at a South Westnedge Avenue jewelry store since August and that they believe one of the suspects was involved in at least one of the other thefts.
A Medawar employee became suspicious of 19-year-old Caleb Mackey after Mackey entered the store and began asking to look at expensive pieces of jewelry, said Lt. Steven Clark of the Portage Police Department.
The employee set out a piece of “costume jewelry” resembling a diamond ring with a bogus $2,000 price tag on the counter, which Mackey allegedly grabbed then fled to a nearby vehicle driven by 18-year-old Corey Williams, also of Detroit, according to police.
The Medawar employee tried to follow the suspects’ rented 2008 Mazda MX6 but his vehicle was struck by the getaway car, Clark said. The employee was not injured.
Police spotted the Mazda headed east on I-94 near Beadle Lake Road, Capt. Matt Saxton of the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department said, where a sheriff’s deputy and an Emmett Township police officer gave chase.
Stop sticks placed on the road by a Michigan State Police trooper near Interstate 69 interchange failed to stop the car, which shortly after exited I-94 south onto 22 1/2 Mile Road. The Mazda struck a deputy’s cruiser and Williams tried to force another cruiser into oncoming traffic before he lost control and spun out about half-mile from I-94, according to Saxton.
The suspects ran from the car, but Mackey was caught a short distance away, Saxton said. Williams fled into a cornfield but a police dog tracked him about an hour later to a shed off 23 Mile Road, he said.
Williams was arraigned today in Calhoun County District Court on one count of fleeing and eluding and two counts of resisting and obstructing police was jailed on a $50,000 cash bond. Mackey was arraigned on one count of resisting and obstructing police and was being held on a $7,500 cash bond, according to Saxton.
Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Fink this afternoon that said he authorized charges of larcency in a building and conspiracy to commit larceny against Williams and Mackey, as felonious assault against Williams for allegedly striking the Medawar employee’s car.
Clark said that prior to Monday’s incident at Medawar Jewelers, other thefts from jewelry stores along South Westnedge Avenue include: Helzberg Diamonds, 6018 S. Westnedge Ave., on Aug. 26; Kay Jewelers, in The Crossroads mall, on Sept. 7; Siegel Jewelers, 6156 S. Westnedge Ave., on Nov. 13; and Rogers & Hollands Jewelers, in The Crossroads mall, on Wednesday.
Fink said he authorized a charge of larceny from a person against Mackey in connection with the Siegel Jewelers case.
One person arrested in connection with the Helzberg theft has been charged with first-degree retail fraud, according to Clark, who said investigators believe the thefts at Helzberg and Kay Jewelers are linked. The one at Rogers & Hollands remains under investigation.
In response to the thefts, Clark said, police have been working with jewelry stores on increased security measures. Those include asking for identification and taking fingerprints of anyone who asks to view expensive jewelry, he said.
Michigan State Police are investigating jewelry store thefts by a group out of Detroit, Clark said.
