Court Watching: Judge Parrott approves plea deal for 19 yr. old who possessed skimmer

34th District Court Judge David Parrott approved a plea deal for Tylan Jamel Johnson, 19, who had been charged with possessing an automated sales suppression device on Nov. 22 at the Burger King drive-through in Van Buren Township.
Judge Parrott heard the case July 26, the day the defendant was due for his preliminary exam.
Johnson had been lodged in the Wayne County Jail for more than two weeks since his July 11 arraignment. He was being held on $5,000/10% bond.
His court-appointed attorney Malita Barrett worked out an agreement with the assistant county prosecutor. Johnson pled guilty to a misdemeanor and the felony charge was dismissed. If there are no future charges in the next six months, the charge will be dismissed.
He will have to take part in a business crime program offered by the court. Fines amounted to $790 and he was given credit of $5 per day for 15 days in jail, bringing his new balance to $715.
After agreeing to the plea deal, he was free to go. Barrett said Johnson is enrolled in Washtenaw County Community College.
Van Buren Township Detective Ken Toney was the officer in charge of the case.
Samuel Lewis Ward
Samuel Lewis Ward, 38, was charged with tampering with an electronic monitoring device, and was due for his preliminary exam on July 26, but he was tending to another charge at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice that morning and missed the bus from the Wayne County Jail to 34th District Court. His retained attorney, Delicia Cain-Taylor Coleman, said she tried to get the sheriff’s deputies to make another run, but failed, so Ward missed his court date in Romulus.
His preliminary exam was adjourned until noon Aug. 17 and that date may be changed. Prosecutor Greg Akaraz said he would call the defense attorney, who said that was her only free date and time, to see if something other than lunchtime could be arranged.
Ward is lodged in the Wayne County Jail on bond of $10,000/10% for this case and a reduced bond on his other charges, as of his morning circuit court appearance on that day, to $5,000/10%.
Jerry Lloyd Rogers
A probable cause conference for Jerry Lloyd Rogers, 25, was adjourned to Aug. 16 on his charges of operating while intoxicated–3rd and driving while license suspended-2nd on Dec. 18 in VBT. Det. Mike Long is in charge of the case.
Rogers faces similar charges in 21st District Court in Garden City for three alleged offenses on July 8.
Sandra Ann Cole
Judge Parrott and court-appointed defense attorney David Lankford and people sitting in the courtroom could all see Sandra Ann Cole via video from the Wayne County Jail where she was being held, but there was no sound.
After district court officers tried to make a better connection about a half dozen times and the jail officials rebooted and did other things to make the sound work, it didn’t.
Cole, 57, was trying to hold her probable cause conference, during which she was expected to waive her preliminary exam, set for Aug. 2. Instead, she was set to hold her preliminary exam on Aug. 2.
Cole is charged with first-degree retail fraud in VBT on April 22, 2015 and was being lodged until she could post $10,000/10% bond.
VBT Police Det. Toney is the officer in charge of the case.