William Fred Ayres, 49, of various addresses in the Belleville area, was bound over for trial at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit for drug and home-invasion charges filed by the Sumpter Township Police.
Ayres entered a not-guilty plea to the drug-connected charges of possession of cocaine less than 25 grams, habitual offender 4, and commission of a felony using a motor vehicle, which allegedly happened on March 28.
Ayres also pleaded not guilty to home invasion 2nd degree (a 15-year felony), larceny in a building (4 years), and habitual offender 4, which allegedly happened on March 26.
On April 11, 34th District Court Judge David Parrott presided over Ayres’ preliminary exam and found enough evidence to send him on to be arraigned on the evidence at circuit court on April 25.
“Dustin was very important to our case. Without Ken Toney’s son we probably wouldn’t have been able to prosecute anything but the drug charges,” said Sumpter Police Det. John Toth, referring to Dustin Cox, 20, of Sumpter Township who testified at the preliminary hearing.
Cox is the son of Van Buren Township Police Officer Ken Toney and Shawn Cox-Toney. Officer Toney said he is very proud of their son, who has a goal of joining the FBI. Cox currently is working on his accounting degree.
“Ken Toney’s son saw someone breaking into his neighbor’s home and jumped into police mode,” Det. Toth said.
Cox saw the unusual vehicle in the drive of a man he had worked for and then saw a unfamiliar man walking out of the side door of the garage with construction supplies and driving off.
“He knew it wasn’t right,” Toth said of Cox, who jumped into his vehicle and went after the fleeing van.
Cox followed the vehicle from the 19000 block of Haggerty in Sumpter and cornered it at the former Pro-Tech business at Haggerty and E. Huron River Drive in Van Buren Township, where he got a good look at the license plate.
At that point the driver “flipped him off” and drove off at a high rate of speed, so Cox disengaged, “like a good police officer would do,” Toth said.
The eye-witness information was turned over to Sumpter Police Sgt. Jim Cayce, who determined the vehicle was stolen.
Two days later, Sumpter Officer Beth Egerer was on patrol with rookie Officer Dave McKean when they came upon the same vehicle on Sumpter Road, with its flashers on. It had just run out of gas.
Toth said the female driver got out of the car to talk to police, while Officer Egerer ran the plate and found it was stolen. Sgt. Pat Gannon and Det. Toth were called.
Ayres was just awakening in the vehicle, following a multiple-day bender on cocaine, Toth said.
Sumpter Police set up a lineup and Cox picked him out as the man he saw stealing construction materials.
Toth said the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office declined to prosecute the female.
“If it wasn’t for Ken Toney’s son being a good neighbor and acting quickly,” we wouldn’t have been able to prosecute him on the home invasion,” Toth said. “If he was my son, I’d be super proud.”
Ayres is being detained in the Wayne County Jail because of parole violations.
Michigan Department of Corrections records show Ayres was on parole after serving 5 years of his 3-15 year sentence for a 2004 home invasion 2nd degree.
He also has served time for other convictions for home invasion 2nd degree, larceny from a person, breaking and entering, and fleeing a police officer.
Det. Toth said there have been a series of break-ins in Sumpter and Van Buren and Romulus also are getting hit. He said in Sumpter, the stolen articles are mainly Quads, tools, and Razrs.