Court Watching: Maine bound over on charge of receiving and concealing stolen items

On Feb. 17, after a long preliminary exam with five witnesses, 34th District Court Judge David Parrott ordered Dennis Maine, 39, bound over to circuit court for an arraignment on the information on Feb. 24.
At circuit court, Judge David Groner reset the arraignment to March 15.
Maine is charged with receiving and concealing stolen property in excess of $20,000 from a Sumpter Township breaking and entering on April 10, 2015. Being found guilty could bring him 10 years in prison.
Maine was brought to court by two Michigan Department of Correction guards from a cell in the Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia. He was sentenced on Jan. 14 in Monroe to seven to 22 years in prison for home invasion, second degree.
Maine, a habitual offender, has 11 charges for breaking and entering and related charges since 1994.
First witness in Judge Parrott’s court was Janice Ann Logue who testified she was looking after her friend’s house in the 13000 block of Rawsonville Road while her friend was in Alabama. One day when she drove up she noticed a box half in and half out of the garage door. She called her friend to ask if she was back and she wasn’t. After a brief walk through the house that showed it had been ransacked, the property owner called police.
Second witness was Sumpter Officer Danielle Buccellato who was the first police officer at the scene. She testified to the glass door being broken on the second level and a ladder against the house. Also, the security gates on the front door were kicked out, not in. She said police evidence technicians, including herself, took pictures of the house interior and got descriptions of the items, including jewelry, 48 guns, vehicles, trailers, four bonds worth $10,000 each, and personal documents including birth certificates. Some of the items were put on Leads on Line which led to identification of Maine.
Third witness was Andrea Meacham, a claims adjuster for Farmers Insurance, who insured the home. She testified the total loss, according to the woman who owned the house and the man who lived with her, was about $120,000 before the insurance limits were applied. The insurance company valued the total loss as $54,190.76 and paid out $25,814.70 on Jan. 4, 2016.
Nothing was given back to the insureds but their documents, Meacham said.
Fourth witness was Sumpter Police Cpl. John Ashby, who testified about being present when multiple agencies served the search warrant at Maine’s home at 1117 Lexington Parkway in Ypsilanti on May 12.
Cpl. Ashby said they went to the house and Maine was on the porch.
“He immediately dove to the ground, yelling I want a lawyer,” Ashby recalled.
The bonds with the owner’s name on them were found in the kitchen along with a social security card. A big box of paper towels with the Rawsonville Road address on the outside was found in a child’s room.
Ashby said the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) was doing surveillance on Maine for quite a while and was waiting for something specific before the search warrant was executed.
Fifth witness was Sumpter Police Detective John Toth, the officer in charge, who testified that although there were 48 guns stolen at the Sumpter address none have ever been recovered.
He said ATF had been tracking Maine through his cell phone. He said the day of the search warrant, police and ATF first staged in Livonia but Maine had left and not returned. Then they moved to the spot in Ypsilanti and finally found him.
Judge Parrott bound the defendant over, finding there was sufficient probable cause that a crime had been committed and that Maine may have done the crime.
In another matter, Judge Parrott pointed out three outstanding 2015 charges from the city of Belleville for registration or plate violation, driving while license suspended, and no proof of insurance. Maine pled guilty to all charges and Judge Parrott sentenced him to 90 days, which had been satisfied by time served.
Carlton Ozell Bankhead
Rahman Niallabey
Derrick Lamont Vincent
The preliminary exams for co-defendants Carlton Ozell Bankhead, Rahman Rashad-Dangel Niallabey, and Derrick Lamont Vincent were set for Feb. 17, but they all chose to waive the exams and head on to circuit court. Their date at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice is March 2.
Bankhead, 25 Niallabey, 29, and Vincent, 27, are all charged with operating under false pretenses of more than $1,000 but less than $20,000 in Sumpter Township on Jan. 29.
Each one had bond set at $20,000 or 10% and each one posted bond. Each one has a different court-appointed attorney.
Sumpter Township Detective John Toth is the officer in charge of the cases and he said the charges have to do with use of credit cards.
Rosalyn Marie Winbush
Rosalyn Marie Winbush, 31, was facing her preliminary exam on a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon in Van Buren Township on Jan. 30. She had been lodged on a bond of $30,000/10% and it had been posted.
But when it came time for the exam there was no complaining witness and so the charge against her was dismissed. It could be refiled at a future time. VBT Det. Ken Toney is the officer in charge.