Last Thursday, Nov. 4, the Van Buren Township Police Department’s Special Investigative Unit (SIU) received information about a male and female who were stealing flat-screen televisions and “Dyson” vacuum cleaners from Meijer and Wal-Mart stores in the Southgate, Westland, Taylor, Canton and Van Buren areas.
With the information obtained along with other sources, SIU officers were introduced to the male and female suspects and observed a 42” flat-screen television and Dyson vacuum that they had just stolen from a Wal-Mart store in Canton.
Subsequently, SIU officers arranged for the purchase of another flat-screen television and Dyson vacuum that the male and female agreed to deliver. Over the weekend, SIU officers were contacted by the female suspect who advised that she and the male had just stolen a 47” flat-screen television and a Dyson vacuum.
SIU officers met in a parking lot in Van Buren Township where an officer paid her $900 for the property at which time both the male and female were taken into custody.
Keith Arlan Mortzfield and Joann Catherine Mortzfield have been charged with Felony Receiving and Concealing Stolen Property. Both are out on bond awaiting their preliminary exam date scheduled for Nov. 17 at the 34th District Court.
It was later learned that the 47” flat screen television and Dyson vacuum that SIU purchased had been stolen from the Wal-Mart store on Michigan Avenue in Canton.
Canton Township PD will be seeking two additional counts of felony retail fraud from their Wal-Mart store.
The Meijer Corporation has also been contacted and has been seeking these same individuals for the past several months. Meijer believes that these same individuals are responsible for the theft of nearly $200,000 in merchandise from their stores in the Wayne County area.
The male and female were selecting flat screen televisions with a value of $500 to $1,000 and Dyson vacuums with a value of $500 to $700.
— Captain Greg Laurain
VBT Police Department