Kwame Kilpatrick on trial - and on patrol thwarting break-in

Kwame Kilpatrick may be on trial, but he's apparently taken to policing the streets of Detroit.

The former Detroit mayor tweeted Wednesday that he prevented a crime when a would-be thief recognized him and stopped to ask for his photo.

But his own ongoing experience with the law apparently had Kilpatrick exercising some legal leniency.

In town for his ongoing federal racketeering trial in U.S. District Court, Kilpatrick tweeted that he caught a guy breaking into a house on the same street as his mother's, former U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick.

By Marisa Schultz
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Police: Meth lab at law office; attorney charged in West Michigan

Wayland — A criminal defense attorney faces multiple drug charges months after authorities found a methamphetamine lab in his law office down the street from a West Michigan police station.

Patrick Burson, 35, was free Thursday on bond after a video arraignment Wednesday from the Allegan County Jail on four counts of operating/maintaining a methamphetamine lab and two possession of methamphetamine counts.

Burson, 28-year-old Polly Gates and 36-year-old Sherry Cunningham turned themselves in Wednesday to the Allegan County sheriff's office.

Members of the West Michigan Enforcement Team executed search warrants June 13 at Burson's Otsego home and his office in downtown Wayland, about 20 miles south of Grand Rapids.

Methamphetamine labs and production components were found at both locations, according to Michigan State Police.

Cash also was seized.

The Allegan County prosecutor has recused himself and the case was turned over to the Berrien County prosecutor's office.

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Family: Grosse Pointe Woods man found fatally shot, not hanged

Grosse Pointe Woods — As police investigate a 54-year-old man found dead in his home on Monday as a homicide, his family is adamantly denying reports the man was found hanged from the ceiling by an electrical cord.

Donald DeWulf was lying on a bathroom floor of the home on 2000 block of Hampton Road, said his brother, Michael DeWulf, who discovered the body at 9:40 a.m. Monday. Michael DeWulf and authorities both said Donald DeWulf had been fatally shot.

"That just doesn't make sense," said Michael DeWulf, who said he saw a bullet casing on the floor but no gun. "To shoot and hang yourself both? He was on the floor with blood all around. At first, I thought he had fallen.

"I do believe my brother's death was a homicide, not a suicide."

Michael DeWulf said his brother sold insurance and often carried large amounts of cash because he collected premiums directly.

By Tom Greenwood and Tony Briscoe
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Suspect tells cops he stole school bus to start rap group in Detroit

A would-be rapper's burgeoning musical career hit a snag last week, when police pulled him over in the school bus he allegedly stole from the west side of the state so he could drive to Detroit to record music, according to a release issued by police Tuesday.

Washtenaw County sheriff's deputies arrested Josiah Daniel Curtis, 25, of Grand Rapids at about 10 a.m. on Thanksgiving after receiving a call reporting that someone was driving a school bus erratically on eastbound 94 near Zeeb Road in the Ann Arbor area.

"We had a unit nearby, and they saw the bus swerving and weaving," Washtenaw County Sheriff Sgt. Geoffrey Fox said. "When we stopped (it), he told us he was headed to Detroit to work on some music."

By George Hunter
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Appeals panel considers Tamara Greene case

Judges appear open to some arguments by family's lawyer, one 'puzzled' by its dismissal

Cincinnati — After seven years and thousands of pages of documents, the $150 million civil case brought by the family of a slain stripper against the city of Detroit and former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick may have come down to less than an hour of legal jousting before a three-judge appellate panel on Tuesday.

Norman Yatooma, the attorney for the family of Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, gave a spirited defense of an appeal he hopes will overturn a Detroit federal judge's 2011 ruling that tossed the case, in part because of a lack of evidence.

And the appellate judges seemed receptive to some of Yatooma's arguments, with one saying he was "puzzled" by Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen's decision to rule that the city destroyed evidence sought in the case yet then dismiss it for a lack of evidence.

By Mike Wilkinson
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AG takes on I-96 shootings case

3 counties combine prosecution; Oakland to handle own case

Lansing — Attorney General Bill Schuette's office will handle prosecution of a Wixom man suspected in a string of shootings along the Interstate 96 corridor in three counties.

Schuette's office said Tuesday that prosecutors in Ingham, Livingston and Shiawassee counties requested assistance from the attorney general's criminal division in the prosecution of the suspected shooter, 43-year-old Raulie Casteel.

In statements released by Schuette's office, the other three prosecutors said a single prosecution was the best strategy for handling a case that involved a frantic manhunt that covered numerous police jurisdictions.

"It will provide a consistent approach to the case that is not possible with multiple jurisdictions handling multiple cases," Livingston County Prosecutor David Morse said.

By Chad Livengood
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Authorities: Reed City teacher faces charges in sex case

Reed City — A teacher has been arrested after authorities say she had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy.

The Morning Sun of Mount Pleasant and MLive.com report the 32-year-old woman from Evart worked for the Mecosta-Osceola County Intermediate School District and taught at a school southeast of Reed City. Authorities say she was arrested Monday and due in court on Tuesday.

Her name wasn't immediately released, pending arraignment on felony charges of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Police say the boy involved is a student.

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Shoplifting kicks off for season

Southfield — Fewer people in Michigan are using the five-finger discount, according to police reports — but experts warn an uptick is forecast for the holiday shopping season.

"Typically, there's a spike in shoplifting and shoplifting arrests during the holidays," said Terrence Shulman, founder and director of the Shulman Center for Compulsive Theft, Spending and Hoarding in Franklin.

BY CHARLES E. RAMIREZ
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Metro man accused of scams from here to Qatar

Businessman flees U.S., leaving former partners, feds to recover funds

A former Canton Township businessman, whose failed business deals led to federal charges against him and legal malpractice accusations against Turkia Mullin, is now accused of far larger frauds a world away.

Abdulla al-Jufairi, 47, left the United States before he was charged in a Small Business Association loan scandal that cost taxpayers some $26 million. Now, he's accused of triggering more than $100 million in losses on failed business deals in Qatar, former associates say.

"His schemes have grown to a grand scale," said Donald A. Jordan, an attorney who left Metro Detroit in 2004 to work with al-Jufairi in Qatar. Jordan has distanced himself from al-Jufairi and recently moved back to Novi.

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'Closure' vowed as Sterling Heights man is charged in Backpage.com slayings

Sterling Heights — Vowing "closure" for the victims' families, the Macomb County prosecutor has filed murder charges against a Sterling Heights man accused of mutilating and transporting four corpses last December.

James Cornelius Brown, 34, was arraigned Monday on four counts of first-degree murder, said Prosecutor Eric Smith. If convicted, Brown faces up to life in prison.

In June, authorities charged Brown with four counts of disinterment and mutilation of a dead body, a 10-year felony, as well as two arson counts.

Police say on Dec. 19, Brown placed the bodies of two women in the trunk of a car in Sterling Heights, drove it to Detroit and then abandoned the vehicle.

Six days later, he did the same thing with the bodies of two other women, officials said. On that occasion, however, he set fire to the car and part of a home near where it was parked on Lannette Street.

By Charles E. Ramirez
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WSU issues crime alert after attempted sexual assault

Detroit — For the second time in a month, there has been an attempted sexual assault of a female at Wayne State University.

The university issued a crime alert after a 25-year-old student said she was attacked last week while walking up a stairwell at the Old Main building, located at Cass Avenue and Hancock Street.

According to the WSU campus police, the attacked occurred at about 8:40 p.m. Thursday with the victim reporting the incident to police on Saturday.

The victim told police a man walking down the stairwell attempted to pull down her sweatpants. She kicked him in the groin then ran and locked herself in a nearby restroom.

Police said the woman — who was uninjured — called friends who came to her aid.

The victim described her attacker as a heavyset male in his 40s, 6-feet-tall with a goatee and grey hair. He was wearing a black skull cap, red hoodie sweatshirt and blue jeans.

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Feds say Justice Hathaway defrauded bank of $600,000

Civil complaint claims she hid assets in effort to avoid mortgage debt

Lansing — The U.S. government is seeking forfeiture of Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway's posh second home in suburban Orlando, Fla., claiming she and her husband hid the asset to defraud a bank and escape $600,000 in mortgage debt.

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade's civil complaint filed Monday claims the justice and her husband, attorney Michael Kingsley, "systematically and fraudulently transferred property and hid assets in order to support their claim to (ING Direct) that they did not have the financial resources to pay the mortgage on the Michigan property."

News of the complaint, first reported Tuesday on detroitnews.com, came as Hathaway and her attorney spent the day tamping down rumors she's going to resign from the high court because of an FBI investigation of her real estate transactions.

The federal complaint alleges Hathaway and Kingsley engaged in bank fraud and money laundering, but neither has been charged criminally.

"It doesn't mean that she will be charged with any crime but it does say that this property (was obtained as) a result of criminal conduct," said Peter Henning, a former federal prosecutor who handled bank fraud cases.

By Chad Livengood
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Feds probe alleged kickbacks, contracts at Detroit Public Library

Detroit — The FBI is investigating kickback allegations involving a top official of the financially strapped Detroit Public Library, The Detroit News has learned.

Public corruption agents conducted simultaneous raids Tuesday, removing records from the office of chief administrative officer Tim Cromer at the system's main branch and conducting a search of his West Bloomfield Township home, two sources with knowledge of the raids said.

The raid lasted a few hours and followed a slew of controversies — detailed in a series of stories by The News — over allegations of mismanagement, nepotism and cost overruns. Among other things, the library bought chairs and trash cans that cost $1,100 apiece around the time it laid off employees, closed branches and shortened hours.

By Christine MacDonald and Joel Kurth
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Detroit man accused of cyber stalking New York girls

Buffalo, N.Y. — A Michigan man is accused of stalking western New York teenage girls online.

U.S. Attorney William Hochul tells the Buffalo News that at least 10 people were victimized in the largest cyber stalking case ever seen in the region. James Allen of Detroit faces felony charges of cyber stalking, trafficking in computer passwords and making harassing phone calls.

He appeared in Buffalo federal court last week.

Court papers depict Allen as a predator who targeted girls as young as 14 by using Internet-related technology to identify and contact them. He's accused of threatening to send out nude pictures of them if they didn't agree to Skype video chats. Authorities don't believe he really had any pictures.

Allen's defense lawyer declined to comment for the Buffalo News story.


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Contractor stumped on stand in Kilpatrick, Ferguson corruption trial

Contractor recalls taunts but few details of own firm

Detroit — Thomas Hardiman, a construction contractor who has testified that he grudgingly joined forces with Bobby Ferguson in order to win multimillion-dollar city water contracts, said Wednesday that Ferguson could be blunt whenever Hardiman failed to grant Ferguson's wishes.

"You're an idiot," Ferguson would tell Hardiman. "I'm not going to talk with you."

Ferguson warned Hardiman that he would take his concerns to Avinash Rachmale, the head of Lakeshore Engineering Services, for whom Hardiman worked.

Although Hardiman's recollection was drawn out by federal prosecutor Mark Chutkow, it seemed for much of Tuesday and Wednesday that Hardiman was intent on proving Ferguson's alleged observation, undercutting his testimony that Ferguson was a contracting bully who cashed in on his cache with then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

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Two employees at Macy's in Troy accused of gift-card fraud

Troy — The holiday shopping and shoplifting season has begun, local malls report, and some of the theft is apparently being done by store employees.

In the past week, two workers at Macy's on West Big Beaver Road have been arrested for embezzlement after investigations found they were using their jobs to illegally enrich themselves with store gift cards, according to police.

Tuesday, a 26-year-old Sterling Heights man employed at the store was arrested after it was found he had loaded $520 onto gift cards without paying for the cards, which were used to buy store merchandise, according to police.

On Nov. 10, a 19-year-old Detroit woman was arrested after it was found she had loaded $700 on a Macy's gift card without putting any money in the register, authorities said. The woman had used the card to purchase clothing and a purse, according to police.

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Feds investigate Detroit cops' role in sex club

Probe looks into whether on-duty Detroit officers served as drivers

Detroit — Federal authorities are investigating allegations on-duty Detroit Police officers provided limousine service for patrons of a sex club that operated in the shadow of the police department's Central District headquarters, police sources told The News.

Federal investigators questioned Detroit police officials recently about a group of officers possibly providing limousine services at the former Forest Club, a swingers' club at 300 E. Milwaukee St. in New Center, about 1,000 feet from the Central District, said the sources familiar with the investigation.

"The feds were asking me about a group of officers who supposedly were giving limo service to people at this sex club while they were on duty," one Detroit police official said. "The big sticking point they were concentrating on was whether the officers were on-duty when they were driving people to and from this club."

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Off-duty Detroit cop shoots teen who tried to carjack him

Detroit — The attempted carjacking of an off-duty Detroit police officer ended badly for a teenage suspect, who was wounded during the attempt.

Sgt. Eren Stephens said the incident happened at about 11:50 p.m. in the 15400 block of St. Mary's Street, in an area east of the Southfield Freeway and west of Greenfield Road, between Puritan and Fenkell roads.

The male victim — a 13-year-veteran of the department — exited his vehicle and found himself suddenly blocked in by an SUV holding three suspects.

Armed with a handgun, one of the men exited and demanded the victim's keys.

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Suspect in Detroit pension fund surrenders

Detroit — A fugitive businesswoman accused of stealing $5 million from a Detroit pension fund — and blowing the cash on exotic art and jewelry — turned herself in Tuesday, ending an eight-month manhunt stretching from Detroit to the Caribbean.

Teresa Kastanes was escorted off the plane by agents from the Office of Homeland Security at 5:43 a.m. after flying from Managua, Nicaragua, to Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The South Carolina woman is being transported to a federal court in Fort Lauderdale where she will make an appearance in front of a bankruptcy judge later Tuesday, her lawyer told The Detroit News on Monday.

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Family: Veteran who shot cop was gravely ill

Southfield — The man who walked into the Southfield police station Sunday and shot an officer before being killed by return fire had no known motive but was very ill, family members and authorities said Monday.

Police identified the man as Harold Joseph Collins, 64, a military veteran, and said he used a .380-caliber handgun.

"Based on the behavior of this individual, it is my opinion, and the opinion of investigating officers, that this person was struggling with some very serious internal issues," Southfield Police Chief Eric Hawkins said Monday at a news conference.

Collins' family said he had suffered for years from throat cancer and had been "very sick."

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Officer shot at Southfield police department

Southfield - A police officer was shot Sunday afternoon after a man walked into the Southfield Police Department and opened fire, according to police and fire officials.

The suspect, a 64-year-old Southfield man, was dead on arrival at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, police said.

The officer, who was shot in the shoulder, is in stable condition at Providence Southfield in Southfield. He is expected to make a full recovery.

The shooting happened around 2:20 p.m. when the suspect walked into the police department on Evergreen near the Lodge Freeway, said Southfield Police Chief Eric Hawkins.

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Suspect in I-96 shootings faces 60 charges

Novi — A Wixom man was charged Friday with 60 offenses, including assault with intent to murder, related to nine separate roadway shooting incidents in Oakland County last month.

Raulie Wayne Casteel, 43, stood mute to the charges in a video arraignment from the Livingston County Jail, where he has been held since Wednesday, because of similar charges involving a single shooting incident in that county. Investigators believe he is responsible for 24 separate shootings.

Casteel seemed calm and alert and waived his right to a full reading of the charges against him on his attorney's advice that they would discuss them later. Casteel told District Judge Dennis Powers he understood all the charges against him.

Powers declined to set bond on the assault with intent to murder charge, which can carry up to life in prison.

By Mike Martindale
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CMU Internet censorship expert charged with child porn

Mount Pleasant — A professor whose research focuses on Internet censorship and the use of children in advertising has been charged with having child pornography on his Central Michigan University computer, the school announced Thursday.

The school said it suspended William L. Merrill on Monday and barred him from the campus in Mount Pleasant.

"We take this matter very seriously and have strict policies against this kind of conduct," Sherry Knight, a university interim associate vice president, said in a statement. "From the astute employees who discovered and reported the materials immediately, to the police who acted swiftly and continue to investigate this matter, our goal is to ensure the safety of our campus community and beyond."

The Associated Press left phone and email messages Thursday night for Merrill, a 58-year-old tenured faculty member in the College of Education and Human Services.

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I-96 shootings suspect arraigned in 1 Livingston County case

Howell — A Wixom man was charged Wednesday with committing one of the 24 roadway shootings that terrorized Metro Detroit motorists, and authorities say more charges are likely to follow.

Raulie Wayne Casteel, 43, of Wixom was formally charged by video arraignment from jail before 53rd District Judge Carol Sue Reader with six counts in connection with a shooting at 2:43 p.m. Oct. 18 on westbound Interstate 96 near mile marker 135, Livingston County Prosecutor David Morse said.

"This incident we are charging arises out of a single incident ... there are additional charges pending in Oakland, Ingham and Shiawassee counties," Morse told reporters after the arraignment. "There were statements taken from individuals which led to these charges."

In the Oct. 18 incident — one of 24 random shootings investigators believe Casteel is responsible for — the intended victim, Jennifer Kupiec, gave police a description of the vehicle, the shooter and a partial number off a Michigan State University vanity plate.

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Ex-Detroit treasurer implicated in pay-to-play

Kilpatrick associate allegedly sought $100K for city favors

Detroit — Former Detroit treasurer Jeff Beasley allegedly shook down an Alabama billionaire for a $100,000 donation to Kwame Kilpatrick's legal defense fund during a dinner at the MGM Grand Detroit casino, according to a new federal court filing.

The filing offers a first-person view of an alleged extortion demand by the former mayor's fraternity brother, who was charged in February with taking bribes and kickbacks while serving on the city's pension funds.

"Based on his look and what he said and his tone, it was a demand," businessman Donald Watkins said, according to a July deposition transcript obtained by The Detroit News. "I felt like I was being extorted."

The filing Monday adds previously undisclosed details to pay-to-play allegations aired in a civil lawsuit involving two Detroit pension funds and Watkins.

Beasley's lawyer did not respond to messages seeking comment.

The city's two pension funds sued Watkins in 2008 to recover $30 million loaned to him a year earlier to buy a cargo airline.

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Ex-Livonia doctor imprisoned for fraud

5 years, $3M in restitution ordered for Medicare scheme

Detroit — A former staff physician for three Livonia medical clinics will serve five years in prison for his role in a $5.4 million Medicare fraud scheme, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Wednesday.

Jonathan Agbebiyi, 63, of Sterling Heights, was sentenced Tuesday in the U.S. District Court's Eastern District for his role in the scam. The doctor was convicted in May of six counts of health care fraud and one count of conspiracy.

U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Tarnow also ordered Agbebiyi to pay nearly $3 million in restitution and ruled he'll be on supervised release following his prison term.

Agbebiyi was a staff physician at Blessed Medical Clinic, Alpha and Omega Medical Clinic and Manuel Medical Clinic, which operated in Livonia between 2007 and 2010.

Agbebiyi, an obstetrician/gynecologist, joined a conspiracy to bill Medicare for unnecessary neurological tests, according to evidence presented during his weeklong trial.

By Christine Ferretti
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Wixom man arrested in I-96 shooting spree; relative says suspect is mentally ill

Wixom — A 43-year-old Wixom man was arrested Monday in connection with the roadway shootings along the Interstate 96 corridor that have terrorized commuters since mid-October.

The man, identified by a relative as Raulie Casteel, was arrested at his home on Kings Crown Court on Monday night. He had not been formally charged as of Tuesday evening.

The suspect owns a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu that matches a description provided by one of the victims, and police said the vehicle was an important piece of the investigation.

"We believe this person is responsible for the shootings, and it's only a matter of determining what charges, either state or federal," said Wixom Police Chief Clarence Goodlein. He believes the suspect will be charged today.

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Ex-Detroit water boss Mercado enters guilty plea

Detroit — A surprise guilty plea Monday from former Detroit water boss Victor Mercado streamlines and shortens a complex City Hall corruption trial against ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, legal experts said.

The plea came during a break in the 6-week-old trial and lets prosecutors focus their case on Kilpatrick, the biggest target of a years-long federal probe that has netted at least 24 felony convictions.

A slump-shouldered, gaunt Mercado, 61, admitted Monday he conspired with Kilpatrick to steer city contracts to the mayor's friend and co-defendant, contractor Bobby Ferguson. Mercado is not cooperating with prosecutors and is not expected to testify during the trial.

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Person of interest in custody in I-96 shooting spree case

Wixom — Authorities said Tuesday a person of interest is in custody in the Interstate 96 corridor shooting spree case.

Investigators executed a search warrant at a home in Wixom on Monday, they said. A tip led authorities to serve a search warrant on a home on the 1500 block of Kings Crown Court in Wixom on Monday as part of the ongoing investigation.

Before closing the door, a man living in the home told media on Tuesday, including The Detroit News, that “my daughter and her daughter have suffered a terrible tragedy. Please respect our privacy.”

By Tom Greenwood
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Probe to see if sex club tip ignored

Report said 'Forest' illegally sold alcohol, had cops as security

Detroit — A Detroit Police internal affairs investigation has been launched to determine whether supervisors failed to act two years ago when a lieutenant reported that officers might be working for a sex club that illegally sold alcohol two blocks from Central District headquarters.

Police allegedly didn't follow up on an Eastern District lieutenant's 2010 written report that the Forest Club at 300 Milwaukee in New Center — a swinger's club that featured a sex dungeon in the basement — likely was selling alcohol without a license, and that police officers possibly were providing security there.

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Officials seek I-96 shootings witness

Surveillance photos show 'person of interest,' his car

Wixom — Authorities released surveillance photos Friday of a man they want to speak to as a "potential witness" in a series of at least 24 shootings along the Interstate 96 corridor.

Investigators issued the blurry images of the bald man, dressed in a light-colored T-shirt, plus a photo of a black four-door sedan seen at a Mobil gas station in Brighton on Oct. 27.

Wixom Police Chief Clarence Goodlein said the "person of interest" was brought to the attention of investigators after he was spotted at the gas station at Spencer Road and U.S. 23 the same day two shootings were reported on eastbound I-96 between M-52 and Fowlerville Road.

One of those shootings wounded a 46-year-old man.

By Mike Martindale, Tony Briscoe and Tom Greenwood
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Detroit pension fund fires lawyer linked to man investigated by FBI

Detroit — A city pension fund on Thursday fired its longtime lawyer, who was accused of soliciting large cash gifts for indicted ex-Detroit Treasurer Jeff Beasley and other pension officials months before getting a 33 percent pay increase.

The Detroit Police and Fire Pension Fund board voted 7-5 to fire Ron Zajac amid an investigation involving the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office.

"The board has taken this action after lengthy, careful and deliberate consideration," pension fund members said in a written statement. "Given that this is a personnel matter, we have no further comment at this time."

The move comes eight months after Zajac was suspended with pay following Beasley's indictment in federal court.

The lawyer's criminal defense attorney said he was surprised by the move because Zajac's contract doesn't expire until June 2014.

Defense attorney Christopher Andreoff said he believes the board needed a unanimous vote to fire Zajac, who was paid $425,000 annually to represent the Police and Fire and General pension funds.

By Robert Snell
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Detroit cop accuses Godbee of sex harassment

Lawsuit says former chief targeted several female officers

A Detroit Police internal affairs officer claims in a lawsuit she was one of several subordinate female officers to be sexually harassed by former Police Chief Ralph Godbee.

Godbee resigned last month after news of his alleged relationship with Officer Angelica Robinson surfaced.

She alleges in the suit, filed Tuesday in Wayne Circuit Court, that Godbee used his position as chief to gain sexual favors with her after she requested a transfer, her lawyer said.

"We intend to show that there are other females in the police department he's done this with," said David Robinson, who isn't related to his client. "(Godbee) made a serious error in judgment. This has been going on for a long time; the chickens have come home to roost. He messed up, bottom line."

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Three charged in Detroit riverboat shootings headed to court today

Detroit — A judge is scheduled Friday to decide whether to bind over for trial three people who were allegedly involved in a family dispute aboard a riverboat that ended with six shooting victims.

Latoiya Mitchell-Thomas, 28, her husband, Michael A. Thomas, 32, both of Roseville, and LaDon Richard of Detroit, are charged with various offenses in connection with the Aug. 6 shooting, which occurred when passengers disembarked the Detroit Princess riverboat cruise.

Prosecutors say Mitchell-Thomas and her husband had an argument with a woman while onboard the Hot 107.5 "On Deck Sunday" Moonlight Cruise, which was attended by about 500 people. Thomas allegedly slapped the woman in the face and flung a bottle at her. A fight broke out on the boat, according to prosecutors.

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8 teens shot in week in Detroit

Ex-officer says lack of jobs contributes to the violence

Detroit — The city has averaged more than one teenage shooting victim per day during the past week.

Among the victims: a 17-year-old girl who was found lying on the ground in daylight suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, two 16-year-old boys wounded in separate robberies; and an 18-year-old who was robbed and shot after he got off a city bus.

There were at least eight youths — age 18 or younger — shot between 6 a.m. Oct. 25 and 6 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Detroit Police's 24-hour Major Crime Summary reports. None died.

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Investigation: I-96 shooter likely using semi-automatic handgun

A multi-agency task force searching for a suspect in a series of shootings along Interstate 96 says that based on bullet fragments recovered from the scenes, the shooter is most likely using a semi-automatic handgun.

Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe said Thursday that evidence was recovered from nine of the 24 vehicles shot on Michigan roadways. All nine have been traced back to one gun, which he said is a handgun.

The shootings began Oct. 16 and have been reported in Oakland, Livingston, Ingham and Shiawassee counties, resulting in one person being wounded with nonlife-threatening injuries.

By Tony Briscoe
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Asian Village restaurant owner gets year in prison

Tax evasion sentence reduced over help with City Hall probe

Detroit — Convicted Asian Village restaurant owner Andrew Park, who helped bring corruption charges against ex-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, was sentenced to one year and a day in prison Wednesday on a tax-evasion charge.

He had faced up to 30 months, but Assistant U.S. Attorney David Gardey recommended a 16-month sentence because of the substantial cooperation Park gave City Hall corruption investigators.

Park was ordered to pay $301,988 in restitution and serve two years' supervised release.

A solemn Park on Wednesday admitted paying a bribe to ex-Kilpatrick aide Derrick Miller in hopes of securing city business.

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