Redford business owners fined after adding bars to shop to prevent additional break-ins

REDFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) - Dan and Emily Jones say their Tube N Go tobacco shop on 7 Mile Road in Redford has been broken into three times since they opened the business. 

There have been two other attempts.

The thieves steal cash and Newport 100s cigarettes, say the Joneses. They believe the stolen goods are then resold at a cheaper price on the street.

“We’ve gotten broken Into several times.  We got broke into once with a cinder block through the first window.  Four days later we got a cinder block through the second window,” says Dan Jones.

“I talked to the township. They told me just to put bars up and everything will be OK," he says. "So I put bars in the windows which I don’t like any way.  It looks like a prison cell.”

Since then the Joneses have spent $4,000 to install a roll-down gate and surveillance cameras.  So far, intruders have had no luck getting inside.

Now, the Joneses have another problem.  They have been fined for violating a Redford Township ordinance which says they cannot install something on the exterior of a business.

A township official tells 7 Action News the couple was warned not to install the gate.

If they do not take it down Dan Jones could face more fines or time in jail.  He says he is just protecting his business.  According to Jones, If his shop is broken into one more time his insurance company will drop him.

The couple is hoping the township will work with them to stay in Redford or they may be forced out.

“The problem is we grew up here, we believed in Redford,” says Emily Jones. “So we installed some cameras.  If we’re helping Redford come back.  Why aren’t they trying to help us stay here?”

Redford Township Trustee Patricia Kennedy Micallef is hoping the board will figure out how to keep the popular business in their town. “It’s getting ridiculous. We got to do something to help our businesses to stay here. Otherwise he has no choice but to leave,” says Kennedy Micallef.

The Joneses are hoping their issue will be placed on the agenda for the Township Trustee meeting in two weeks.  They are asking the community to support them.

7 Action News tried to contact board members but we have not heard back from them.