DETROIT (WXYZ) — A suspect has been arraigned for a massive theft that crippled vital transportation for older adults in Southeast Michigan.
Detroit police said a career criminal ripped valuable exhaust components from a fleet of transit vans and that caused aging residents and their caregivers who depend on the program to be stranded.
Watch Darren Cunningham's video report below:
It happened on July 26 at 6:30 a.m. on McDougall near Wight Street.
Sicily Baker is the day center manager at PACE Southeast Michigan. The organization helps the elderly who live in and around metro Detroit get from their homes to important appointments and takes them on field trips.
“The only way that we can get participants back and forth is with these shuttles. Without these shuttles, participants lose access to their healthcare and to their care teams," Baker explained.
The organization also gives the elderly a safe place to hangout, so their caregivers can go to work and run errands. Baker said the organization's goal is to keep people from having to move to nursing homes.
“So, we want to make sure that we always have these shuttles running. They go to their doctor’s appointments. They go to dialysis. Sometimes when the clinic sees fit, they go to the hospital. Their social workers are here. Their nurses are here. Their friends are here. And when you take the buses away, you take a lot away,” Baker said.
She said, for the third time, thieves have disrupted their shuttle service.
On July 26, someone stole 14 catalytic converters from 14 shuttles and buses. Thieves sell the valuable metal contained in them for quick cash
This time, Detroit police said 32-year-old Delmar Williams was the culprit. He was arrested the next day and arraigned on Friday.
“It is alleged that your client stole multiple multiple catalytic converters, and he’s an habitual fourth offense notice,” Magistrate William Burton Jr. said in court.
Williams has a lengthy criminal rap sheet, according to the Michigan Department Corrections. That includes reckless driving causing death and several thefts from motor vehicles.
He was already out on bond and wearing a GPS tether in another case out of Macomb County.
Baker said the thefts "severely impacted operations."
“We shut everything down for a whole day. The only people that can come was people whose families can bring them and people who actually live here in the community,” she recalled. “We were running double routes. We had drivers pairing up to go and help get people out of the community and bring them in. The first people that we focused on at first was the people with the most need."
She said the shuttles were repaired and back in service over the course of a week.
During Williams' arraignment, the magistrate gave him a bond of $250,000 cash surety.
Williams asked the magistrate, “So, I’d have to pay 250,000 cash to get out?"
He replied, “Yes. You do.”
Williams said he "can't afford" to make bond.
The magistrate emphatically replied, “I didn’t think you could!”
PACE now has security cameras installed to deter and catch criminals. But to the people who would commit this type of crime in the first place, Baker said “people deserve better."
"Senior citizens deserve way better. If you’re going to do something in your community, please take care of the community. Take care of the most vulnerable people in the community because they deserve it," she said.
Williams is due back in court for his probable cause hearing on Aug. 21.
