The News Room [News Release]
Sheriff Contact: John Roach: 313-224-0615
Release Date: Thursday, August 11, 2005
Four men arrested in March by a joint Wayne-Oakland County auto
theft task force for operating illegal chop shops Highland Park
all have been convicted and will serve time in state prison, Sheriff
Warren Evans announced today. The convictions are the first major
ones involving the business side of the region’s auto theft
problem since Evans announced a new effort to tackle the issue
along with several other local agencies.
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Jason Buckley
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On Wednesday, a Wayne County Circuit Court jury found Robert King,
28, guilty by of operating a chop shop and felony firearms charges.
When deputies raided the operation, they found two loaded assault
rifles in the two-family flat, located at 33 & 33-1/2 Leslie
Street in Highland Park. King faces a maximum of 10 years in prison
on the chop shop charges and an automatic two years on the weapons
conviction. King’s partner, Alexander Dilahunty recently
pleaded guilty to receiving and concealing stolen property and
faces two to five years in prison. Both men are habitual offenders,
which will add to the length of their prison sentences.
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Alexander Corothers
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Evans also announced the recent conviction
of two other Highland Park men deputies arrested the same week
for operating another chop shop. Jason Buckley pleaded guilty in
April to operating a chop shop and was sentenced to 30 months in
prison. His partner, Fred Hamilton, pleaded guilty last month to
operating a chop shop and will be sentenced on September 9th.
These convictions should send a message to area residents
and those who are in the business of stealing their cars that we
are serious about dismantling these kinds of criminal enterprises,” Evans
said. “We will continue to work collaboratively with area
law enforcement agencies to cut auto theft in this region.”
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Frederick Hamilton
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While executing search warrants at locations on Leslie and Richton
streets in Highland Park in March, deputies arrested the four men
and impounded several stolen cars, as well as equipment used to
dismantle them. The officers were working as part of a new auto
theft task force that includes the Oakland County Sheriff’s
Office and several local police departments, which is funded by
the Michigan Auto Theft Prevention Authority. The busts were the
first after the task force was formed in early January.
At one of the locations at 33 Leslie Street, officers found three
stolen cars outside and a collection of auto parts inside the home.
They were acting on a tip from a man who said he had spotted his
own vehicle, which recently had been stolen, in the backyard of
the residence. Officers at the scene took five men into custody,
although three were later released. The other two men, Alexander
Dillahunty and Robert King, were on probation at the time
for previous criminal convictions.
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Robert King
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While inside the residence, officers also discovered two semi-automatic
assault rifles, an M-15 in a stairwell and a Chinese SKS under
a bed.
The same week, deputies also arrested Hamilton and Buckley at
a home on Richton Street where investigators say they, too, were
running a chop shop out of their house. One of the stolen vehicles
they recovered was found two blocks away on the Lodge freeway service
drive. Deputies traced the vehicle to Buckley’s house by
following scrape marks along the pavement between the service drive
and Buckley’s house, where the engine and the transmission
of the car were found. Investigators say that the two men acquired
stolen cars and parts to support their fly-by-night auto repair
operation.
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