Suspected squatters charged with stealing, harboring dogs in Detroit home

DETROIT (WXYZ) — Residents in a Detroit neighborhood say suspected squatters are behind several dog thefts and other illegal activity.

Michigan State Police confirmed the home was abandoned.

The home is on Mansfield Street near W. Grand River Avenue. The incident came to a head Wednesday night after state police responded to the property for an unrelated incident.

Tia, whose dogs were stolen, said: “It's a criminal network. They steal cars and dogs and put them in this house.”

She said someone stole her dogs from her yard in April.

“Someone had cut the gate with wire cutters and stolen the two dogs,” Tia explained. “So we did our investigation and it led us here.”

She explained: “We did the right thing and called Dartmouth police, animal control and the Michigan Human Society. Everyone got back to us, but no one did anything.”

She said someone from animal control came a few weeks later and put a letter on the door, but nothing came of it.

Worried neighbors finally got some news Wednesday evening.

In another unrelated incident, state police responded to the scene. Lt. Mike Shaw told 7 News Detroit that officers followed a stolen vehicle to the home. Police arrested the driver.

Shaw said police also discovered the home's electricity was hooked up illegally.

State police allowed Tia to film the dogs in the garage that night. The state police's involvement prompted the Michigan Humane Society to show up, and they were home Friday.

Watch the video below:

VIDEO: Dogs found in garage after squatters lived there

Sadly, the Humane Society said only two dogs were still in the garage. The other four disappeared Thursday night, including Tia's dogs. She said her dogs are worth about $10,000 together.

Residents said they had repeatedly complained to the property manager, DET Homes Property Management, about the alleged squatters and illegal activities.

7 News Detroit also called the property manager. A woman named Jillian, who identified herself as the debt collector, answered.

She said: “We have not received any calls regarding any complaints about this property. We simply filed a complaint with the court because we discovered that there were squatters.”

When asked how management learned about the squatters, she replied: “That's when we tried to turn off the water and found out there were squatters. »

After contacting us, the city's building department said it had not been contacted by residents about squatting issues. The building department said it would look into the matter.