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BAY MILLS - On the night of April 20, Bay Mills Police Department K-9 Officer Paul Baragwanath told his fellow officer, Sgt. Phil Donnay, who was on his first night back to work after a long vacation, that they had identified several possible key suspects in the string of local breaking and entering complaints. Baragwanath informed Donnay not to arrest or harass these suspects unless he actually caught them in the act of trying to break into a building, or residence, as they were trying to gather evidence to be used against them. After passing on this information to Donnay, Baragwanath went home for some much needed rest.
Baragwanath wouldn't get much rest, however, as later that night he received a phone call that his and his K-9 partner Britney's services were needed immediately. Baragwanath learned that just hours after advising Donnay not to make an arrest unless a suspect was caught in the act of committing a crime, he had done just that. As luck would have it, and shortly before his shift had ended, on his final patrol of the night, Donnay happened upon two of their key suspects as they were trying to break into the Armella B Parker Senior Center. Donnay detained one of the juveniles on scene, but the other fled on foot and eluded arrest. He was arrested shortly thereafter, when a concerned community member saw him in the area and reported him to the police.
"That was a huge break for us," Baragwanath said of the probability of catching two of their key suspects in the act of trying to break into the senior center. "[Sgt. Donnay] did a tremendous job.
These arrests have really sped up our investigation and have led to more information, more suspects and the recovery of stolen property."
Baragwanath said that a total of three more arrests have been made in relation to the local B & E's, and estimates that several more are possibly coming. Stolen property from cases as far back as two and three years ago has been recovered and logged in the BMPD evidence room to bolster the cases against the suspects when they are tried in court. Surprisingly, the suspects who were arrested immediately began implicating others in the crimes, Baragwanath said. Some who were implicated as accomplices in some of these crimes are even living freely in the community at the time being. Baragwanath said that while many of these suspects don't even know that charges are currently being filed against them, he wants to assure the community that they are being monitored "very closely" by his department until charges are filed and they are taken into custody.
"Thankfully, there is no honor among thieves," Baragwanath said. "The more we questioned them the more they started pointing fingers at each other, the more names they gave us. We're watching these kids very closely. Every night we're dressed in black, walking the woods, the trails and the roads. They don't know it, but we've been following them through the trails on Tower Road and through the circles. We've even been using night vision to monitor their every move. With a little luck, we'll catch them in the act again."
According to Baragwanath, after interviewing some of the suspects in custody he made a startling discovery and what he believes to be the possible motivation behind the majority of these crimes - prescription drugs. Baragwanath said he noticed that in a lot of the cases, homes where people used or had access to prescription drugs, most notably Vicoden, Percocet, Darvocet and OxyContin, were targeted. In fact, during their investigations, Baragwanath said BMPD has recovered a startling amount of empty prescription bottles and paraphernalia, which includes spoons used to crush the pills into a fine powder, and straws or pens cut in half used to snort it, and syringes to "shoot" it up. Even more troubling to Baragwanath is what some of those who were interviewed have already told him about these drugs - that they love the "high" they feel when they use them and that they will do anything to get them.
"These kids are saying that they're getting a 'super high' or feeling when they use these drugs and that's scary," Baragwanath said. "Some of it seems to be greed (why they are committing the B & E's) but a lot of their motivation seems to be these drugs. They either want the drugs, or the money to buy them. These pills are the poor man's cocaine. People that actually need them should be vigilant. Keep track of your pills. Lock them up. Hide them. Please call the police if you notice they are missing or discover someone in your household has any (of the aforementioned) paraphernalia."
Regardless of their possible motivation for committing these crimes, Tribal Prosecutor Monica Quigley is now faced with the daunting task of getting convictions on all those who had a part in them, including the two who are currently being detained in the St. Ignace Juvenile Detention Center. Quigley said that she hasn't filed all the charges yet, so she is unsure of exactly how many people will end up going to trial. Since they are still in the investigative stage, trying to gather enough information to file additional charges on others who may be involved, Quigley said there is still a ways to go. She added that she would be filing motions to try some of the juveniles as adults, and said that some cases would probably be referred to federal authorities.
Since it is up to the court to determine when trials would begin, Quigley said she could only guess as to when she would begin prosecuting these cases in the courtroom, but estimated that it would probably be 30 days or more. While she is unsure of how many separate individuals will actually go to trial, Quigley said she is very confident that everyone involved in these recent breaking and entering cases will be held accountable for their actions, be they juveniles or adults.
"We really want to make sure we do things correctly," she said. "That means having enough evidence to prove (someone's guilt) beyond a reasonable doubt. If I charged everybody [the community] thought was involved I'd have half the 'rez' in jail. I'm very confident that we will get everyone involved, but we still have a long way to go."
