Lansing, MI – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced six FORCE Team arrests against members of an alleged criminal organization responsible for the theft of over 400 vehicles worth approximately $8 million in Southeast Michigan.
The alleged criminal ring targets new vehicle storage lots at manufacturing facilities, car dealerships, parking lots, and individual residences. The operation is alleged to have operated in over 40 jurisdictions in Oakland, Washtenaw, Macomb, and Wayne counties, with other instances occurring in Eaton and Kent counties.
The Department alleges stolen vehicles are sold exponentially below market value on the black market to buyers seeking unregistered vehicles. Stolen vehicles have been linked to armed robberies, weapons offenses, felony evasion of police, car-jackings, murder, and attempted murder. The group is suspected of using countersurveillance to steal vehicles quickly and efficiently, allegedly shooting at officers and ramming security vehicles if confronted.
Troy Police Department, investigating this crime ring since August of last year, partnered with the FORCE Team in early 2024 to bring down this expansive criminal organization. The investigation has been aided by the efforts of local police agencies, including the municipal police departments of Auburn Hills, Canton, Dearborn, Detroit, Eastpointe, Farmington Hills, Lansing, Livonia, Novi, Roseville, Royal Oak, Sterling Heights, Southfield, Walled Lake, and Warren, as well as the Oakland County Auto Theft Group and Macomb County Auto Theft Unit.
The Department and over 200 officers from more than a dozen other state, federal, and local law enforcement agencies executed eight arrest warrants against Southeast Michigan men on May 15th, six now in custody, recovering seven stolen vehicles, hundreds of associated car parts linked to stolen vehicles, a large quantity of electronic key fobs, stolen dealership license plates, burglary tools including some devices specifically for stealing automobiles, thousands in cash, and a significant volume of additional evidence, including nine firearms.
On-scene and assisting in these arrests were officers from the FORCE Team, the Department’s Criminal Investigations Division, the Troy Police Department, the Michigan State Police, the Michigan Intelligence Operations Center, the Detroit Police Department, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department, and the local police departments of Auburn Hills, Birmingham, Blackman Township, Bloomfield Township, Canton, Grosse Pointe City, Grosse Pointe Park, Livonia, and Royal Oak.
Each defendant has been charged with Conducting a Criminal Enterprise and Use of a Computer to Commit a Crime, both 20-year felonies. Charged and arrested in connection to these thefts are:
- Kevin Lamont Stevenson Jr., 21, of Detroit, who has been additionally charged with nine counts of Receiving and Concealing a Stolen Motor Vehicle.
- Joseph David Doyle, 25, of Onsted, who has been additionally charged with six counts of Receiving and Concealing a Stolen Motor Vehicle.
- Braylen Jeese Green, 20, of Wixom, who has been additionally charged with nine counts of Receiving and Concealing a Stolen Motor Vehicle.
- Dejhon Trevon Bush, 20, of Detroit, who has been additionally charged with seven counts of Receiving and Concealing a Stolen Motor Vehicle.
- Zamarr Terrell Johnson, 18, of Troy, who has been additionally charged with 12 counts of Receiving and Concealing a Stolen Motor Vehicle and two counts of 4th Degree Fleeing or Eluding.
- Desmond Maurice Wilson, 21, of Detroit, who has been additionally charged with nine counts of Receiving and Concealing a Stolen Motor Vehicle and one count of Breaking and Entering with Intent.
The Department is working with the Michigan State Police Fugitive Team to locate and arrest two additional suspects who will not be named at this time.
This remains an ongoing investigation, and the Department is working to establish cases against other members of the auto theft ring and buyers of the stolen vehicles. Each of the six defendants is presently jailed at multiple locations throughout Oakland and Macomb counties. No dates have yet been set by the court for subsequent proceedings.
The FORCE Team and the Organized Retail Crime Unit were established in January 2023 by the Attorney General to target criminal organizations that steal products from retailers to repackage and sell for a profit.
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