Crime & Safety
Dearborn Police Investigate Extortion Threats Against Dentist
The following information was supplied by the Dearborn Police Department. Where arrests or charges are mentioned, it does not indicate a conviction.
A Garden City dentist who lives in Dearborn says her former handyman may be attempting to extort more than $30,000 from her.
The woman told Dearborn Police on Friday that she hired the suspect, a Dearborn Heights man, in 2011 to do "odd jobs" around her house. The man recently left a note at the dental office demanding money and threatening to inform the IRS that the woman lied her income, which she denied.
The man allegedly demanded a check for $283 for work he did, which the woman acknowledged, plus an additional $500 cash and payments of $5,000 each over the next two weeks. He also told her it would cost about $20,000 to fix a faulty air compressor at her office.
The woman told police that she wants to press charges, and gave officers the note as evidence.
According to reports, the dentist moved from Dearborn Heights to Dearborn in November 2011 and later noticed that $3,000 in cash and a gold bracelet worth $500 were missing out of a bedroom drawer. The woman told police that at first she thought she misplaced the items in the move; however $3,000 worth of collectible coins also went missing while she employed the suspect. The woman told officers that she rarely receives visitors, therefore she stopped employing the handyman and changed the locks on her house.
A baggie containing scrap dental gold worth $12,000 and $15,000 cash were taken out of a filing cabinet in her basement between June 14 and 21. She told police she kept her doors locked, but one window was not secure.
The woman said she suspects the former employee entered her house when she wasn't home. When she attempted to call the man and ask for the items, the suspect allegedly said, “Let it go,” or he would report her alleged misdeeds to police and the IRS.
The woman informed officers that she believed the man was making up stories, however when the letter arrived at her office, she decided to file a report.
The case is ongoing. No further information was available at the time of this posting.
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