Serial Burglary Suspect Charged in Royal Oak

Judy Davids contributed to this report.

A 19-year-old man who led Troy Police on an hour-long chase through woods and waterways last week confessed to breaking into two homes, according to police.

Zachary Michael Deming faces two counts of first-degree home invasion, two counts of firearm in the commission of a felony, breaking and entering with intent, receiving and concealing a firearm and resisting and obstructing a police officer. He was arraigned in 44th District Court before Judge Terrence Brennan with a cash surety bond set at $500,000.

Troy Police said they started the search for Deming at 4:24 a.m. July 10, after a homeowner on the 6000 block of Denton reported a suspicious person knocking on the door. Officers stopped a vehicle driving on Denton which they said was being driven by Robert William Deming, and arrested him for driving with a suspended license.

Later that morning, a homeowner on the 6000 block of Basswood reported that their home has been broken into. Police said that at 5:47 a.m., they received a report that cell phones were missing from a kitchen counter and that $24 had been removed from a purse in the home. The burglar, it was reported, had been seen by the homeowner 20 minutes prior to the report and fled from the home.

Police began to pursue the suspect on foot, claiming they spotted him before being led on a chase through a wooded area, with the suspect escaping once by swimming across a swollen creek. Officers finally apprehended the suspect, who they said was attempting to hide under a deck in the 6000 block of Pineway, without further incident.

Royal Oak Police said that Deming confessed to breaking into two homes in that city. Royal Oak officers were able to recover property stolen from a home on the in the 1000 block of Iroquois Boulevard and a handgun stolen from a vehicle July 3 in Rochester Hills, police said.

Deming's preliminary exam is set for 9 a.m. July 19 in Royal Oak.