(WWJ) -- A Clarkston man is facing a slew of charges after a Saturday afternoon crime spree across Oakland County that involved swiping multiple tip jars from restaurants ended with him hiding out from police.
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office says 26-year-old Aaron James Maple’s mischievous Saturday began with a trip to the Aaron’s Rent-to-Own store at 1073 N. Perry Street in Pontiac, where he tried to waltz out the door with a 50-inch flat-screen TV.
Police say Maple entered the store wearing a ski mask and grabbed a Samsung TV and tried to leave, before an employee confronted him and stopped the theft.
Employees told police he rode away in a gold Ford Focus and gave his license plate number to authorities.
About a half hour later, police were called out to the Pita Way at 6315 Sashabaw Road in Independence after employees reported a man grabbed the tip jar from the counter and ran to his car -- a gold Ford Focus -- and drove away.
Maple made away with about $40 in the tip jar, police said.
Pita Way employees were able to give authorities a partial plate number.
Less than three hours later, sheriff’s deputies got another call about a man matching Maple’s description trying to steal another tip jar from Ray’s Fish and Chicken at 143 S. Telegraph Road in Pontiac.
He got away in “a tan station wagon-type vehicle,” the sheriff’s office said. Again, the owner of the restaurant was able to provide a partial license plate number.
Within an hour, yet another tip jar was swiped, this time from the Rocket Restaurant and Pizzeria on Baldwin Avenue in Pontiac. And again, employees told police the suspect fled the scene in “a station wagon-type vehicle.”
Shortly before 6 p.m. that day, deputies on routine patrol spotted a Ford Focus that matched the description of the vehicle used in the slew of crimes, and police attempted to pull him over.
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While trying to elude capture, according to the sheriff’s office, the vehicle struck another vehicle. Authorities say he was involved in another collision in Auburn Hills.
Maple’s crime spree came to an end later that night when his own mother called the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office to report her son was the driver and told police he would turn himself in Sunday morning, which he did.
Deputies found his Ford Focus, which had sustained damage to its front end.
Maple was arraigned Wednesday in 50th District Court in Pontiac on two counts of larceny in a building, retail fraud, driving with a suspended license and fleeing a police officer, third-degree -- a five-year felony.
Maple received a $25,000 cash/surety bond and is set to appear in court on Nov. 16.
In Independence Township, meanwhile, Maple was arraigned Tuesday on one count of larceny in a building. Bond was set at $2,500. He’s due back in 52nd District Court on Nov. 9.
The sheriff’s office says Maple has prior convictions for possession of marijuana, being a disorderly person and a traffic violation.
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