By Jeremy Carroll
C & G Staff Writer

ROYAL OAK — The arrest of two adults and one juvenile in a suspected kidnapping and assault case led Royal Oak police to a home in the 200 block of West 12 Mile Road where approximately $175,000 worth of marijuana plants were discovered along with a plethora of what appears to be stolen property.

Police said a 23-year-old male from Royal Oak, 23-year-old male from Farmington and 15-year-old male from Farmington Hills were arrested shortly after 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 26.

Lt. Corrigan O’Donohue said the department received two reports, one that a man with a gun was chasing two people in the Washington and Crooks area, and another that two victims were forced into a vehicle.

That vehicle was stopped a short time later by police. He said police weren’t releasing details on how the situation arose, but only one of the three victims — a 20-year-old male, a 16-year-old male and a 17-year-old male, all from Royal Oak — was not seriously injured in the case.

A .38-caliber handgun was found on one of the suspects.

The situation started at the home in the 200 block of West 12 Mile Road, where police recovered the stolen merchandise and marijuana plants. Police called the marijuana a “major grow operation” with more than 120 plants, with a street value of $175,000.

Among the suspected stolen items, which included jewelry, laptops and video games systems, was a badge from the Detroit Police Department.

O’Donohue said the department is now going through the process of trying to identify the owners of the items.

“Some of them have distinctive markings,” he said. “With gaming systems and laptops, people have registered them with the manufactures, so we’ll try to find out that way.”

He said over the next couple of weeks they’ll attempt to look through old police reports to try to identify the owners.

“The problem is a lot of this stuff is from crimes that occurred in various other cities,” O’Donohue said.

As of press time, the suspects had not been formally charged in the case, but Royal Oak police had forwarded the information to the prosecutor’s office.

You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Carroll at jcarroll@candgnews.com or at (586) 279-1110.