Bag of Cash Found Behind Dumpster Helps Police Solve Crime

A suspicious bag full of money found behind a Dumpster at in Shelby Township on Monday morning helped solve a robbery and led to the real thief, police said.  

Police said a Family Video employee came to the station around 11:30 p.m. Sunday and said that he had just been held up at gunpoint by two men as he was closing the store’s register and they stole several hundred dollars in cash.

The employee told police he didn’t call 911 after the robbery because the thieves had cut the store’s phone lines and busted his cell phone.

Shelby Township Police Chief Robert Leman said detectives who had been assigned to the case suspected the employee wasn’t telling the truth and had asked him to return Monday afternoon for an interview.

Meanwhile, Biggby owner Dave Danyko told Patch he walked out of his store Monday morning to throw out the garbage and to his surprise, he found a bag containing several hundred dollars in cash stuffed behind the store’s Dumpster.

After reviewing store surveillance tape, he said he saw a man drive up to the Dumpster just before 11:30 p.m. the night before and purposely place the bag of cash behind the garbage.

Detectives said the car in the video matched the video store employee’s vehicle and when he came into the station for a secondary interview Monday afternoon, he admitted to stealing the money, making up the story and stuffing the cash behind the Dumpster on his way to the police station, with the intention of returning later to pick up the cash.

Leman told Patch he thinks the employee didn’t pick up the cash because he was afraid detectives were suspicious of his story and may have followed him.

The employee faces charges of filing a false police report and embezzlement, but a warrant for his arrest has not yet been authorized and he has not been formally arraigned on the charges.