Ferndale

Violent robbery leads officers to party with underage drinking

FERNDALE — Police tracked down a Detroit teen suspected of assaulting and robbing a man in an alley and then fleeing to a nearby house party last weekend.

According to Detective Lt. Bill Wilson, at around 3 a.m. on June 19, Ferndale police responded to a call from Como’s Restaurant at the corner of Nine Mile Road and Woodward Avenue. The victim, a 33-year-old Virginia man, said that he had just been approached in an alley behind the 200 block of Vester Street by two black males and possibly a white male, who punched him in the face and robbed him.

The victim led police to a nearby home on Vester where he last saw the suspects. The house was the site of a large party consisting mostly of young adults, Wilson said. The officers spotted a man who matched the description of one of the robbers, but when they tried to confront him, he ran away.

After a short chase, the officers caught the suspect, 17-year-old Johnathon Childs-Tumpkin, on Nine Mile Road and placed him under arrest. They also recovered the victim’s stolen property.

Ferndale police did not arrest any other suspects in the robbery, Wilson said, but they took enforcement action against underage people at the party. That included a 16-year-old arrested for operating while intoxicated and another teen cited as a minor in possession of alcohol.

Childs-Tumpkin was charged with unarmed robbery, a 15-year felony, in the incident. He was arraigned in Ferndale 43rd District Court by Magistrate Larue Mead, who set bond at $20,000 cash or surety 10 percent. He was freed after posting bond but is scheduled for a pre-exam conference July 1 at 1 p.m. in Ferndale District Court.

—Jeremy Selweski