Roseville

Amber-Alert children found safe, man arrested

By Sara Kandel
C & G Staff Writer

ROSEVILLE — Two young boys featured in an Amber Alert sent out by Roseville Police were found safe and unharmed shortly after the alert went out at approximately 10:30 p.m. Dec. 17.

At 10:50 p.m., just 18 minutes after the alert went out, Deputy Chief Don Glandon released a written statement saying the kids had been found and were OK.

“Both the children were all right,” said Glandon. “They were back home with their mother by 11-11:30 p.m.”

According to a press release issued with the Amber Alert, the brothers, ages 4 and 5, went missing after being picked up from school by 37-year-old Marland Sullivan, a friend of the family. They were last seen in Sullivan’s 2007 black Ford Explorer shortly after he picked up the 5-year-old from school.

It was Sullivan who returned the boys unharmed later that night.

The following day, the Roseville Police Department obtained charges against Sullivan, a registered sex offender. However, officers said the two felony counts and one misdemeanor he was charged with aren’t related to the incident.

“Right now, we aren’t looking at any charges for child endangerment, but we are still investigating,” Glandon said.

Sullivan was arrested on a warrant out of another department, when he returned the boys Monday night. During the arrest, officers discovered Sullivan was in possession of a large amount of illegal drugs, according to police.

He was charged with one count of intent to deliver cocaine, a 20-year felony; one count of failing to comply with the sex offender registry, a four-year felony; and one count of maintaining a drug house, a two-year misdemeanor. He was arraigned in 39th District Court in Roseville Dec. 18.

“Narcotics were found in the vehicle and on him, and he was registered as a sex offender down in Detroit but had been living in Roseville for four to six months,” Glandon said.

Earlier in the day, things seemed to be going as planned.

“The mother spoke to Sullivan at 4:20 p.m., who told her there was heavy traffic on I-94 near 11 Mile Road. The mother heard the kids in the background, and they sounded OK. The pickup of the kids at school and meeting at the mother’s workplace has been done several times prior.”

But that was the last time the mother heard from the suspect, and the kids were never brought to her work, prompting her to contact the police.

“The mother called us a couple hours after she last spoke to Sullivan,” Glandon said. “She was worried about her boys. One of them requires breathing treatments, and we didn’t know if he was getting them, so she was very worried.”

Both the Roseville Police Department and the mother tried to contact Sullivan multiple times on his cellphone, but none of the calls were answered or returned. When Sullivan eventually brought the boys back, he refused to comment on where he had been or why he had not answered the phone calls, according to police.

“He mentioned that he stopped by a neighborhood he knew well down in Detroit, around Seven Mile and Woodward I believe, but he did not say how long they were there or what they were doing there,” Glandon said.

“We don’t really have a good story on why he refused to answer multiple phone calls. Why he chose to stay out of communication for such an extended period of time is something he’ll have to answer, if he chooses to, sometime in the future.”

A pretrial examination is scheduled for Sullivan at 8:15 a.m. Dec. 27 in 39th District Court. He is currently being held in Macomb County Jail. His bond was set at $150,000 cash surety, no 10 percent.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the Roseville Police Department at (586) 447-4483.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Sara Kandel at skandel@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1030.