Portage Authorities Arrest Suspects for Looting in Tornado-Damaged Areas, Police Ramp Up Patrols
In the wake of the devastating EF-2 tornado that ripped through Portage, Michigan, local authorities are cracking down on looting activity with several individuals now behind bars. Two arrests were made Wednesday night near a severely damaged shopping center on W. Center Ave., where two teens were caught with stolen items following a break-in, as detailed by WWJ's Jonathan Carlson.
A reported 18-year-old from Galesburg, and a juvenile from Kalamazoo, were the accused perpetrators, police caught them right outside the Tree House Vape Shop, one of the many businesses laid to waste by the tornado's wrath according to WOOD TV, with the former facing charges of breaking and entering with the intent to commit larceny, while the younger offender's case is pending in juvenile court. Local police, determined to protect property and maintain order, have pledged to ramp up patrols across storm-impacted sectors of the town.
The situation escalated when more arrests occurred at the same location on Thursday, Portage Public Safety Department's vigilance not faltering in face of the calamity. "If you're going to come into Portage, and you're going to try to enter businesses or go into homes that are having trouble on trying to recover, if we catch you, we are going to submit everything we can to charge you," Portage Public Safety Chief Nicholas Armold stressed, as he pointed out the continued vulnerability of properties in the aftermath, in statements obtained by FOX 17.
Community cooperation is crucial in these trying times, with law enforcement urging residents to report any suspicious activity immediately, emphasizing the need for communal vigilance, Armold added, "We would ask the neighbors to keep an eye out on their neighbors and businesses to keep an eye out on their businesses," as provided by FOX 17. This comes following the declaration of a state of disaster by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in light of the multiple tornadoes, one of which, an EF-2 with peak winds of 135 mph, tore a path of destruction 300 yards wide and 11 miles long through Portage last Tuesday evening.
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