Donald Davis charged with cemetery theft in Windsor

Windsor Police have a man in custody after he stole a purse from an unmarked police vehicle yesterday afternoon at a city cemetery. Windsor Police have received several reports recently from citizens reporting thefts of purses from vehicles at St. Alphonsus Cemetery located in the Howard Ave. at Ottawa St. area. On Tuesday, Nov 9, 2010, a Toronto area woman reported having her purse containing a quantity of cash and identification removed from her vehicle as she visited her parent’s gravesite. A description of the suspect was provided to police by witnesses in the area. The suspect was described as male white in his late forties, wearing a brown leather jacket and a "conductor" style hat riding a bicycle. The description of this suspect was similar in nature to a suspect in numerous other thefts from vehicles in other areas of the city recently.

At 1:30 p.m. on Thursday November 11, 2010, a female plainclothes WPS officer parked an unmarked police vehicle on the paved driveway inside the south St. Alphonsus cemetery located near Ottawa St at Lillian St. The officer left a "decoy" purse containing a small quantity of cash on the front passenger seat of the unlocked vehicle and then proceeded to a gravesite approximately 40 feet away. At 2:00 p.m. other plainclothes officers in the area observed the above mentioned suspect riding a bicycle on the driveway inside the cemetery. Officers watched as the suspect rode by the decoy car twice slowing down each time to look inside the passenger compartment of the vehicle. The suspect then got off the bike, walked toward the vehicle, opened the passenger door, removed the purse and ran back to the bicycle. He rode the bike through a hole in the fence leading to an alley on the west side of the cemetery. The suspect rode north in the alley to Ottawa St then turned west on Ottawa St with WPS officers in pursuit. Officers observed the suspect throw the purse onto the ground in the alley. As the suspect approached the intersection of Ottawa St at Howard Ave. an employee at the adjacent Auto Sales lot who had observed the officers pursuing the suspect, grabbed the suspect’s jacket as he rode by him causing the suspect to fall off the bicycle onto the roadway. Officers arrived immediately after and arrested the suspect. A subsequent search of the suspect revealed that he was in possession of a screwdriver.

Donald DAVIS – 49 years of Windsor is charged with Theft Under $5000 Possession of Stolen Property Under $5000 and Possession of Break and Enter Instrument.