Crime & Safety

Accused Burglar Arraigned in $1M Jewelry Heist

The third person involved with a burglary involving $1 million worth of jewelry was arraigned in the City of Grosse Pointe court. He faces up to life in prison because of his criminal history.

A third person was arraigned in the court late Friday in connection with the Sept. 3 .

Matthew S. Sedgeman, 19, of Detroit, is charged with second degree home invasion, larceny of $20,000 or more and with being a habitual offender. He is accused of actually breaking into the home through a window. 

The couple arraigned Thursday were accused of receiving the stolen jewelry and then trying to pawn it for cash. They were arrested when they attempted to cash a sizable check at a Chase Bank on Cadieux at Harper.

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The investigation continues by detectives. A fourth man was arrested late Thursday during the raid of a third home, Director of Public Safety Stephen Poloni said Friday. The fourth man has not yet been charged but investigators believe he is the other person who broke into the home, he said.

Sedgeman faces up to life in prison because of the habitual offender enhancement filed by the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office in the case. The second degree home invasion count normally carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison while the larceny count is up to 10 years in prison.

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The habitual offender count may be filed in cases involving defendents with three or more previous felony convictions.

Detective Alan Gwyn highlighted Sedgeman's criminal history during the arraignment and expressed his concern of Sedgeman being a flight risk due to the seriousness of the offense and potential punishment.

Sedgeman has felony convictions in Wayne County for second degree home invasion and larceny of a building from March 2011; and larceny from a motor vehicle in November 2010.

He also has a case from Eastpointe, Gwyn said, in which he was given a plea with HYDA--Holmes Youthful Trainee Act--a Michigan law that allows young offenders without a criminal history to serve a sentence and have the case dismissed after successful completion of all the terms. The idea is to allow the young person the chance to avoid having a criminal history.

Judge Russell Ethridge set a $500,000 cash surety bond requiring that he pay 10 percent as a guarantee he'll return to court. Sedgeman asked the judge to set it lower, but Ethridge declined citing Sedgeman's criminal history, his unstable living environment and his potential to be a flight risk.

Additionally, Ethridge ordered Sedgeman to be tethered to his home in Detroit if he makes bond and is released.

Sedgeman is the brother of the first man arraigned--Joshua A. Sedgeman, 20, also of Detroit. Joshua Sedgeman is charged along with his girlfriend, Alaina R. Robinson, 26, of Detroit, with receiving and concealing more than $20,000 in stolen property in the case.

During Joshua Sedgeman's arraignment, he said he received a phone call about the jewelry and he did not know it was stolen. The judge told him the fact that the call was at 3 a.m. should have been a red flag.

Detectives have recovered a lot of the stolen jewelry but not all of it. Some was recovered at a pawn shop, more was recovered at one of the two homes originally raided by the Grosse Pointe-Harper Woods Special Response Team--the SWAT team--and then more was also recovered at a third home that was raided Thursday night, Poloni said.


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