By Jim Newell

Review Editor

The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) is looking for three suspects who broke into a party store in Orion Township, made off with an estimated $80,000 in the store’s safe and led authorities on a high-speed chase.

It’s also believed that the same suspects are responsible for an attempted break-in at a Joslyn Road gas station.

On Tuesday, the sheriff’s office announced that detectives recovered the Dodge Charger in the City of Detroit. The vehicle had been reported stolen in the City of Wayne. The safe stolen from the party store was also recovered.

The incidents began around 4 a.m. Nov. 12 when sheriff’s deputies went to a Citgo Gas Station on Joslyn Road after getting an alarm that the glass door at the business had been broken.

When they arrived at the gas station, deputies discovered a broken window and busted front door, an incident report from Undersheriff Mike McCabe’s office stated, although it appeared that the suspects did not enter the gas station.

An OCSO K-9 unit was sent to the area to try and track the suspects.

While trying to contact the Citgo gas station owner, deputies received another glass break alarm from Lee’s Wine and Liquor on Baldwin Road.

When deputies got to Lee’s Wine and Liquor, they saw a white Dodge Charger fleeing the area and began pursuing the vehicle but stopped the pursuit when speeds reached more than 100 miles per hour and the suspects’ vehicle did not have its headlights on.

The suspects – who are described as three males in their twenties – allegedly stole a safe containing more than $80,000 and a 9mm Springfield handgun were stolen from Lee’s Liquor and Wine.

Authorities do have video surveillance of the Lee’s party store theft and the suspects can be seen using a sledgehammer to break the glass door until they are able to unlock the door with their hands.

Surveillance also shows the suspects loading a large object, presumably the safe, into the trunk of the vehicle, and another suspect grabs the cash register drawer.

These appear to be the same suspects involved in numerous similar breaking and entering incidents in southeast Michigan, the sheriff’s office said.

The suspects’ vehicle is described as a 2012-2014 white Dodge Charger with damage to the front left side and a broken rear window.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP. There is a $1,000 reward and callers will remain anonymous.