Suspect on lam since sentence
Woman kidnapped after man didn't show at jail in prior case
Detroit News, The (MI)
May 14, 2021
Detroit – The man sought by police in connection with the kidnapping of a woman Tuesday at a Warren Subway restaurant was not in police custody when he was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for domestic violence last week.
Wayne County Circuit Judge Tracy Green sentenced Adrian Brown in a remote court hearing on May 5 to 58 months to 15 years in prison for unlawful imprisonment. Brown was also given one to two years for interfering with electronic communications and a fine for a domestic violence charge.
Brown, 31, was convicted on the charges in March of last year, but was under house arrest and wearing a tether as a condition of his release from jail in a separate firearms case.
He had been on the run for several days by the time police say he forced a 27-year-old woman into his car Tuesday at the restaurant Tuesday.
Green gave Brown one day to report to jail, Maria Miller, spokeswoman for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, wrote in an email to The Detroit News.
But instead of reporting to jail on May 6, Brown cut his tether at about 6:30 p.m., the prosecutor's office said.
On Friday, two days after Brown's sentencing and a day after he was supposed to report to jail, Green issued a bench warrant for his arrest, court records show.
He had not been arrested as of Thursday.
The 27-year-old woman in the reported kidnapping at the Subway was found safe late Tuesday and is not the same woman involved in the 2019 domestic violence case, according to prosecutors.
Police said the 27-year-old woman who reported being abducted Tuesday and Brown had dated. He implied he had a handgun and forced her into his vehicle at about 2:15 p.m. Tuesday, police said.
After Brown was convicted in March 2020 in the domestic violence case, Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Makepeace asked Green to remand Brown to jail, "as he had been convicted of an assaultive crime," Miller told The News.
Green declined, the prosecutor's office said, and gave Brown a bond of $30,000 or 10%. In September that bond was reduced further and he was placed on house arrest to await sentencing. Due to delays caused by the pandemic the sentencing didn't happen until this month.
Brown is facing charges in three other cases, according to court records. In one, he faces four felony charges in connection with a Detroit incident: Larceny of a firearm, two counts of felony firearm and firearm possession by a felon.
At his April 9 arraignment in that case, Brown was given a $100,000 bond by 36th District Court Magistrate Joseph Boyer.
But District Judge Kenneth King, who was assigned the case, told The News Wednesday he felt the original bond was "heavy-handed."
"I have people charged with intent to murder with lesser bonds than that," King said.
At Brown's April 19 probable cause conference, King lowered Brown's bond to $100,000/10%.
On April 21, Brown posted the $10,000 bond and was released on a tether with two conditions: he could only leave his home to go to work and he could not possess any weapons.
"The purpose of bond is not for punishment," King said. "The purpose of bond is to ensure that the person shows up for trial, that they're not a danger to their community."
He added: "I think that was a pretty substantial bond I gave, even for those charges."
On Wednesday, Brown did not appear for a preliminary examination before King that would have determined if he should be ordered to stand trial on the firearms charges. King raised his bond from $10,000 to $50,000 and issued a bench warrant for Brown's arrest.
Brown has two other cases pending before Green in circuit court, court records show.
He's due in her courtroom on June 9 for a pair of pretrial hearings.
In one case, he's charged with two counts of resisting and obstructing police.
In the other, he's charged with two counts of cocaine possession under 25 grams and one count of resisting and obstructing police.
Green did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
