When you hear about a commercial vehicle heist in the news, one tends to imagine that it was an armored Brinks truck, transporting thousands of dollars to a bank. Or perhaps a construction vehicle, carrying thousands of dollars worth of tools and heavy equipment. But not bagels. One rarely pictures a bagel truck being stolen while the driver is inside the business. But that appears to be exactly what happened.
18-year-old Brennan Scott Schneider and 38-year-old Shawn Damon Henry felt compelled, for reasons currently unknown, to jump behind the wheel of a New York Bagel delivery van and take off. Police reports show that an employee of New York Bagel in Ferndale allowed Schneider to come inside and use the bathroom.
But as soon as the teen left the premises, the employee noticed that the company van, which had been left running just outside, was gone. They immediately contacted the police and provided a description of the vehicle. Within minutes an officer spotted the van heading east on Nine Mile road.
Henry provided a false name to police
The officer followed the van as it traveled down several streets, before finally turning into a dead end street and coming to a stop. The officer then noted an adult man walking away from the vehicle. But when the officer stopped the man, he provided a false name to police, and claimed to have been uninvolved with the incident. He was later identified as Henry.
Henry also went on to say that he had merely been walking in the area, when he saw the van pull up and a young white man get out and proceed into a nearby store. Police searched the area and found Schneider hiding behind a cinder block wall. Although Henry claimed to have no idea who Schneider was, police reports from other departments show regular interaction between officers and the two men together.
Henry and Schneider were both arrested and transported to jail. Henry is a parole absconder with an extensive criminal history that includes attempted delivery and manufacture of cocaine and first-degree home invasion. He was charged with unlawful use of a motor vehicle, along with parole violation. Schneider was charged with unlawful driving away of a vehicle (Michigan UDAA), which is a five year felony under Michigan law.