Bill Laitner

Detroit Free Press

What may be one of the more brazen vehicle thefts in metro-Detroit history — making off with a bright-red-and-white ambulance while it sat at a Pontiac hospital's emergency bay — was matched by the equally brazen quip of the suspected thief:

"I was on my way to the Booby Trap to see some pole dancing."

But the Booby Trap — the topless bar formerly on 8 Mile near Woodward in Detroit — has been closed for years. Police said Bryan Joseph Kryscio, a homeless man who last lived in Pontiac, was picked up while driving the ambulance in Sterling Heights, nowhere near 8 Mile and Woodward.

Kryscio, 51, was arraigned today in 50th District Court in Pontiac on a charge of car theft, given a $5,000 cash or surety bond, and ordered to wear an electronic tether if he bonds out of the Oakland County Jail. As of Tuesday night, he was still in the jail.

Police said Kryscio "has some mental issues." He has a criminal history in Florida for robbery; and in Michigan, for breaking and entering, marijuana possession and trespassing multiple times.

The incident at McLaren Hospital-Oakland near downtown Pontiac started about 11 p.m. Sunday night. A medical technician walked out of the hospital's emergency center to return a stretcher to the vehicle, only to see Ambulance No. 509 scooting down Perry Street away from the hospital, said Undersheriff Mike McCabe in a news release. The EMS tech immediately phoned 911 to reach the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, whose deputies patrol Pontiac.

"The caller advised that the ambulance was not locked and that a cellular phone had been left inside," McCabe said in the release.

Police quickly tracked the phone to Sterling Heights, where police pulled Kryscio over near 14 Mile and Ryan. Officers returned the stolen ambulance to Star EMS, apparently undamaged.

"The medication box, EMS radio and EKG monitor were all intact," McCabe said.

Kryscio faces a preliminary exam at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 9 before Pontiac District Court Judge Preston Thomas.

Contact Bill Laitner: blaitner@freepress.com and 313-223-4485.