Update: Suspect in Paul DeWolf's homicide pleads guilty to 3 felonies in May break-in case

One of the men named by Washtenaw County prosecutors as a suspect in the homicide of Paul DeWolf faces trial Monday for being a lookout during a home invasion in May.

Dajeon Franklin

Dajeon Franklin, 21, of Pittsfield Township, was the first person identified in the home invasion that took place between 10 p.m. May 4 and 1 a.m. May 5 at a home in the 700 block of Arch Street, according to records obtained by The Ann Arbor News.

The police report from the incident details how Franklin served as a lookout in that break-in and was connected to stolen laptops from two other residences. Those break-ins were reported during the same time frame as the Arch Street incident.

Police identified Franklin as a suspect after credit cards stolen from the Arch Street home were used at a local Speedway gas station. According to the report, Franklin used his personal Speedy Rewards card at the same time as the purchase with the stolen credit cards.

“I was also notified … that a Speedy Rewards card was also presented at the time of the fraudulent use of the credit card,” Ann Arbor police Detective Dave Monroe wrote in the police report. He added, “I learned through Speedway that the Speedy Rewards card returned to a Mr. Dajeon Franklin.”

Franklin faces trial at 8:30 a.m. Monday in front of Washtenaw County Trial court Judge Archie Brown. He’s charged with one count of second-degree home invasion and two counts of stealing a financial transaction device.

Washtenaw County prosecutors named Franklin as a suspect in DeWolf’s death on July 23. DeWolf was shot once in the neck during a break-in at the Phi Rho Sigma medical fraternity, 220 N. Ingalls St. Franklin was free on bond at the time of DeWolf’s death.

Joei Jordan, 20 from Sumter, S.C., and Shaquille Jones, 21 of North Charleston, S.C., have been arraigned on murder and home invasion charged related to DeWolf’s death. Franklin has not been formally charged and his attorney, Walter White, has denied his involvement.

Stealing to pay rent

Franklin had recently moved out of the apartment he shared with three other people in Pittsfield Township. He was headed to Troy, where he had a new job, according to the report.

However, his friends were moving into a new residence and needed money for a deposit, rent and a U-Haul.

Franklin’s friends — two women and a man — were in a desperate financial situation by May 3. They needed more than $900 to move in to the new apartment and get out of the Motel 6, 3764 State Circle, where they were staying.

According to the report, Franklin’s then-25-year-old roommate told police that the four friends knew it was graduation weekend in Ann Arbor. There would be parties, and maybe some people would leave themselves open to crime.

The man drove Franklin and a 28-year-old Pittsfield Township woman to the area near Packard and Granger streets. No one stated it outright, but the implied mission for the trip was to find some items to steal and then sell to raise money for the move, the man told police.

Franklin told police they walked around the area until they came to the house in the 700 block of Arch Street, which was left unlocked while its residents attended a party next door.

“Franklin stated that he did not go in the house, and that he was with (the woman) and making sure she did not get beat up while walking around the streets of downtown Ann Arbor,” Monroe wrote in the report.

Getting caught

Franklin told police the woman went into the home, and stole wallet and laptops. She put them in her messenger bag and they called the man, who was waiting in the car with his girlfriend a short way away.

The report states Franklin used the stolen credit cards at two different Meijer stores, in addition to the Speedway. It’s the purchase at Speedway that ended up leading Ann Arbor police investigators to Franklin.

After Speedway confirmed the card’s connection to Franklin, AAPD detectives Monroe and Dan Iverson interviewed him at the Troy Police Department. During the interview, Franklin admitted to using the stolen credit card at the two Meijer stores and standing in the parking lot to act as a lookout.

Franklin said he figured the woman was stealing when she went into the home and knew the credit card was stolen when he used it. He was placed under arrest by detectives and driven back to Ann Arbor.

After being arraigned on the three felonies, Franklin was given a 10 percent of $2,000 bond by Magistrate Thomas Truesdell. He eventually posted bond and was allowed to leave the Washtenaw County Jail.

Although he isn’t charged in two other home invasions near the Arch Street home from that night, the police report quotes the man saying Franklin and the woman went into two other homes and stole four total laptops.

Laptops were recovered from break-ins in the 800 block of Packard Street and the 700 block of Church Street that occurred within the same time frame as the Arch Street incident, according to the report.

The four laptops were all recovered from a pawnshop, where Franklin’s friend had taken them to sell to afford to move into the apartment. All four laptops were returned to their rightful owners.

There was no mention of any of the suspects in the May break-ins having a weapon on their person at the time of the home invasions in the police report.

The 25-year-old man was charged with second-degree home invasion and receiving and concealing stolen property. In a plea deal, he pleaded guilty to third-degree home invasion and receiving and concealing stolen property worth between $200 and $1,000, according to the report.

The woman who went into the Arch Street home to take the laptops was charged with second-degree home invasion, four counts of stealing a financial transaction device and one charge of identity theft, according to the report. She pleaded guilty to all the charges and is currently listed as an absconder from probation.

Franklin's bond was revoked in the case in October, when he admitted to missing two meetings with Community Corrections and testing positive for opiates. Washtenaw County Assistant Prosecutor Dianna Collins also said he was a suspect in DeWolf's death. He's being held in the Washtenaw County Jail without bond.

Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for The Ann Arbor News. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@mlive.com or you can follow him on Twitter. Find all Washtenaw County crime stories here.