UPDATE: Same four men charged with numerous crimes in Bay County are suspects in Saginaw crimes

BAY CITY, MI — Four Saginaw men are charged with 18 felonies between them after police allege they broke into a Bay City home, raped a woman, robbed her and then committed a carjacking a few days later.

Bay City police on Tuesday, Jan. 14, responded to a report of a break-in at a residence on the city’s East Side. According to those present, four men broke into the house and forced a woman there to have sex with one of them. At least one firearm was brandished during the incident, police have said.

The four men then fled with cash, a TV and/or a telephone, court records show.

Three days later, about 7:45 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 17, a woman told police she was backing her car out of her driveway in the 1400 block of 11th Street when two men, one carrying a duffel bag, approached her. One of the men tapped on her window, and she rolled it down slightly, she told police.

The men asked her where Monroe Street was, she said. The woman pointed in the direction of Monroe, and then one of the men pulled a long gun and pointed it at her, she said.

The woman ducked and began laying on the horn, and the two men fled north on Birney, she told police.

Police interviewed a witness who said he saw two men standing by his neighbor’s car and then heard her honking her horn. The witness also told police he saw two other men standing nearby, adding they gave the impression of lookouts, court records show.

About an hour later, police saw four men exit a neighborhood house, a duffle bag in their presence. Police stopped the four men — Nashawn D. Lane, 18, Antonio D. Griffin, 19, Sammie L. Wright III, 19, and Quay’von R. Brown, 17 — and arrested them.

Police later interviewed all four men. Lane told police he and Brown were walking ahead of Wright and Griffin when they heard a horn and ran to a friend’s house.

“When we got there, someone said that they were trying to get the wheels,” Lane said, according to court records. “Then someone said that this is the Bay not Sag and we can’t be doing this (expletive) here.”

Lane said he did not see a gun.

Wright, Brown and Griffin all gave varying accounts of what happened, ranging from denying their involvement to implicating each other, court records show.

Police later executed a search warrant on the home the men were seen leaving, but they failed to find a firearm. The resident told police they had arrived at his home with a gun and left with it, court records show.

During the course of their investigation, officers came to believe the four men were the same involved in the reported home invasion and sexual assault from three days prior. Police allege Brown was the one who sexually assaulted the woman.

Bay County District Judge Mark E. Janer on Tuesday, Jan. 21, arraigned Griffin, Wright, Lane and Brown each on single counts of armed robbery, larceny in a building, first-degree home invasion and carjacking. Janer also arraigned Brown on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. The sexual offense involves penetration and is punishable by up to life imprisonment, as are the carjacking and armed robbery counts. First-degree home invasion is a 20-year felony and larceny from a building carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison.

Janer set Brown’s bond at $350,000, Wright’s at $300,000 and Griffin and Lane’s at $250,000.

Michigan Department of Corrections’ records indicate Wright was discharged from parole on Jan. 4 of this year after serving prison time for second-degree home invasion.

The four suspects are to appear for a preliminary examination before Chief District Judge Timothy J. Kelly at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 4.