3 DTE crews robbed at gunpoint while restoring power

Three DTE line crews were robbed at gunpoint in the last three days while they were trying to restore power after weekend storms, according to company officials.

The incidents all involved two or three suspects, and it's possible all three robberies are related, said Michael Lynch, chief security officer for DTE Energy.

The first robbery, on Saturday, took place at Southfield and Schoolcraft and involved multiple suspects. Then on Monday afternoon near Livernois and McNichols, suspects approached and ordered the crews to remove their wallets and cell phones and lay them on the ground, Lynch said.

Then a few hours later, near the Lodge Freeway and 7 Mile, armed suspects robbed a third crew, this time appearing in a car, and this time robbing five victims in total.

No employees were injured in the robberies. They are being advised to avoid carrying cash while working, Lynch said.

"We're not going to stand for this nonsense of our employees getting held up at gunpoint," Lynch added. "Our crews are out there working extremely hard to bring about restoration of power and we can't get that kind of work done if our employees are in danger."

The company is offering a $2,500 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the suspects. Anyone with information in the robberies can call DTE's security department at 313-235-9113 or can call Detroit Police.

The DTE repairs follow the loss of power for about 158,000 customers on Saturday. On Monday morning, crews were still working to restore power for 19,000 of those customers.