DETROIT – There was no manhunt when a Pizza Hut employee in Ferndale stole a few thousand dollars and headed out of state in July 2017.
Police had more pressing issues at the time. When 34-year-old Michael Love-White, of Detroit, was arraigned last week, it was clear police always knew he was their man.
It is not the amount taken in this embezzlement, a little more than $3,000, from the Pizza Hut that makes it interesting a year and a half after it happened. It is the fact that the suspect confessed in writing before anyone even knew.
It was July 2017 when Love-White was a shift manager at the Pizza Hut take-out in Ferndale. Another manager called police to say no deposits had been made after a weekend when Love-White closed up every night.
And not only that, a note was found.
The note was from Love-White apologizing for taking the $3,287. It also provided his reasons.
"If I didn't pay them what I owed they were going to kill me," the letter read.
The letter did not state exactly what those unpaid debts were.
As police started investigating, a detective was able to reach Love-White by phone. During the call, Love-White confirmed the amount he had stolen and said he had fled to Kentucky.
A year and a half later, he popped back up on the radar in Michigan when he was arrested recently on another charge in Wayne County.
One Pizza Hut employee said Love-White was a good guy and that she was shocked when she heard about what happened.
Love-White remains in the Oakland County jail in lieu of a $5,000 bond.