REDFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A TikTok user with nearly 150,000 followers has been linked to four armed robberies that happened over the last three months in Novi, Dearborn and Commerce Township.
First Commerce Township robbery
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At 3:14 a.m. Dec. 1, 2021, a man walked into the 7-Eleven store at 710 Benstein Road in Commerce Township, court records show.
Police said he approached the front counter and pulled out a black handgun. He pointed it at the clerk with his right hand and placed a backpack on the counter, according to authorities.
The man pulled back the slide of the gun, as if to chamber a round, and the clerk placed money into the bag, police said. He fled the store.
Officials said the man was wearing black pants, a black hooded sweatshirt, a black ski mask and white shoes. He was carrying a black backpack with pink flowers on it.
Dearborn robbery
At 4:36 a.m. Jan. 13, a man entered the Marathon gas station store at 23645 Ford Road in Dearborn, according to authorities.
He walked up to the counter, placed a backpack on it and walked around to the back where the clerk was working, officials said.
The man pulled out a black handgun and demanded the clerk put money in the bag, police said. He pressed the gun to the clerk’s back during the robbery, according to officials.
Police said the man also stole 18 Backwoods cigars before leaving.
A .40-caliber bullet was later retrieved from the floor near the counter, authorities said.
The man was wearing black pants, a black hooded sweatshirt, a black ski mask, black and white gloves and white shoes, police said. He had a black backpack with pink flowers on it.
Second Commerce Township robbery
At 11:22 p.m. Jan. 26, a man walked into the same 7-Eleven store at 710 Benstein Road in Commerce Township, according to authorities.
He approached the front counter and pulled out a black handgun with his right hand, pointing it at the clerk, police said. He put the backpack on the counter, they said.
When he told the clerk to put all the money in the backpack, the clerk initially refused, according to officials. The clerk complied after the man pulled back the slide of the gun in a motion of chambering a round and ejected a round onto the counter, authorities said.
The round was recovered later and deemed to be from a .40-caliber firearm.
After money was placed in the bag, the man fled the store, police said.
He was wearing black pants, a black hooded sweatshirt, a black ski mask, black and white gloves and white shoes, according to authorities. He had a black backpack with pink flowers on it.
Novi robbery
At 7:48 p.m. Feb. 1, a man walked into the Old West Tobacco store at 45029 West Pontiac Trail in Novi, police said.
He approached the front counter and pulled out a black handgun with his right hand, officials said. He pointed it at the clerk, placed a backpack on the counter and demanded money, according to authorities.
After the clerk put money in the bag, the man took several boxes of cigars and fled, police said.
He was wearing black pants, a black hooded sweatshirt, a black ski mask with pink or red hair sticking out, black and white gloves and white shoes, authorities said. He had a black backpack with pink flowers on it.
Social media accounts linked to robberies
Dearborn police said they received information about a possible suspect in the Marathon gas station robbery. The tipster had received information from another person who wanted to remain anonymous, according to authorities.
Police were told the person responsible for the robbery used a Snapchat profile of “Sabali” under the account name “Chozenn_One.”
Officials checked the Snapchat profile and noticed it had been changed to “ChozenWrld,” which was also linked to the TikTok profile of the same name, they said.
Dearborn police identified Chozen Hannah as the person behind those social media accounts, they said.
Officials determined Hannah’s physical characteristics were largely consistent with those provided by victims in all four robberies.
Various videos on the profile allowed police to identify Hannah with half of his hair dyed “pinkish purple” and wearing shoes that matched those seen in surveillance videos from the robberies, according to the criminal complaint.
Hannah watched, arrested
Investigators said they identified a possible residence for Hannah on Virgil Road in Redford Township.
On Feb. 9, officials conducted surveillance at the house and noticed a Chevrolet Malibu registered to Hannah in the driveway. Hannah was later seen standing in the front yard, according to authorities.
On Feb. 11, police watched Hannah exit the home and get into the Malibu to drive to a nearby pet supplies store, they said.
A search warrant was authorized for Hannah’s cellphone on Feb. 14. Records revealed that he was in the area of all four armed robberies at the times of the incidents, according to the criminal complaint.
The cellphone data also matched up with Hannah’s trip to the pet supplies store on Feb. 11, further establishing that the cellphone belonged to him, officials said.
Authorities conducted a search warrant at Hannah’s home Wednesday (Feb. 23) while he was inside, they said. Officials found a black Glock handgun, a black backpack with a floral pattern, a skeleton full body suit and white Nike tennis shoes that link him to the robberies, according to authorities.
Hannah was advised of his Miranda rights and admitted to committing all four of the armed robberies, the criminal complaint states.
He explained that his skeleton gloves -- the black and white gloves described in some of the robberies -- were actually part of a full-body skeleton suit, police said.
The complaint concludes that there is probable cause that Hannah committed robbery that affected interstate commerce and possessed a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence in all four instances.