A Michigan male is behind bars after reportedly leaving a creepy note on a minor's car last week — and the suspect made one egregious mistake that easily tipped off police.
Officers from the Auburn Hills Police Department responded to an incident outside a Target store around 6 p.m. Tuesday.
'According to Auburn Hills Police, multiple parents have since reported their children found similar notes on their cars with the same phone number.'
Police said a "suspicious" note was left on a 17-year-old's vehicle located in the parking lot and said in a statement that the note was "sexually explicit in nature."
Citing Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald, MLive.com reported that the note "contained an offer to pay the teen for sexual favors."
It didn't take long for officers to track down the suspect because he allegedly left his phone number on the incriminating note.
Officers called the number and were able to determine that the suspect was still in the Target parking lot — and was sitting in his vehicle.
Police found 38-year-old Thomas Mellick Hensler of Clarkston in the vehicle.
Police allegedly also discovered a controlled substance believed to be methamphetamine in the vehicle.
In addition, officers also found sex toys inside Hensler's vehicle, WWJ-TV reported.
Hensler was arrested and booked into Oakland County Jail.
The following day, the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office hit Hensler with three felony charges:
Hensler was detained on a $25,000 bond, according to jail records.
The Auburn Hills Police Department noted that if Hensler is released from jail, he has been ordered to wear a GPS tether and is prohibited from returning to the Target store in Auburn Hills or having any unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18.
Hensler is scheduled to return to court Thursday.
Parents reportedly said this wasn't the first time that children were targeted with sexually charged notes featuring the same phone number.
"According to Auburn Hills Police, multiple parents have since reported their children found similar notes on their cars with the same phone number," stated Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald. "If you believe your children were targeted in this way, please contact your local police. We take every incident seriously because we need to know if this was serial behavior."
Anyone with information on the incident is urged to contact the Auburn Hills Police Department at 248-370-9460.
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Border czar Tom Homan will soon get at least some of the "bed space" he desperately needs for illegal aliens scheduled for deportation, thanks to a revitalized partnership between ICE and a private company.
In just the last month alone, the GEO Group has announced that it will reopen two shuttered facilities and revamp a third facility for the "exclusive use" of ICE. Altogether, these three facilities will provide more than 4,000 beds for detainees.
'The location near an international airport streamlines logistics and helps facilitate the timely processing of individuals in our custody as we pursue President Trump’s mandate.'
Back in February, ICE confirmed that the Delaney Hall Facility in Newark, New Jersey, would be reopened for federal immigration processing.
"The location near an international airport streamlines logistics and helps facilitate the timely processing of individuals in our custody as we pursue President Trump’s mandate to arrest, detain, and remove illegal aliens from our communities," said a statement from then-acting ICE Director Caleb Vitello.
On Thursday, GEO announced that the North Lake Correctional Facility in Baldwin, Michigan, would likewise open its doors to immigration detainees once again. Built 26 years ago, North Lake was a designated federal immigration center during President Donald Trump's first term. However, it closed in 2022 when the Biden administration canceled all federal contracts with private, for-profit prisons.
In his statement, GEO executive chairman George Zoley hinted that North Lake and its 1,800 beds will detain illegal aliens headed for deportation. "We expect that our company-owned North Lake Facility in Michigan will play an important role in helping meet the need for increased federal immigration processing center bed space," Zoley said. "... We stand ready to continue to help the federal government meet its expanded immigration enforcement priorities."
The facility will provide inmates "security, maintenance, and food services, as well as access to recreational amenities, medical care, and legal counsel," the GEO press release said.
GEO indicated that North Lake would be back up and running "within a few months," according to MLive.
While activist groups like the ACLU caterwaul over the reopening of a privately owned detention center, the only such facility in Michigan, local leaders told WOOD that they welcome the news. Lake County, Michigan, where Baldwin is located, is one of the poorest counties in the state, and North Lake once provided 300 jobs to the area.
Zoley likewise touted the long-standing partnership between GEO and ICE, which he said extends back 40 years. The company also works with governments in Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom to provide detention facilities and services.
The third GEO facility modified to suit the needs of ICE is the Karnes ICE Processing Center in Karnes, Texas. While the Karnes facility has lately housed only men, it is now transitioning into a "mixed" facility, GEO said.
'We're running out of beds in two weeks.'
Less than two weeks ago, border czar Tom Homan warned that ICE and other federal agencies were in dire need of more funding and bed space in order to facilitate the mass deportations Trump has promised.
"We're running out of beds in two weeks. We're at about 46,000 in custody now. We ought to be at 65,000 at this point in time. And when we run out of beds, we stop interior operations. When we arrest somebody, we got to have a bed to put them in for removal," Homan told Fox Business on March 10.
"So Congress does need to get the funding we need so this administration can keep the promises made to the American people," he continued, noting that enforcement has had already made tremendous progress.
"We're doing great," he claimed, noting that border crossings were "down 97%."
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A Michigan Wolverines infielder pretended to snort the white chalk off the third-base line as a celebration for hitting a triple.
During Sunday's game against USC, junior Mitch Voit went three-for-three with four RBIs. One of those hits was a second-inning triple with the bases loaded that put his team up 5-0.
After sliding into third base head first, Voit celebrated in an unorthodox manner that left fans both bothered and bemused. Voit leaned over the white chalk along the third base foul line and pretended to snort it as if it were a line of drugs. The video has since garnered millions of views across multiple posts and platforms.
With his helmet falling off and the play-by-play announcer seemingly ignoring his choice of celebration, Voit popped his head up to look directly at his team's dugout before grabbing his equipment and getting to his feet.
Another angle of the hit showed the play from start to finish; the crowd went wild as Voit rounded the bases.
"I couldn’t believe it, had to post," a baseball podcaster wrote on X alongside a video of the snort.
"This is a work of art," another viewer wrote.
One fan even said the maneuver was now their "new favorite" baseball celebration.
I couldn’t believe it, had to post
— Noah Bieniek (@NoahB77_) March 16, 2025
'You find this funny?'
The Wolverines went on to beat the Trojans 11-0, but that did not mean every viewer was happy with the celebration.
"You find this funny? Sad clown show," one fan wrote in response to the video.
Another viewer simply called the display "disgusting," while another shared the same sentiment and called the celebration "trashy."
Disgusting
— JRAMN2SD (@AhrndtJame13916) March 16, 2025
More than a few viewers joked that Voit should be ready for an "automatic random drug test after the game," while several more fans claimed the player would find a notice in his locker that he has a meeting scheduled with league officials.
automatic random drug test after the game 😭
— NBATigahBoy🐯 (@NBATIGAHBOY) March 16, 2025
Along with the commanding victory, the 6' junior tied his career high of four RBIs with four hits for the second time in a week, according to his team profile.
Voit has been named on All-American and All-Conference preseason teams already in 2025 to go along with his All-Big Ten First Team and All-Big Ten Tournament Team selections from 2024. He also made 59 appearances and 10 starts as a pitcher last year, going 5-3 while simultaneously leading the team in hits.
Voit finished 2024 with 14 home runs and 46 RBIs.
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A coalition of attorneys general from 20 states and Washington, D.C., filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the Trump administration over its move to lay off nearly 50% of the Department of Education's workforce.
Earlier this week, the Education Department terminated over 1,300 employees. Education Secretary Linda McMahon called the action the "first step" in President Donald Trump's "mandate" to shut down the department.
'Elected with a mandate from the American public to return education authority to the states.'
"What we did today was to take the first step of eliminating what I think is bureaucratic bloat," McMahon stated.
In February, the Education Department fired 63 probationary workers. Another 600 staffers voluntarily quit as part of the Trump administration buyout offer.
Earlier this week, a DOE spokesperson stated that the layoffs were meant to cut the department's workforce "roughly in half," adding that 131 teams would be eliminated.
"We are focusing on eliminating full teams whose operations are either redundant or not necessary for the functioning of the department," the spokesperson said.
"We're going to have these folks roll over their responsibilities by Friday, March 21. They will then go on paid administrative leave until the reduction in force is complete," the DOE official continued. "They will be teleworking from tomorrow until March 21. Then all of that is being done for safety reasons to protect the 2,183 employees that are going to remain after the [reduction in force] is complete."
The states suing the administration, the department, and McMahon included New York, Massachusetts, Hawaii, California, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
The Democratic attorneys general wrote in their lawsuit that the layoffs were "an effective dismantling of the Department." They argued that the Trump administration lacks the authority to eradicate the Education Department.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell stated, "Neither President Trump nor his secretary have the power to demolish a congressionally created department."
New York Attorney General Letitia James said, "This outrageous effort to leave students behind and deprive them of a quality education is reckless and illegal."
The complaint contended that the department is "essential."
"The dismantling of the Department will also result in the termination of afterschool programs," the lawsuit read. "Regardless of what alternative resources are put in the place of the Department of Education, the process of the Department's dismantling will create and has created chaos, disruption, uncertainty, delays and confusion for Plaintiff States and their residents."
Madi Biedermann, an Education Department spokesperson, declared that Trump was "elected with a mandate from the American public to return education authority to the states."
She noted that the layoffs were "strategic, internal-facing" and "will not directly impact students and families."
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Cellphone video caught the moments when a white-haired Michigan high school basketball referee was knocked down to the court surface after objects were thrown at him and hit him after a playoff game last week.
What's more, an assistant coach from one of the teams allegedly was "involved" in the postgame incident and has been fired.
'I had never seen that type of officiating ... ever. Ever.'
Check out WNDU-TV's video report here, which includes the cellphone clip of the referee being pelted with the objects.
First, he's hit in the back of the head by a basketball, which stuns and staggers him for a few moments. As the referee begins to retreat, another object hits him in the shoulder, and another object whizzes by and misses him. Finally, another object hits him in the head, and the referee quickly reaches for his head as he falls to the court surface and rolls over on his back and then rolls again to his knees. Police soon pick him up and escort him from the court.
Police told WNDU-TV a thrown notebook also hit the referee while he was in a hallway in an attempt to leave the building.
Benton Harbor Area Schools Superintendent Kelvin Butts said the district "confirmed that an assistant basketball coach was involved in the postgame incident with an official. Immediate action has been taken, and that individual is no longer associated with or employed by the district in any capacity," the station reported.
WNDU said the attack occurred immediately after the Benton Harbor boys' team lost to Buchanan 39-36 last Wednesday in a district semifinal playoff game at Dowagiac Union High School. The station said Benton Harbor was called for 22 fouls, while Buchanan was called for eight.
Dowagiac Police told WNDU that charges are being sought and they still are attempting to identify other individuals who engaged in the assault against the referee. A different video report from WNDU reportedly shows a still image of two people allegedly involved in the attack.
Police told the station more than three individuals were involved in the assault and that those from the Buchanan side did not take part.
Butts told WNDU that one of those involved in the postgame fracas is a student — but the district can't provide specific details about the student's involvement due to federal regulations.
Here's more from Superintendent Butts' statement:
Following thorough internal investigations and a report from the Dowagiac Union Schools School Resource Officer (SRO), we have confirmed that an assistant basketball coach was involved in the postgame incident with an official. Immediate action has been taken, and that individual is no longer associated with or employed by the District in any capacity.
Benton Harbor Area Schools unequivocally condemns and will not tolerate any acts of violence. While we understand that competitive events can generate intense emotions for both adults and students, the incidents that occurred following last week’s District basketball game are unacceptable and deeply concerning.
Regarding the student involved, we are bound by FERPA regulations and therefore cannot provide specific details. However, we assure you that the District is actively reviewing this matter in full compliance with Board policies, procedures, and the Student Code of Conduct.
We have maintained close communication with the other schools involved and have also engaged in productive discussions with Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) Executive staff. Our focus is not only to address the events of February 26th but, more importantly, to implement comprehensive measures that prevent any recurrence of such incidents. Our dialogue with the MHSAA will continue as we collaboratively work to foster a safe and respectful environment for all participants.
Buchanan Community Schools Superintendent Patricia Robinson — whose team was triumphant against Benton Harbor — told WXMI-TV that "I had never seen that type of officiating ... ever. Ever. This is my first time ever experiencing that." Again, WNDU said Benton Harbor was called for 22 fouls while Buchanan was called for eight.
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'Federal funds should not have been used to influence our elections,' said GOP Rep. Bryan Steil.
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