A delinquent dad allegedly strong-armed his unsuspecting daughter into breaking into a Detroit house, but skipped out at the first sign of trouble – and left the 11-year-old behind to take the fall, according to prosecutors.
Andre Stephon-Curtis Broadenax, 29, allegedly stole another man’s car in Dearborn, Mich. on April 29 and then drove to the under-renovation home about 15 minutes away in the leafy residential neighborhood, prosecutors said.
Once there, Broadenax allegedly broke in and made his daughter join him.
“The defendant forced his 11-year-old daughter to assist him with the home invasion,” the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
But the 75-year-old homeowner’s son surprised the pair when he came into the house and discovered the father-daughter team — interrupting their burglary attempt.
Broadenax scrammed without a second thought — leaving behind the stolen car and his daughter, prosecutors said.
Officers from the Detroit Police Department caught up with the suspect on foot shortly after he tried to make his escape, prosecutors said.
A longtime resident, David Bridges, told WXYZ 7 that the neighborhood is usually quiet and slammed the dad’s behavior.
“As me being a father of eight kids, I can’t see me using none of my kids to actually break into a house or do anything to harm another person because it’s wrong,” Bridges said.
He added that Broadenax’s daughter could have been killed, forcing her to commit such a dangerous crime.
“Right now, you could have just lost your life and your child’s, so it’s really sad,” Bridges said.
Prosecutors charged Broadenax with first-degree home invasion, second-degree home invasion, larceny in a building, receiving and concealing a motor vehicle, inducing a minor to commit a felony and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
His next court appearance is on May 14.
