Owner of car pulled from Lake St. Clair at Grosse Pointe's Pier Park is federal felon

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Grosse Pointe Farms police have three people in custody after a car chase, and a shooting that ended with a Dodge Charger crashing into Lake St. Clair.

Now details are emerging that the person registered to own that car, could have possible ties to Detroit street gangs.

The car landed in the water at Pier Park in Grosse Pointe Farms - the end result of a six-mile car chase after a fight allegedly prompted someone to start shooting at the Charger Saturday morning in Detroit. 

"A white Dodge charger fled the scene and was chased by several vehicles down Seven Mile in Grosse Pointe Farms' Pier Park," said Det. Lt. Antonino Trupiano. 
   
Police say the vehicles chasing the Charger were shooting at it, as well.

"We recovered three vehicles total, we have several suspects in custody and we did recover several firearms from one of the vehicles," said Trupiano. "Along with numerous rounds of ammunition."

When the white Dodge Charger was pulled out of the water, authorities got reacquainted with the name Lonnie James Moton. The Charger is registered to Moton and according to the FBI, Moton is a member of a Detroit based gang called 'RedWings.'

Members of this gang have been indicted on 30 robberies in six states since 2014. Moton's federal crimes date back to November 8th, 2015.

When Moton and four others used sledgehammers to steal $500,000 worth of jewelry from a Jared store in North Carolina. He pleaded guilty to the charge.

On March 28th 2018, while serving time for that crime, he was indicted on a different federal charge of robbing a Jared store near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

But in November of last year just as one sentence in federal prison was coming to an end, he was scheduled to be sentenced for that additional federal crime.

>> MORE: Grosse Pointe Farms Park closes after chase, multiple suspects in custody
 
Moton's attorney asked for him to be released on bond until his new sentencing date and US Attorney's Office consented to grant the motion.

So on Nov. 24, 2018, he was able to walk out of federal prison without paying a dime. He was told he had to be back in court in June. The US Attorney's Office said he was not given a bail because he was "indigent."

Twice his sentencing was pushed back - once to July 10th and again to August 19th. But not before his car was seen being towed away from a crime scene in Grosse Pointe Farms. 

Police will not confirm if Moton was one of the three arrested in connection with the chase and crash on Saturday.  They did tell us a man jumped out of the Charger into the water and was rescued and taken to the hospital.
 
The three others in custody are expected to be arraigned this week.