2 Arraigned On Drug Charges After Search Connected To Murder Of Armada Teen
PORT HURON (WWJ) - A father and son arrested this week in Wales Township have been arraigned on drug charges.
Michigan State Police say 66-year-old James Bernard Vancallis — a registered sex offender — and 32-year-old James Donald Vancallis are accused of growing marijuana.
Several items were removed from the St. Clair County home when the pair was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon. According to police, the County of Macomb Enforcement Team (COMET) arrested the men on "narcotics charges resulting from another unrelated search warrant."
That warrant was served in investigation of the death of 14-year-old April Millsap, who was murdered July 24 while walking her dog, Penny, along the Macomb Orchard Trail.
Online records show the elder Vancallis was convicted in 1995 of second degree criminal sexual conduct with a person under 13, and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person between 13-16.
Despite what it might look like, MSP Lt. Michael Shaw has cautioned the public to not to try to guess how these two men may be linked to the Millsap case.
"This is not something you wanna speculate on one way or the other, just because these two individuals were taken in on these drug charges," said Shaw, speaking to WWJ Newsradio 950 Thursday.
In 72nd District Court Friday, bond was set at $75,000 each for James Donald Vancallis and James Bernard Vancallis. They are due back in court on Aug. 12.
Shaw says there are no suspects are in custody in the Millsap case, and they're still searching for a person of interest who was seen on the trail where Millsap had been walking.
Funeral services were held for the teen earlier Friday; and, Friday afternoon, state police divers searched an Armada lake for clues.
"One of the things that we do when we do these types of investigations is we always want to canvas the body of water in the area to make sure that there's no evidence left behind or anything," said Shaw.
"We didn't have anything that particularly pointed us to this body of water, but we did have our dive team go in to double check to make sure if any evidence could be recovered," he said.
Because it's an ongoing investigation, Shaw said he couldn't comment on if anything was found.
Anyone with information on Millsap case is urged to contact police at 877-616-4677. Tips may also be submitted online at www.michigan.gov/michtip.
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