They’re at it again, this time targeting multiple high-end homes in Oakland County.
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard told WDIV South American gangs are responsible for numerous break-ins in Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills, Square Lake, and Turtle Lake areas in recent weeks.
“A lot of these are connected it appears from the MO, and so in terms of how big and how far, we don’t know yet. But we know it’s all across Oakland County, and I think spilling in to probably Wayne and Macomb,” he said.
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Police believe the suspects surveil the homes ahead of the break-ins, using Wi-Fi jammers to thwart security systems.
“They know where to go, what to steal, and are in and out in just minutes,” one Oakland County homeowner told the news site.
“In other parts of the country, they’ve been seen using trackers to pattern your life,” Buchard said.
The break-ins are the latest in a trend that started last year, when Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the arrests of three Chilean nationals involved in a series of home invasions in Ada Township, Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills, Grosse Point Farms, Rochester, and Rochester Hills.
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“Home invasions don’t just threaten our property,” Nessel said in December, “they threaten our sense of security, and this ring has set entire communities on edge.”
The home invasions stopped for several months, before resuming this spring with gangs again targeting luxury homes in Oakland County.
“They are super well-trained when they get here, highly organized,” Bouchard told WJBK in March, noting the crimes are made possible by a Visa Waiver Program he has urged Congress to halt. “They look like ninjas, they’re all masked up, gloves; they each have a backpack with their particular set of tools for their job in the burglary.”
The crews typically include three to five thieves, use rental cars, and focus on homes that abut wooded areas that allow them to approach unnoticed. They target valuable, easy to carry items like jewelry, designer bags, credit cards, cash and clothes, according to police.
The losses, Bouchard said, run in the millions.
“The Chileans (are methodical), while the Columbians and Venezuelans can be more opportunistic and willing to resort to violence,” the sheriff told WDIV this week.
Novi Police are investigating at least four break-ins in that city alone, including one on Oct. 31, another on Nov. 2, and two on Nov. 15.
Those thefts occurred just over a month after Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Victoria Valentine sentenced two of five suspected illegal immigrants involved in a home invasion in Troy over the summer.
In that case, the burglary was reported by a homeowner who was away at the time, but witnessed the crimes on a home camera system.
Other illegal immigrants were busted in June for their alleged involvement in an organized retail theft ring that plundered tens of thousands of dollars in merchandise from grocery and clothing stores in Auburn Hills and Bloomfield Township.
Three Romanian women were transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody following their June 13 arrests, while another avoided apprehension.
Those thefts, caught on store cameras, involved the women using specially designed dresses with hidden pockets working as a team to swipe supplements, vitamins, and other items from Plum Market, Alta, TJ Maxx, and other big-box stores,” WJBK reports.