Oakland Sheriff: Coming to a mansion near you could be 'transnational gangs' of burglars

At a church in the heart of Bloomfield Hills, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard was flanked by local police leaders as he delivered a fresh round of warnings Monday night about "transnational gangs" that Bouchard has repeatedly said are targeting "high-end homes" and using sophisticated means to evade home security systems.

"The point of this is to share information about what you can do to keep from being a victim," Bouchard said to a crowd that arrived in luxury cars and wore expressions of concern. They packed Christ Church Cranbrook.

"We think 100 separate Chilean gangs are operating across the country," he said, citing conversations with other police officials nationwide.

Since early fall, Bouchard has issued a series of warnings about gangs from "south of the border," that he says are seeking valuables from the mansions and lakefront homes of Oakland County. No residents have been harmed so far in the break-ins because the gangs who've operated in southeast Michigan have timed their efforts to periods when residents were away from home, he said.

"These Chilean gangs seem to be violence averse. We don't think they pose a physical threat to you. We've heard that, when a light comes on, they run," he said.

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Still, Bouchard spoke of a worrisome and growing number of break-ins, although there were just seven arrests over the last year, most recently in February, in Oakland County.

"These people are targeting Bloomfield Hills and Bloomfield Township” but also Birmingham, Oakland Township, Orchard Lake, Franklin and West Bloomfield, he said.

Bouchard has repeatedly said that the gangs target homeowners nationwide in upscale neighborhoods, where posh homes border woodlands and golf courses. The gangs seek jewelry, cash and safes, which they remove quickly while attired in black and wearing black masks, according to surveillance videos that have recorded several of the incidents in Oakland County.

"At one point, before the end of the year, we think they were pulling a million dollars a year out of Oakland County," Bouchard said. He was joined by Bloomfield Hills Public Safety Capt. Tom Van Simaeys and Bloomfield Township Chief of Police James Gallagher. Gallagher said authorities were ready to level the highest charges possible, and they wanted criminals to know that.

“We’re charging the highest charge we can. We’re getting 20-year felonies on some of these individuals,” he said, referring to several Chilean nationals arrested for break-ins and others nabbed after a jewelry store theft at Oakland Mall in Troy.

“We’re asking for a charge of maintaining a continuing criminal enterprise,” Gallagher said. When Bouchard said the seven suspects were in jail, awaiting trial, the audience applauded.

Bouchard said many of the gang members are in the United States illegally, a problem made worse by the U.S. State Department’s Visa Waiver Program, which allows tourists from Chile to enter the U.S. “with limited scrutiny for 90 days, and that’s all the time they need to do their work and send the resources back to Chile.”

Among the officials' recommendations: Have a home security system and use it; have motion detectors on all floors because gangs often enter through second-floor balconies; get a “hard-wired” system that uses telephone or other direct connections to your local police department, instead of the Internet, which can be foiled by the electronic “jammers” carried by the gangs; purchase only large heavy safes that can be bolted to a floor; and "put the number for your local police in your phone, because if you're in Florida and see something happening on your home's cameras, calling 911 down there isn't going to help," Bouchard said.

State Rep. Donni Steele, R-Orion Township, was in the audience. Steele later said, in an emailed statement, "The number of people at the town hall showed just how scared people are." She said she'd recently pledged her support for House Bill 5650, that "will increase penalties for crimes committed to benefit transnational crime organizations, like those targeting communities in Oakland County," according to Steele's news release. The bill also increases penalties for felonies committed by individuals who return to the U.S. illegally after being deported.

One woman asked Bouchard, “What if they come in and we shoot them?”

He replied, “You have a right in your home to shoot them. If you believe your life is in jeopardy, you have a right in Michigan to defend yourself.” A man then asked, “Do you think they could move a 2,200-pound safe?”

With the crowd snickering, Bouchard said, “I don’t think they’re going to move that,” adding with a grin, and referring to Gallagher: “Now Chief and I could move it.”

Bouchard then flexed his right bicep, to laughter.

Contact Bill Laytner: blaitner@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Oakland County Sheriff warns residents about 'transnational gangs'