Sheriff: Thieves hitting high-end homes in Oakland Co. again

Another group of burglars are targeting high-end Oakland County homes, sheriff's officials said.

"We believe the high-end burglary crews are back in our county," the Oakland County Sheriff's Office said in a post Thursday on X. "We encourage extra vigilance and don’t be afraid to call on anything suspicious."

On Saturday, officials said in another post on X that thieves had struck again in Oakland County.

"A couple of days ago Sheriff Bouchard put out the alert that the high-end home burglars are back in Oakland County," it said. "They hit again last night. Again, call if you see something suspicious."

It also referred followers on X to a report Friday from WDIV-TV (CH. 4).

"We think there were at least three to four incursions of the groups in Oakland County in the last four to five days,” he told the TV station last week.

He said the suspects arrive at their targets — homes left alone — with backpacks full of burglary tools. The teams come from Colombia and Venezuela, the sheriff said.

The news comes nearly six months after Bouchard warned residents about a string of burglaries in which thieves targeted high-end, upscale homes in Oakland County. In December, Bouchard said the gangs behind the break-ins were from Chile and some of their thefts netted up to $4 million in cash and jewelry.

He also said his office was teaming up with the Michigan Attorney General's Office to catch the transnational gangs.

Bouchard also said then that four people from Chile were arrested after hitting homes in Bloomfield Hills and Bloomfield Township, and jewelry stores at Oakland Mall in Troy and Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills. Seven others were arrested in the county over the Thanksgiving weekend, he said.