DETROIT — Three people of Chilean nationality were arrested in connection with a series of burglaries at mansions and other luxury residences in the suburbs of Detroit and other parts of Michigan.
The charges were announced Monday by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who said the three defendants are suspects in eight robberies committed after they arrived in the Detroit metropolitan area on Feb. 1 on a flight from Los Angeles.
Nessel noted that they were members of “an international criminal organization” that targeted “luxurious homes of wealthy Michigan residents.”
“They use technology to circumvent alarm systems and take many precautions to avoid being identified in home security systems and to not leave forensic evidence at crime scenes,” Nessel told reporters.
Criminals come from South America
Several law enforcement agencies believe that the crimes are carried out by “non-citizens, temporary residents from South American countries who travel to the United States and the state of Michigan specifically to carry out these robberies,” Nessel added. “There are more of them.”
The three detainees were accused of having carried out criminal activity and breaking into a home. They are currently being held in Indiana for similar robberies there.
In recent years, there have been burglaries at luxury residences in Southern California, particularly those in San Diego County.
Last week, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard announced the creation of a task force to address the increase in residential burglaries in Michigan. The task force includes officers from more than two dozen police departments. They will have help from the FBI and other federal agencies.
Bouchard said five homes were burglarized on a recent weekend in Bloomfield Hills and nearby Bloomfield Township, and another seven were burglarized over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
“Very often they try to approach houses in isolation, from the forest, for example,” explains Bouchard. “They look for jewelry, cash, safes, even a large safe. They take them and try to force them open later. On one of the few occasions when they broke into a house and people were home, as soon as they found out, they ran away.”
Source: With information from AP
