Nessel: Key arrests made in metro Detroit mansion break-ins, retail thefts

With homeowners in affluent suburbs of metro Detroit reeling from reports of dozens of recent break-ins, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel gathered local police chiefs and Michigan State Police investigators at her office in Detroit on Monday to announce six high-profile arrests involving organized theft rings:

• Three people, citizens of Chile, were arrested from a group that authorities said used sophisticated techniques to target mansions in Oakland County, Grosse Pointe Farms and suburban Grand Rapids, as well as high-end homes in other states.

• Three others, all Detroiters, are in custody for more than 30 retail thefts of Lululemon and Ulta Beauty stores across metro Detroit, with one theft alone accounting for more than $19,000 in merchandise.

Losses to homeowners in the property thefts — mainly jewelry, cash, costly purses and the contents of safes — total “in the millions and millions of dollars,” Nessel said. And for retailers, the tab for organized crime is added to the price of goods that consumers pay, driving up the cost of living for everyone, she said.

More such gangs still operate in Michigan and other states, and "we will continue to aggressively pursue them,” Nessel said. Only with extensive coordination among agencies can members of organized criminal gangs be caught and prosecuted, she said.

Mansion break-ins

Investigators believe that numerous home invasions are being committed across the country “by noncitizen temporary residents from countries in South America, who travel to the United States and Michigan for the express purpose of conducting these crimes,” Nessel said. She praised Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard for announcing last week the formation of a special investigative unit, made up of more than a dozen area police agencies in Macomb and Wayne counties, to go after "transnational gangs."

Charged in connection to the mansion break-ins are the following individuals, each identified by the FBI as a Chilean national, and each as a member of an organized “South American theft group,” Nessel said: Jeremy Martinez, 19; Ignacio Ruiz-Saldias, 29, and Tamara Ruiz-Saldias, 36.

Each was charged with one count of conducting a criminal enterprise, a 20-year felony; and eight counts of second-degree home invasion, a 15-year felony. All charges have been filed in the 52-3 District Court in Rochester. Two of the defendants “appear to be related,” although exactly how officials were unable to say, a spokesman for Nessel said.

The three were being held on Monday in Indiana, at the Hamilton County Jail in suburban Indianapolis, where they face separate home invasion-related charges. In Michigan, they're charged in connection with eight break-ins that took place in early February in Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills, Grosse Pointe Farms, Rochester, Rochester Hills and suburban Grand Rapids. Authorities will be bringing the three back to Michigan to face charges here, officials said.

"They were apprehended by the police department in Carmel, Indiana. We will be holding them accountable for the charges in Michigan. They were served arrest warrants earlier today on those charges,” Assistant Attorney General Eric Sterbis said at Monday's event at the state offices in Detroit's New Center area. Joining the others was Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter.

"As you've heard, we've been hit hard in Oakland County," Coulter said. "This is more than just about losing things. It's about regaining peace of mind in our communities."

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Store thefts

“It was Detective Mike Narduzzi of the Grosse Pointe City Public Safety Department who initially identified the string of push-out thefts at metro Detroit Lululemon stores” several months ago, Nessel said. Alleged thefts connected to these thieves were at Lululemon stores in Ann Arbor, Birmingham, Clinton Township (inside Partridge Creek Mall), Detroit, Grand Rapids, Grosse Pointe, Novi (inside Twelve Oaks Mall) and Rochester Hills. Ulta Beauty locations that were victimized were in Canton, Northville, Shelby Township and Warren.

The three people arrested perpetrated more than 30 thefts in the last year, most recently on Nov. 26, according to state investigators. Their method? “Enter a storefront, grab as much high-value merchandise as they can carry or load into a shopping basket, and simply walk or run out the front door to a waiting vehicle (and) the merchandise would be sold directly to end-consumers or sold in bulk to a fence operation," according to a news release.

Charged in connection to thefts totaling more than $200,000 are these three Detroiters: Loreece Cross, 34; Cardiae Davis, 20, and Samira Smith, also 20.

All face charges of conducting a criminal enterprise, a 20-year-felony, in addition to lesser charges of retail fraud. Charges against Smith have been filed in the 52-3 District Court in Rochester. Cross and Davis are being charged in the 52-1 District Court in Novi.

Some of the crimes occurred "in my district," said state Sen. Kevin Hertel, of St. Clair Shores.

"The effective work of the organized retail crime task force shows the need for the Legislature to provide resources to allow these investigative groups to exist.

"I know that criminal justice and policing can sometimes be political, but we all have a duty to find solutions," said Hertel, as he stood beside Nessel at Monday's gathering in Detroit.

Remain vigilant, sheriff says

Homeowners, especially those in affluent neighborhoods, should remain vigilant, call police about suspicious vehicles and consider adding features to home security systems, said Bouchard, who has been Oakland County sheriff since 1999. He did not attend Monday's news media event in Detroit.

“We applaud the charging of three suspects accused in high-end break-ins at homes in our county, but we want to be clear that these suspects have been in custody for months,” he said in an email.

“These suspects, while connected to the same transnational network that has committed countless burglaries across the country, are not the criminals responsible for the rash of break-ins in Southeast Michigan that have risen dramatically since September. These are completely different teams who continue to traumatize residents in our area, and I urge residents to remain vigilant,” Bouchard said.

Contact Bill Laytner: blaitner@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: AG Nessel: Thieves burglarizing metro Detroit mansions, retail stores