By: Charity Meier | Novi Note | Published December 10, 2024
NOVI — Novi police transparency with the community regarding home invasions led to the rare arrest of an alleged member of an elusive transnational gang Dec. 2.
Novi police officers were called to a residence on Equestrian Trail, near Eight Mile and Beck roads, at 7:19 p.m. after the homeowner received an alert on his mobile phone that his security had been tripped. Upon checking his security cameras, the homeowner observed people attempting to break into his home and he immediately contacted police.
The gang members reportedly entered the residence and stole jewelry and a safe.
Police arrived at the residence within minutes, as they were already patrolling the area due to a surge of recent break-ins. Officers in the area noticed a suspicious white van with out-of-state plates leaving the area and attempted to initiate a traffic stop, according to a press release. The van fled from officers, and a short chase ensued.
The van eventually stopped on the side of the road and four suspects got out of the vehicle and fled on foot, according to police. An officer was able to apprehend one of them, but the other three remain at large, Novi police said, despite an extensive search involving multiple agencies.
“This is a great example of our police and citizens working together to combat these criminal elements that continue to operate throughout the United States,” said Erick Zinser, Novi director of public safety/chief of police. “We will continue to investigate this crime working with our County, State and Federal partners. We continue to ask our community to stay vigilant and report any suspicious activity in your neighborhoods.”
Officers were able to recover the stolen safe, but they were not able to recover the jewelry, Novi police said.
The suspect whom police apprehended reportedly provided false information regarding her identity at first. However, with the assistance of federal partners with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, she has now been identified as Vania Herrera Valdes, 21, a resident of Chile, who was in the country illegally.
According to Cmdr. Jason Meier, of the Novi Police Department, Valdes has a criminal record in another U.S. state related to theft.
Police said they were not able to formally question Valdes, as she asked for an attorney. As of Dec. 9, a public defender had yet to be assigned to the case.
Valdes was charged by the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office with second-degree home invasion, a 15-year felony; and resisting/obstructing, a two-year felony. She was arraigned in the 52-1 District Court in Novi by Magistrate Robert Morad and given a $100,000 bond. She is currently being held at the Oakland County Jail. According to her online record with the Oakland County Jail, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a hold on her for “immigration — illegal entry.”
Valdes is scheduled for a probable cause hearing at 9 a.m. Dec. 18 before Judge David Law and preliminary examination at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 26 before Judge Robert Bondy.
The Novi Police Department said it is actively investigating this latest home invasion and will continue to have a robust police presence in the areas affected. Meier said the three suspects who escaped were two males and a female, but further descriptions were limited because they were wearing masks and heavy clothing.
Transnational gangs, also known as South American Theft Groups, are groups of people from foreign countries that enter the United States illegally to commit crime.
“There’s no head boss or anything, It’s just they work in groups and do their thing,” Meier said.
According to Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, there are at least 100 of these gangs in the U.S. involving upward of 600 people. Transnational gangs typically operate in groups of four or six, he said. Bouchard said that the transnational gang members are primarily from Chile, Venezuela or Columbia.
“They are targeting a particular kind of home and person,” Bouchard said. “Somebody that lives in a high-end home. Somebody that has the probability of a lot of high-value items in the home that are easily disposable, and preferably a home that has kind of a secluded approach from the back — either woods, a golf course, a lake or something like that. They like to come in from the back, do their deal and get out unobserved.”
He said that groups from Chile are the ones that have been hitting Oakland County the most. Bouchard described Chilean transnational gangs as being responsible for “very high-end home burglaries” but have also been caught doing armed robberies of jewelry stores.
According to Bouchard, the Columbian transnational gangs are “more opportunistic and more violent.” He said that a team of Columbians were caught in Oakland County doing armed robberies.
The transnational gangs from Venezuela have been the most violent across the country, according to Bouchard.
“We’ve had almost no evidence of them until this week,” Bouchard said. “We were able to confirm that we now have Venezuelan gangs in Oakland County.”
After having several break-ins that appeared to be the result of transnational gangs between Halloween and Nov. 15, the Novi Police Department put out a press release about the crimes.
“Catching these people was a result of us being really transparent with the community on the things to look out for and sharing that information with our officers and those that are on the road,” Meier said. “This really was the perfect example of that, because we had a homeowner who was very vigilant with his security systems and reached out to us right away. So, we are just asking people to continue to be vigilant and continue to report suspicious activity. It’s been a big help.”
According to Bouchard, there have only been a handful of arrests of transnational gang members. He said this is because they have no ties to the community and they are very transient, moving from one community to another.
“They’ll hammer a community and then they’re gone,” Bouchard said. “So, that’s the challenge.”
Bouchard said that transnational gang members are typically caught when a homeowner or neighbor sees something unusual or an alarm goes off, as was the case in Novi.
“Novi has been hit pretty hard lately, and they’ve done some great work and they were able to catch one, but that’s a challenge,” he said.
According to Bouchard, there have been several transnational gang members/teams charged recently, but that number is small compared to the number of gangs in the country. He said there was a group of Columbians who were charged this year in Troy. Two Chilean teams have been caught and charged in Oakland county, one for armed robbery and one for home invasions. He said that is probably 12-16 people, a very small number.
“We probably had 10 crimes in the last 10 days in Oakland County that are attributable to transnational gangs, and one person was caught,” Bouchard said Dec. 6.
“I was pretty happy (with the arrest). Like I said, there haven’t been a lot of arrests nationwide for these types of crimes. So, we were very fortunate,” said Meier.
Bouchard said that at one point, nearly a year ago, transnational gangs were responsible for almost $1 million worth of theft a week in Oakland County.
Earlier this year, Bouchard started a tri-county task force on transnational gangs between Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties, along with federal and state agencies. He said they work together to share information on the movement of the gangs. According to Bouchard, transnational gang activity has been seen recently in Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Rochester Hills and Oakland Township.
Bouchard advises residents to watch out for each other and be aware of situations and surroundings. He said that if you see something strange, contact police.
“Don’t be afraid to call,” he said.
Bouchard said that if residents have an alarm system, they should make sure to keep it activated. He said that many of the homes that have been hit did not have their security systems on. He advises residents, if they are able to upgrade their security systems, to be as redundant as possible: have multiple ways to communicate out, such as landline, cellular and radio communication.
“The Chileans are jamming wireless communications and wireless alarm components,” Bouchard said.
“It is highly encouraged to at least have a few components that are hardwired in a redundant recording system,” Bouchard said. “That at least gives you a chance of having the alarm communicate that there is something in progress.”
He said that recently a Rochester Hills homeowner noticed that his Wi-Fi cameras were offline, and when he got home, he had been burglarized. He said the gangs had jammed the man’s security cameras.
People should focus on where they store their valuables, Bouchard said. He said that people often store them in the master bedroom, and in particular, the master bedroom closet. He said that is where the gangs go first to look. He said to make sure that if you have a safe, that it is either bolted so well that it cannot be pried out, or that it is too heavy to lift, as the gangs will steal the entire safe and open it later.
“We’ve seen them move 600-pound safes out of the house,” Bouchard said.
Novi police are asking residents to report any suspicious activity or vehicles in their neighborhoods immediately. Anyone with information on this latest incident should contact Novi police at (248) 348-7100.