A mass shooter's sentencing and an international crime ring - Oakland County Sheriff reflects on busy year
PONTIAC, Mich. (FOX 2) - A mass shooter's sentencing, an international crime ring, and expanding the ranks of comfort-trauma units; for the Oakland County Sheriff's Office and its leader Michael Bouchard, it's been a busy year.
Sheriff's deputies are embroiled in a country-wide investigation into Chilean nationals burglarizing and targeting some of the richest homes in Michigan. It's a story that's made international news. There's also progress on the local side of things, where Pontiac has reported a drop in shootings and homicides.
Bouchard has also overseen an increase in using K-9 units to better aid investigations, as well as comfort those stricken by violence and trauma. But one of the biggest stories of the year actually goes back to 2021.
The Oxford High School shooter has been in custody since he shot and killed four students. But the justice process can be slow, and the teen shooter was sentenced less than a month ago. An emotional day of testimony for the victims, Bouchard said he watched much of the final court appearance.
"Well, it tore my heart out the whole time. My whole focus is always victims and that’s been a big part of the reason why I became a police officer," he said.
While dozens of victims spoke during the shooter's sentencing, the number of those afflicted by the mass killing is much larger. Bouchard said the list includes some of the people at the corrections' facility that housed the shooter, who had children enrolled at Oxford.
"So to have that person in their face literally every day for two years, draining them emotionally and professionally on so many levels, they did their job amazingly," said Bouchard.
The shooter is now in the custody of the Michigan Department of Corrections - a relief of staff who monitored his solitary confinement.
"They wanted to get it right, they wanted the shooter accountable, they wanted to give some measure of closure to the victims and the families," he said.
High-end Michigan burglaries tied to Chilean crime ring, prompts police task force
They target the richest homes in the neighborhood. They bring equipment that can jam security alarms. They wear all-black, face masks, and gloves. The Oakland County sheriff called the crime ring "very methodical" on Wednesday.
Another headline this year arrived before the sentencing: a ring of Chilean nationals working like trained military professionals, targeting rich homes in Oakland County. Intelligence suggests there are over a hundred teams operating in the U.S.
They've made off with jewels, purses, and cash worth millions.
"We think tens of millions of dollars have been taken out of Oakland County just since September," Bouchard said, adding "and the deeper I got into it, the more I knew this was going to be a challenge like we had never seen where you have international criminals coming here, specifically targeting your area."
Stopping the stream of suspected burglaries could be done with the ending of the visa waiver program, which is how the suspects have gotten into the country. Bouchard says it wouldn't stop anyone from coming into the country, but it would make it harder to do so.
"Right now they can apply online, which they are and get here and go off grid immediately, which they have fraudulent identification which they have been taught that in their training and off they go," he said. "They move from town to town across America and then they circle back and do it again."
That investigation is still ongoing. So far, only a few people have been taken into custody.
More progress has been made in Pontiac, where the effects of police work are being felt locally in the decline of violent crime.
"We knew a small number of people were involved in a large number of shootings in Pontiac and that's what helped us bring those numbers down. We targeted very specifically people that were pulling the trigger," he said.
Oxford shooting survivors meet a shattered new reality after mass killer's sentencing
The Oxford High School shooting's sentencing Friday included dozens of survivors giving heartbreaking testimony about the trauma they continue to experience, the flashbacks filled with the sounds of gunshots, and a realization that life will never be the same.
Bouchard said they worked with the ATF and have leveraged a variety of charges from the federal and state level.
To round out the year, Bouchard has also grown the K-9 unit to include 13 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. One dog, Max, has been assigned to the sheriff, while the other dozen go home with deputies each night.
"These pups have been amazing inside and outside of the agency. You can just see it take down the tension and the anxiety and the situation for our people and whoever they meet," he said.
And when it's time to retire, the office sells the dog to the handler for a dollar since the bond is too strong to separate the two.