Suspect in Bloomfield Township Metal Looting Cases Faces Sentencing

A Pontiac man suspected in several metal looting cases in Oakland County — including at least one Bloomfield Township business — faces prison time this week at two separate sentencings for multiple felonies.

Richard Campau, 51, will be sentenced on one count of heroin possession today by Oakland County Circuit Judge Shalina Kumar, court records show. He will also be sentenced on two counts of larceny less than $1,000 Friday by Circuit Judge Rudy Nichols. The cases were separated due to a co-defendant in the larceny cases, court officials said.

Campau pleaded guilty as charged on all the counts earlier this month and avoided a jury trial scheduled for later this summer, records show. He also pleaded guilty to being a habitual offender — fourth offense, meaning both Kumar and Nichols can enhance his punishment under Michigan sentencing guidelines. 

Prison records show Campau served more than five months of a maximum two-year sentence for possessing burglary tools in 2009, before his release in March 2010. His criminal history includes convictions in 2004 for unlawfully driving away an automobile and receiving and concealing weapons, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections Website.

He was arrested in April by a special team of investigators from Auburn Hills, Bloomfield Township, and Troy police departments from a shuttered school in Pontiac.

Though he was not charged, Campau is a suspect in that were taken from the outside of earlier this spring, Bloomfield Township Police Sgt. Kurtis Dudek said. Detectives also looked for any connection to a handful of metal thefts from commercial properties over the past year, but he was not charged in any other offenses.

He has remained at the Oakland County Jail since his arrest on $35,000 bond.

Eric Wilson, Campau's defense attorney, declined to discuss specifics of the case and Campau's other possible offenses, but did say his client accepted responsibility and is battling addiction.

"Mr. Campau has got a serious drug problem," Wilson said in a recent phone interview. "He recognizes that, and hopefully he can get some help."