PONTIAC, Mich. – Three men are accused of executing the owner of an Oakland County business inside his workplace.
The shooting happened Monday (Jan. 13) at 8:17 p.m. when Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said a 911 call was made saying a business partner had discovered the man being potentially deceased at their business on University Drive near Cameron Avenue in Pontiac.
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Bouchard said during a press conference on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, that deputies arrived, observed the man lying face down before beginning their investigation began.
He said that once it was determined that 66-year-old Sam Simko, of Commerce Township, was not able to be revived, medical attention was given to him, and it was confirmed that he was dead.
Once Simko was pronounced dead, that triggered the investigation.
“I’ve said for quite some time that you’ll see a small number of people commit a large number of crimes, and that’s often what we see and with the partnership of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) we target those folks that have committed violent crimes and try to hold them accountable and try to get them serious penalties to keep them off the street, because we’ve seen the tragic outcome when that doesn’t happen with our own murders and other cases where you’ve seen violent offenders back out in a position to hurt other people, including the individual on Christmas Eve who had been recently let out and then murdered a woman and shot others on Christmas Eve.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard
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The Pontiac substation pertaining to this case started from ground zero. Bouchard said masked individuals and gloved individuals had burst into the business they executed the owner.
“They shot him in the head, then zip-tied him, and then put a bag over his head. And so obviously a cautionary tale to marijuana businesses, because they’re in the business of two things that are valuable to criminals, both cash, which at this particular location didn’t have but oftentimes they do, like at a dispensary, so you get cash and drugs.”
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard
Bouchard said the people involved took around 50 pounds of marijuana, but they did not obtain any money.
Officials said the forensic team went out with Oakland County detectives and the responding deputies, and they worked very quickly as security footage was obtained.
The people involved had a vehicle, but it didn’t have visible plates, but at least one of them had met the owners at Hash Bash in Ann Arbor where they talked about some kind of interaction.
“One individual was led into the building, and as he was leaving, the others burst in that were masked up and gloved up at the time of the crime,” Bouchard said.
Bouchard said during a press conference on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, that deputies arrived and observed Simko lying face down before beginning their investigation.
“With their plates obscured and with vehicles that were kind of generic descriptions, but through great investigative work with our partners, they were able to track the individuals to Ohio in a relatively short time frame, and they were able to identify potential suspects and working with the partners of in addition to ATF Detroit.”
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard
Bouchard said the ATF Detroit, ATF Cincinnati, Cincinnati Police Department, the Oakland County Fugitive Apprehension Team, with their substation and the Cincinnati Crime Gun Intelligence Center, and over 50 law enforcement personnel, we’re able to track the individuals to Ohio where now three suspects are into custody.
--> 3 men await extradition after arrest for murder of Oakland County businessman
The investigation is ongoing, but Bouchard said search warrants had been served at multiple locations in Ohio where they have recovered evidence ranging from three guns, one of which matches a 45 caliber handgun that was believed to be on the scene of the murder
“We have casings on scene and a 45 caliber handgun in custody in Ohio, and that obviously will get the next steps to determine if it’s a match,” Bouchard said.
The suspects involved are William Creasy, Scott Brown, and Deonte Prophett who are all convicted felons.
“We had a horrific crime in the community by offenders, not in this from this community, who came up here with the sole intent to rob these folks and kill them.
They’re all convicted felons. They were armed, and they are prohibited. We will potentially seek a petite policy waiver on this, which is everybody charging in the state will follow through with federal charges because this type of crime is not acceptable in this community, in the state of Michigan, it’s not in the country.”
ATF Special Agent In Charge James Deir
Deir said the gun tells the story for them, and they will enter it into their integrated ballistic information network and check it throughout the Great Lakes region and throughout the country.
“That is the piece that ATF brings to this partnership. We follow the gun. And we’ve got nationwide resources. And in this instance, this worked, you’ve got three suspects that as soon as they perpetrated this crime, they took mass quantities of marijuana and got out of the state.”
ATF Special Agent In Charge James Deir
Bouchard said the three men have shown compensative for violence, have been caught with firearms, and are in a position to hurt people again, and they need to be held accountable all across this country.
“The family is obviously terribly distraught, and they’re asking the media not contact them as they try to process what has happened to their family,” Bouchard said.
All three men are in Ohio, waiting to be extradited back to Michigan.
Watch Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard’s full press conference below
