South American “criminal tourists” who exploit the U.S. visa system to enter the country and commit robberies are now entering at least half the U.S. states and making off with “millions of untraceable” items. The Post found out.
Organized robbers and jewelry thieves, particularly in Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru, have been targeting wealthy homes across the United States for decades, but their crimes have expanded and some cities have recently The number of cases is rapidly increasing, authorities said.
“They have traveled to cities across the country, including Maricopa County, and stolen millions of untraceable items,” said Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell. His office covers more than 100 affected Arizona cities, including Phoenix and Scottsdale. The robberies are believed to have been carried out by this group since November.
“This is a group where certain countries in South America are trying to use their relationship with the United States to make sure they don’t have to face intense scrutiny,” Mitchell told the Post.
Officials say scammers are targeting the U.S. government’s tourist visa program, which is home-friendly and allows people to enter the U.S. without background checks.
They commit non-violent property crimes because most states, including New York, have high bail hurdles and can then flee the country or fade into oblivion before being convicted at trial. Be very careful. said Mitchell.
Officials say robbers associated with the so-called South American Theft Group, a broad term given to the organization by law enforcement, have committed hundreds of break-ins in the United States so far this year alone. .
They are involved in robberies alike in major cities, small towns, and gated communities in the United States, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Arizona, California, Florida, Ohio, Nevada, Michigan, Tennessee, and Georgia. are doing. , a number of states are shown in the post analysis, including West Virginia and the Carolinas.
The FBI has been warning about theft groups for years, and in December announced that it believes these groups are abusing tourist visas to enter and exit the United States, facilitating theft and international transportation of stolen goods. admitted that it was. Federal agencies have previously described gangs as a “huge threat” to the United States, but did not respond to questions from The Post.
Some of the group’s most recent arrests occurred last week in Scottsdale and Phoenix, days after another group committed a spate of robberies in “millionaire neighborhoods” in Los Angeles, California, and Baltimore, Maryland.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Below are just a few of the wealthy areas of the United States that have been hit hard by this group.
Phoenix and Scottsdale clash
Mitchell announced last week that six people believed to be part of the group have been charged in a series of large-scale robberies involving more than 100 people since November 2023.
“The federal government’s tourist visa program allows them to enter the United States without a background check. They obtain fake identification as soon as they enter our county,” she said in a statement. Stated.
“One of the defendants was in the United States on a tourist visa and admitted that he had already participated in robberies in California, Nevada, and Arizona.”
Mitchell said he currently requires $200,000 cash bail for adults in such cases, but the same level of enforcement is not in place in other parts of the country affected by robberies. he claimed.
“What’s interesting is that when they get arrested and they stand in front of a judge, they’re shocked to find out that in California, bail is not set.”
“Their failure there is impacting us here as well and there is a lot we can do, but the reality is this is one country and people are moving to this country.”
Suspect in Hamilton County, Indiana
Four suspects from Chile are accused of stealing $250,000, including jewelry, from homes in a gated community in Hamilton County last year.
One of the four was sentenced to two years in prison in February.
After serving time in prison in Indiana, the suspect was sent to Michigan, where he faces similar charges.
According to the affidavit, the four suspects were affiliated with a South American burglary ring and traveled from California to Ohio, then to Indiana and Michigan, where they allegedly broke into multiple homes.
Homes hit in Los Angeles
Police say gangs of “criminal tourists” are increasingly stealing luxury goods from wealthy Los Angeles residents.
“We are aware of an increase in robberies targeting homes in affluent areas,” the Los Angeles Police Department said in a notice last week.
Police Chief Dominic Choi said, “There has been a significant increase in robberies by organized groups from overseas, and they are entering the country to target wealthy residents.”
The department has recorded nearly 1,000 residential burglaries in Los Angeles so far this year alone.
The police department has formed a task force to combat the growing number of Latin American gangs targeting luxury homes in Southern California.
Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton told the Los Angeles Times earlier this week that even though the overall number of robberies is down, “the number of crimes associated with these types of crews has increased significantly.” ” he said.
The 17-year-old Chilean man responsible for a string of jewelry robberies in Los Angeles forged a Venezuelan ID, leaving his parents alone in the country with a family friend, according to the Times. Police announced that he had repeatedly evaded police attention by claiming that
He was turned over to L.A. County Children and Family Services, but disappeared before he could be arrested in Arizona.
Two other members of the alleged gang, 32-year-old Grecia Romanduschi Gaete Castillo and 23-year-old Sebastian Jesús Paraguez Soto, also from Chile, were also taken into custody and admitted to breaking into several homes.
Felipe Leyva Solis, 33, also a Chilean national, was arrested several times last year on suspicion of being part of an “organized robbery ring that committed at least 10 residential burglaries,” according to the Times.
Detectives said in court documents that Solis was part of a gang involved in 30 thefts in West Los Angeles.
According to Los Angeles Police Department officials, the group is believed to have committed 94 robberies in one area of the city in 2023 alone. he told the Times.
Baltimore’s ‘wealthy neighborhoods’ targeted
Baltimore County police announced this month that five suspects were arrested on February 3 after breaking into a home in a “wealthy neighborhood.”
In court records, police said the suspects were positively identified by Border Patrol as members of a South American theft ring, and authorities said the men captured in Baltimore County had traveled to North Carolina, Alabama and Oklahoma. He said he was involved in further residential burglaries. .
Police wrote in charging documents that the group targeted “large residential buildings in affluent neighborhoods with a large number of Asian business owners.” “Detectives know that this group is a nomadic group who do not live in the areas where they commit their crimes. This group travels across the country committing thefts and robberies and Leave the area before you are attacked or arrested.”
Investigators say thieves typically act when homeowners are not home. However, there have also been instances where robbers have disguised themselves as delivery drivers or public facility employees.
These thieves are known to steal jewelry, watches, branded merchandise, cash, gold bars, and more.
Nearly $1.7 million in jewelry was snagged in Greenwich, Connecticut.
A South American group nabbed nearly $1.7 million worth of jewelry in Tony Greenwich, Connecticut.
A group of thieves broke through the kitchen window of a Greenwich home and stole a safe containing more than $1.65 million worth of luxury jewelry, along with personal information.
Homeowners provided an 89-page list of stolen property, investigators detailed in the warrant.
The break-in occurred on May 18, 2022, in the evening when residents were out. Greenwich Time reported.
Immigrant Cortez Muñoz was eventually arrested and charged with first-degree theft and third-degree burglary in connection with the robbery.
The warrant says Cortez Muñoz’s Department of Homeland Security files have no record of him ever crossing the border and show that all of his visa applications to visit the United States have been denied. ing.
The document notes that he may have entered the country illegally and that his “criminal history in Chile precluded him from being issued a visa,” the warrant states.
The files suggest Cortez Muñoz was also “a recognized active member of a South American theft ring,” the warrant states.
