Four men from Chile have been charged in an ongoing nationwide investigation into burglaries at the homes of the rich and sometimes famous, according to court documents.
The four have been linked to a Dec. 9 robbery in Hamilton County, Ohio, authorities say in the filing, a time and place that coincides with a raid at the home of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. Although the documents did not name Burrow as a victim, detectives discovered a Bengals cap allegedly stolen during that December robbery in a pickup truck used by the suspects, the documents say.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced that a grand jury returned an indictment against the four in court on Tuesday. It includes charges of corrupt activity, participation in a criminal gang and possession of burglary tools, according to a statement. He credited the Southwest Ohio Robbery Task Force, which his office launched last year to investigate the robberies.
A spokesman for Yost said the indictment was returned at a preliminary hearing in which the defendants did not enter pleas. Ohio criminal procedure does not require guilty pleas in felony cases to be entered at such hearings.
The original criminal complaint includes those charges, as well as obstructing investigators, according to the local case filed in Springfield Municipal Court on Jan. 13. Authorities alleged in the filing that three of the four presented false identifications to police.
Investigators say an LSU football jersey believed to have been stolen in the Dec. 9 robbery was also seen in the Chevrolet pickup truck after Ohio State Police stopped it on Interstate 70 on Jan. 10 during a investigation of the robberies, according to initial documents. Burrow graduated from Louisiana State University, where he played his final two seasons of college football.
A cell phone allegedly possessed by one of the four, Bastián Alejandro Morales, 23, was determined to be in the area of the December 9 home robbery, and was previously seen in a Volkswagen van seen in the area of the robbery. . the researchers said in the Court documents from January 13.
Burrow’s home in Anderson Township had been ransacked on that date, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office reported. At the time, Burrow was in Arlington, Texas, where he played in his team’s victory against the Dallas Cowboys.
Burrow’s agent and the Bengals did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday night.
In the fall, the NFL and NBA, the latter citing FBI intelligence, warned professional athletes and their employers about what the NBA described as “transnational South American theft groups” targeting “professional athletes and other high-ranking individuals.” net worth.”
Since early 2024, athletes who have been victims of residential burglaries include Burrow, Kansas City Chiefs stars Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes, Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis Jr., Dallas Mavericks guard , Luka Dončić, and the fiancee of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak. Prescott.
Stars’ locations are often matters of public record, and even advertised home games indicate that they are not actually at home.
The four suspects, arrested and booked into the Clark County Jail, were identified as Morales; Sergio Andrés Cabello, 38; Jordán Francisco Sánchez, 22 years old; and Alejandro Esteban Huaiquil-Chávez, 24 years old. The documents described them all as Chileans who had allegedly “overstayed their permits.”
They were initially detained for being in the country illegally, authorities said in the documents. All were in custody without bail Tuesday night, according to inmate records. All four have pleaded not guilty to the initial charges, court records show.
It is unclear if they have retained an attorney. The Clark County public defender’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Todd Spitzer, district attorney of Orange County, California, has blamed some of the crimes committed by Chileans on U.S. soil on the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), which authorizes visitors to obtain 90-day passes under the Visa Waiver Program. granting citizens of 42 nations permission to enter and stay with relative ease.
“For the past 18 months, I have been sounding the alarm about a dangerous loophole in the ESTA visa waiver program that is being exploited by Chilean organized crime networks to enter the United States unlimitedly for a period of two years without background check. Spitzer said last month.
“These criminals do not come to the United States to visit Disneyland,” he said by email.
Although investigators have not directly alleged that the four Ohio defendants were involved in any of the nationwide robberies that have victimized wealthy individuals, star athletes and some celebrities, the criminal complaint based on a narrative by Ohio sheriff’s detective Clark County Brian Melchi says the suspects were targeted as part of “an ongoing investigation involving burglaries at multi-million dollar homes in several states.”
The Ohio State Highway Patrol traffic stop of the van carrying the defendants on Jan. 10 took place after they were staying at a hotel in Fairfield, according to the criminal complaint, which made clear that they had been under surveillance.
Inside the van, investigators said in court documents, it smelled of marijuana, as well as two Husky tools used to punch out windows that are often found in the possession of South American thieves.
The cell phone allegedly in Morales’ possession and linked to the area of the Dec. 9 robbery caught the attention of investigators searching for the Chevrolet Blazer when one of the detectives called a “target” number known to the investigation and the device. supposedly belonging to Morales was illuminated, according to the complaint.
“Investigators have arrested at least six different groups of thieves in South America, five of whom were Chilean,” the document says.
NBC affiliate Cincinnati’s WLWT, which accessed court documents, reported that, to its knowledge, Burrow’s was the only multimillion-dollar home burglarized in Hamilton County on Dec. 9.
