The FBI and the New York Police raided a business in the Diamond district of New York City on Tuesday that researchers say they worked with a group of South American transnational robbery that has been pointing to houses belonging to rich people throughout the entire country.
The researchers said they are investigating whether the suspects involved in recent robberies of numerous houses of the star athletes are connected to this alleged fencing location. An “fencing” operation implies the purchase and sale of stolen goods.
A man was arrested Tuesday morning at West 47th Street, near Sixth Avenue. Dozens of FBI agents and detective of main cases of the New York Police registered the second floor business. A second man was arrested later in the day, authorized authorities said with the case.
Later, on Tuesday, the United States Prosecutor’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced that two men connected to Manhattan’s business, described as a pawn store, were arrested based on a federal jury accusation that charge each with conspiracy to receive stolen property and receive stolen property, in accordance with a criminal complaint filed in the United States District Court in Brooklyn.
The defendants were identified as Dimitriy Nezhinskiy and Juan Villar. It is not clear if they have retained lawyers for the matter.
MIA EISNER-GRYNBERG, attached lawyer in charge of federal defenders of New York, public defenders of those accused of federal crimes, said by email that he believes that the defendants will be prosecuted in court on Wednesday, in which can be assigned defense lawyers.
Three sources familiar with the matter say that researchers are investigating whether people related to the robbery in the House of Camples de los Cincinnati Bengals, Joe Burrow, are linked to any of the suspects who direct the alleged operation of fences. The officials who speak under anonymity warned that the investigation is ongoing.
It is alleged that Nezhinskiy and Villar have bought high -end stolen goods with the intention of reselling them, according to the criminal complaint. The previous judicial records link both men to a business in 74 West 47th Street, where the name of Manhattan Gold & Diamond Buyers, Inc.
The United States Prosecutor’s Office said Nezhinskiy and Villar are linked to theft in the United States for evidence that includes telephone contact between Nezhinskiy and two of the four suspected people of being part of a crew that stole the house of a “High profile athlete in Ohio” on December 9.
That is the same date a robbery in Burrow’s house took place. Judicial documents in the case of four men from Chile arrested as part of an investigation into coastal robberies at the expense of high -end houses with residents sometimes high profile claim that a supposedly stolen Bengal hat during that December theft was seen by detectives in a SUV used by suspects.
A LSU soccer shirt that is believed to be taken in the theft of December 9 was also seen in the Ohio SUV after Ohio State Police officers arrested him in the interest 70 on January 10 during a Research of theft, according to the documents in that case. .
The suspects in that case are accused of corrupt activity, participation in a criminal gang and possessing robbery tools, Ohio Dave Yost attorney announced last month. They were accused under an accusation of a great state jury.
The four declared themselves innocent of those positions, according to judicial records. They are represented by the Public Defender’s office in Clark County, which did not immediately respond to a request for comments on Tuesday night.
Also on Tuesday, the office of the United States prosecutor said in a statement that Nezhinskiy was in contact with a suspicious crew in the theft of December 9 “less than a week before theft in Ohio.”
An FBI spokesman in New York previously confirmed an arrest in the location of the Diamond district, based on an order of the Eastern District of New York. The spokesman for the United States prosecutor of Brooklyn, John Marzulli, declined to comment.
The search in the location of 47th Street linked to the defendants of Brooklyn presented “large amounts of stolen suspicion”, included dozens of high -end watches and jewels, said the US prosecutor’s office in the statement of the statement of the Tuesday.
A simultaneous search for New Jersey storage units belonging to Nezhinskiy presented high -end bags, wine, sports memories, jewels, works of art and robbery tools, the office alleged.
“Nezhinskiy and Villar regularly served as ‘fences’ for robbery equipment based in South America that traveled through the United States committing robberies, typically aimed at richer neighborhoods or jewelry vendors, and stealing luxury accessories,” said the office of the United States prosecutor in his statement. “The operation of Nezhinskiy and Villar provided an essential market for stolen goods.”
Prosecutors claim that the two have been selling stolen goods for at least five years, according to the statement.
“The defendants created an illicit market and fed the demand for robberies by the robbery of the South America and other teams throughout the country buying stolen watches, jewelry and other luxury items, and then revealing them in their store in their store New York City “, John J. Durham, the United States prosecutor for the Eastern District in New York, said in the statement of his office.
In saying that such robberies have “a corrosive effect” in the sense of security of the Americans, Durham promised to pursue crew of transnational robbery.
Two sources said that additional arrests were being made in Florida in relation to a group of South American transnational robbery that is believed to be aim at the homes of the NFL and NBA players and other rich people.
Neither the United States Prosecutor’s Office in Tampa nor the FBI Tampa office responded immediately to comments requests on Tuesday.
The NFL and the NBA in November issued security alerts to the players who advised them with robberies, some of which occurred while the players were on the road with their teams. The NBA star, Luka Doncic, along with other players like Bobby Portis and Mike Conley Jr. have attacked their houses. Also falling victim, the field marshal of the Kansas City Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, and the closed wing Travis Kelce.
