According to court documents, four individuals from Chile have been charged in an ongoing investigation into a series of burglaries targeting the homes of wealthy and occasionally well-known individuals.
According to authorities, the four individuals are connected to a burglary that occurred on December 9th in Hamilton County, Ohio. This incident coincides with a break-in at the residence of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback, Joe Burrow. While the documents do not explicitly mention Burrow as a victim, detectives discovered a stolen Bengals hat in an SUV used by the suspects.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost revealed on Tuesday that a grand jury had issued an indictment against the four individuals. The charges listed in the indictment include corrupt activity, participation in a criminal gang, and possession of burglary tools. In a statement, Yost acknowledged the Southwest Ohio Burglary Task Force, which was established by his office last year to specifically address these types of break-ins.
According to a spokesperson for Yost, the indictment was handed down during a preliminary hearing. It should be noted that the defendants did not enter pleas during this hearing. In Ohio, criminal procedure does not mandate pleas to be entered during preliminary hearings for felony cases.
The original criminal complaint filed in Springfield municipal court on Jan. 13 accuses the defendants of multiple charges, including theft, forgery, and obstructing investigators. According to the filing, three out of the four individuals in question allegedly provided police with false identification.
According to the initial filings, investigators have discovered that an LSU football shirt, which is believed to have been stolen in the December 9 burglary, was found in the Chevrolet SUV when Ohio State Police stopped it on Interstate 70 on January 10. This discovery was made during their investigation of the burglaries. It is worth noting that Joe Burrow, who played his final two seasons of college football at Louisiana State University, wore this shirt.
According to court documents from January 13, investigators have determined that one of the four suspects, 23-year-old Bastian Alejandro Morales, had a cellphone that was in the vicinity of the home burglary on December 9. Additionally, Morales was previously seen in a Volkswagen SUV that was also spotted in the area of the burglary.
On that date, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office reported that Burrow’s home in Anderson Township had been ransacked. At the time, Burrow was in Arlington, Texas, playing in his team’s victory against the Dallas Cowboys.
The Bengals and Burrow’s agent were not able to provide immediate comments in response to queries on Tuesday evening.
The NFL and the NBA, in the autumn season, issued warnings to professional athletes and their employers regarding the threat posed by “transnational South American Theft Groups.” The NBA specifically referred to intelligence provided by the FBI, highlighting the targeting of not only professional athletes but also other high-net-worth individuals.
Since the beginning of 2024, several athletes have fallen victim to residential break-ins. Among them are Burrow, the Kansas City Chiefs’ star players Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes, Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis Jr., Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić, and even the fiancée of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.
The whereabouts of the stars are often public knowledge, as even the announcement of their home games reveals that they are not actually at home.
Four suspects, namely Morales, Sergio Andres Cabello, Jordan Francisco Sanchez, and Alejandro Esteban Huaiquil-Chavez, were apprehended and detained at Clark County Jail. According to the documents, all of them are Chilean nationals who are accused of overstaying their permissions.
According to the documents, the authorities initially detained them for being in the country illegally. As per the inmate records, all of them were in custody without bail listed on Tuesday evening. Court records indicate that all four individuals have pleaded not guilty to the initial charges.
It is unclear if they have hired a lawyer. The Clark County public defender’s office has not yet provided a response to a comment request.
According to Todd Spitzer, the district attorney in Orange County, California, the automated Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) is being held responsible for some of the crimes committed by Chileans on U.S. soil. The ESTA clears visitors for 90-day passes under the Visa Waiver Program, which allows citizens of 42 nations to enter and stay in the country with relative ease.
Last month, Spitzer raised concerns about a significant loophole in the ESTA Visa Waiver program. He emphasized that organized crime rings from Chile have been taking advantage of this loophole to enter the United States multiple times within a two-year period without undergoing any background checks.
“These criminals have no intention of visiting Disneyland when they come to the United States,” he stated in an email.
The four Ohio defendants have not been directly accused of involvement in the nationwide burglaries that have targeted wealthy individuals, star athletes, and even some celebrities. However, according to the criminal complaint, which is based on a narrative by Clark County Sheriff’s Detective Brian Melchi, they were specifically targeted as part of an ongoing investigation into burglaries of multi-million dollar homes in multiple states.
According to the criminal complaint, the defendants were under surveillance and had stayed in a hotel in Fairfield before the Ohio State Highway Patrol traffic stop of the SUV on January 10th.
According to court documents, investigators reported that the SUV emitted a distinct odor of marijuana. Additionally, they discovered two Husky tools commonly utilized by South American burglars to break windows.
During the investigation, detectives discovered a cellphone in Morales’ possession that was connected to the area where the burglary took place on December 9th. They became aware of this when one of the detectives dialed a “target” number that was relevant to the case, and Morales’ device, which was believed to be his, lit up. This provided further evidence linking Morales to the crime.
“Investigators have arrested at least six different South American burglary groups, five of which were Chilean,” the filing says.
According to court documents accessed by NBC affiliate WLWT of Cincinnati, it is believed that Burrow’s multimillion-dollar home was the only one burglarized in Hamilton County on December 9.