HERE FOR THE TAKING
Authorities say ‘crime tourist’ theft rings loose in half of US
South American “crime tourists” who exploit the US visa system to enter the country and commit burglaries have now infiltrated at least half the states in the US and taken “millions of untraceable” goods, The Post has learned.
Organized groups of burglars and jewel thieves, particularly from Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru, have been targeting wealthy homes across the US for decades, but their crimes have spread — and recently soared in some cities, authorities warn.
“They travel to cities across the nation — including in Maricopa County — and steal millions in untraceable items,” said Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, whose office oversees such Arizona cities as Phoenix and Scottsdale, which have been collectively hit by more than 100 burglaries believed to have been carried out by the groups since November.
“This is a group that is taking advantage of the relationship that certain countries in South America have with the United States so that they don’t have to have a lot of scrutiny coming in,” Mitchell told The Post.
The crooks hone in on the US government’s tourist visa program, which is friendly to their countries and allows them to fly into the US without a background check, authorities say.
They are then careful to commit nonviolent property offenses because the bar to be held on bail in most states, including New York, is high, so they are able to flee the country or disappear into oblivion afterward — and before they can be tried and convicted, Mitchell said.
Coast-to-coast cases
Burglars linked to the so-called “South American Theft Group” — a broad term given by lawenforcement agencies to the rings — have been responsible for hundreds of US break-ins so far this year alone, officials say.
They have been tied to burglaries in major US cities, small towns and gated communities in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Arizona, California, Florida, Ohio, Nevada, Michigan, Tennessee, Georgia, West Virginia and the Carolinas, among many others, a Post analysis found.
The FBI has issued warnings about the groups for years and in December acknowledged that they believe such burglars are exploiting tourist visas to travel in and out of the US and facilitate the theft and transport of stolen goods internationally. The feds — who previously described the gangs as “an enormous threat” to the US — did not respond to questions from The Post.
Some of the groups’ most recent arrests unfolded in Scottsdale and Phoenix last week, days after a spate of burglaries by others in Los Angeles as well as “millionaire neighborhoods” in Baltimore.
Mitchell announced last week that six people believed to be part of one of the groups were facing charges over a massive string of burglaries — more than 100 since November 2023.
“The federal government’s tourist visa program allows them to fly into the United States without a background check. Once they’ve entered our county, they immediately obtain fake ID,” she said in a statement. “One defendant admitted to being in the US on a tourist visa and had already been a part of burglaries in California, Nevada, and Arizona.”
Stepping up on bail
Mitchell said she now requires adults in these cases to be held on $200,000 cash bail but claimed the same enforcement level isn’t happening in other parts of the country affected by the burglaries.
“It’s interesting when they get arrested, and when they’re in front of the judge, they’re shocked that a bail amount is set here because they don’t have that over in California,” Mitchell said.
“Their failures there are affecting us here, and we can do so much, but the reality is it is one country, and people are moving into this country.”
In one incident, four suspects from Chile allegedly swiped $250,000, including jewelry, from homes in a gated community in Hamilton County, Indiana, last year. One of the four was sentenced to two years in prison in February.
After serving time in Indiana, the female participant will then be sent to Michigan, where she is facing similar charges.
According to an affidavit, the four suspects have ties to a South American Theft Group and traveled from California to Ohio, then to Indiana and Michigan, where they allegedly burglarized multiple homes.
Meanwhile, on the West Coast, wealthy LA residents are increasingly seeing their luxury goods stolen by bands of “crime tourists,” according to cops.
LA’s wealthy on notice
In a bulletin last week, the LAPD said it “recognizes the increase in burglaries where homes in affluent neighborhoods are targeted.”
“I can tell you that we have a significant increase in burglaries from organized groups that are outside this country, that are coming into the country, and they are targeting high-end residents,” Police Chief Dominic Choi said.
So far this year alone, the department has recorded nearly 1,000 home burglaries in LA.
The LAPD has formed a task force to counter a rise in gangs from Latin America that have joined in targeting luxury homes in Southern California.
“The number of crimes tied to these kind of crews are way, way up” despite overall burglaries being down, Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton told the Los Angeles Times last week.
Police said one 17-year-old Chilean national responsible for a series of jewel heists in LA falsified Venezuelan identification and repeatedly evaded officers by claiming that his parents left him alone in the country with a friend of the family, the Times said.
He was turned over to LA County Children and Family Services but disappeared before he was caught in Arizona.