Second man arrested in theft ring that targeted affluent neighborhoods
A second man accused of working with a crime ring to steal more than a million dollars worth of jewelry and other highdollar items has been arrested.
Jerry Mendez, 41, was arrested and booked on nine charges related to the burglary cases — five counts of theft and four of criminal mischief.
The first person arrested in the case was Julian Puente, 37. Puente, who was arrested back in August 2023, was initially tracked down by the department’s cyber crimes unit.
“They (the suspects) saved a lot of evidence online,” Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said.
Puente, who was rearrested Tuesday alongside Mendez, is facing additional charges, including seven counts of theft and six counts of criminal mischief.
Sheriff Javier Salazar said the two are connected to nine theft cases in total. He said they were part of a “sophisticated” ring, and that investigators believe they did not act alone. “These guys are kind of jacksof-all-trades,” Salazar said.
Puente and Mendez had been working together.
They cleaned out vacated apartments as part of contracted work, the sheriff said. They cased homes they were targeting and studied the residents’ social media accounts.
They would take screenshots of people’s accounts and kept note of when people left for dinner at night.
“They conducted a fair amount of pretty sophisticated intel work on these people and ran a pretty coordinated operation while they were conducting these burglaries,” Salazar said.
Investigators said they entered
through back doors and also would rip safes from walls.
No one was hurt during the burglaries, but the sheriff said the men were armed on some of the break-ins.
Homes throughout Bexar County were targeted, including
around Stone Oak Parkway, Terrell Hills and Hill Country Village.
“These guys knew what they were going after dollar amount wise,” Salazar said.
Deputies raided two storage units and recovered 1,600 pieces of jewelry, high-value coins and other collectible items. There was even a watch priced at more than a million dollars.
About 1,200 items have been returned to their rightful owners.
Salazar said deputies matched serial numbers with case numbers in order to verify that the items did belong to the people claiming them.
The sheriff said people who are away from home can avoid being a target of theft by not sharing vacation photos on social media until after they have returned.
It’s also important to make the home look “lived-in” by having the yard cut before leaving and temporarily stopping any deliveries that may pile up, such as newspapers.
“The last thing you want to do is say ‘Having a great time in the Bahamas see you next Thursday,’ that clearly let’s people know that you’re not there,” the sheriff said.