Seven men have been charged in connection with a nationwide spree of burglaries that victimized high-profile athletes, including Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes, federal officials said Tuesday.
The charge of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property for each of the seven is in a criminal complaint filed Jan. 30 but announced by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida on Tuesday.
The complaint adds four defendants to three previously alleged to be connected to such burglaries nationwide: Jordan Quiroga Sanchez, 22; Bastian Orellano Morales, 23; and Sergio Ortega Cabello, 38.
The four other defendants are Pablo Zuniga Cartes, 24; Ignacio Zuniga Cartes, 20; Alexander Huiaguil Chavez, 24; and Bastian Jimenez Freraut, 27.
It's not clear if any of the defendants have obtained lawyers. The federal public defender in Tampa, Florida, where the case was filed, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.
Four of the defendants — Cabello, Chavez, Morales and Sanchez — pleaded not guilty to initial charges in Ohio of participating in a criminal gang, engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, obstructing official business and possession of criminal tools, according to court records.
In its statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida alleged the seven were part of a South American burglary crew that victimized high-profile athletes across the nation. All the defendants are from Chile.
If convicted, each could spend as much as 10 years in federal prison, prosecutors said.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida said the defendants were connected to burglaries that resulted in the theft of $2 million in goods.
Without specifically identifying the victims, the office used language that indicated the early October burglaries at the homes of Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and quarterback Patrick Mahomes were part of the spree, saying that the Kansas City-area residences of two Chiefs players were burglarized Oct. 5 and Oct. 7.
Additionally, according to the statement, the seven are also connected to the Nov. 2, 2024, break-in at the Wisconsin home of a Milwaukee Bucks player while he was at work at a game. Watches, chains, jewelry, a designer suitcase, designer bags, cash and a safe securing some of those items, together worth nearly $1.5 million, were stolen, the office said.
The information corresponds to a burglary at the home of Bucks forward Bobby Portis Jr.
Pablo Zuniga Cartes, Ignacio Zuniga Cartes, Freraut and a fourth person not named posed for a photo with the safe and some of the goods afterward, the office alleged in its statement.
The office alleged another burglary, a Dec. 9 Cincinnati area break-in, victimized a Cincinnati Bengals player, taking an estimated $300,000 in goods, the office said in its statement. The information corresponds to the burglary of the residence of Joe Burrow, who was in Arlington, Texas, helping his team beat the Dallas Cowboys 27-20 at the time.
The U.S. Attorney's Office alleged defendant Cabello rented the vehicle used in the Ohio burglary.
Also victimized were a Memphis Grizzlies basketball player whose home was breached Dec. 20 while he played a home game and the Oct. 21 break-in at the home of a Tampa Bay Buccaneers player.
According to the filing, suspects gained entry to the home of the Buccaneers player by breaking through a window, stealing jewelry, Rolex watches, a Louis Vuitton suitcase and a firearm worth more than $167,000.
In that case and that of the Grizzlies player, identities of the victims have not been made public.
In all the cases connected to the seven, the U.S. Attorney's Office said, athletes were "away or playing in professional games at the times of the burglaries."
Since fall of last year, the NFL, the NBA and the FBI have warned high-profile athletes about burglars who have targeted the homes of star players.
But authorities from San Diego County to New York City have probed and prosecuted similar cases they say are connected to a spree of coast-to-coast burglaries that target homes of the wealthy — athletes, celebrities and just plain rich people — and are believed to be carried out by South American criminal crews.
In announcing the successful prosecution last year of defendants from Chile and Italy who burglarized a home on the coast of Southern California, San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan said the defendants came to the United States for "burglary tourism."
Todd Spitzer, the district attorney of Orange County, California, has said a U.S. Visa Waiver program, the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), too easily lets criminals enter the united states on a 90-day pass. The automated system grants citizens of 42 nations permission to enter and stay with relative ease.
“For the last 18 months, I have been sounding the alarm about a dangerous loophole in the ESTA Visa Waiver program that is being exploited by organized crime rings from Chile to enter the United States unlimited times over a two-year period without background checks,” Spitzer said in January.
“These criminals aren’t coming to the United States to visit Disneyland,” he said.
On Tuesday, a law enforcement source familiar with the matter reported that the Los Angeles home of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban was burglarized on Valentine's Day, though no connection to the spree has yet been made.
