A group of violent illegal migrants used saws to break into a Long Island jewelry store, then relied on the trusty tool again after being busted — to cut off their ankle monitors and flee, officials said Tuesday.
“It’s a damn disgrace,’’ fumed Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, ripping what he called the state’s botched immigration and bail system for springing the accused criminals in the first place.
Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said, “Whether we see them again is anybody’s guess — but that is the reality of our criminal justice system.”
The six “thugs’’ — part of the so-called “South American Theft Group’’ of “crime tourists’’ terrorizing the US from California to Colorado to New York — launched their wild local break-in around 3 a.m. Thursday, authorities said.
Armed with saws, they first cut a hole in the roof of the florist shop Florique on Jericho Turnpike in Woodbury in Nassau, cops said.
The criminals — five Chileans and a Venezuelan — used radio jammers to stop police radios from operating in the area while they worked, officials said.
The crooks then carved a hole through the shop’s adjoining wall with Elegant Jewelers and tried to break into its safe, only to set off an alarm and flee in a dark gray Dodge Durango back to their rented AirBnB on Lake Drive in Huntington, police said.
Authorities quickly tracked the six suspects down and took them into custody.
“All six defendants are in the United States illegally. Two of them illegally crossed,’’ noted Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder.
The group was charged with two counts of burglary in the third degree and two counts of criminal mischief in the second degree — both D felonies that are not eligible for bail under New York’s failed criminal-justice reforms, authorities said.
Five of the suspects were freed after their arraignments Friday — with the sixth held only because he had an open theft-related warrant on him in Pennsylvania.
But two of the five never showed up later that day to get their ankle monitors, while the three who did quickly sawed theirs off and are in the wind, officials said.
The suspects were ID’d as:
-Bruna Paulo Bustos-Saaceddra, 33, who given an ankle monitor and cut it off in Ridgefield Park, NJ. He had violently resisted arrest, cops said.
-Johnathan Andre Beccera-Paez, 33, a Chilean who is wanted in Argentina for bank robbery. He sawed off his electric monitoring device in New Jersey.
-Henry Yuri Fuentes-Sepulveda, 37, who removed his ankle bracelet while on the George Washington Bridge.
-Luis Mario Avendano-Tapia, 47, who never showed up to get his tracking device.
-Lebanan R Daza-Gonzalez, 22, who never appeared to be fitted for his monitor.
-Leonardo Alberto Jara-Arias, 52, the only one who was held without bail because of the theft warrant. He also violently resisted arrest, cops said.
“It makes a mockery of our criminal justice system,’’ Blakeman said of the situation.
The suspects are part of the loosely coordinated burglary gang “SATG,” already infamous in the area for ripping off jewelry and designer goods, authorities said.
“SATG’’ also has been behind a slew of burglaries in California in which members camouflauge surveillance cameras in bushes outside homes to monitor when homeowners leave.
The group’s members also have targeted wealthy Asian American households in Colorado, law enforcement has said.
Blakeman said he was thrilled to see President-elect Donald Trump’s appointment of Tom Homan as border czar.
“With the election of President Trump and the appointment of Tom Homan, I think you’ll see a new policy with respect to the treatment of illegals in this country… I expect that they will be much more vigilant. And the rules will change. The regulations will change,” Blakeman said.
“But we need our state legislators and our governor to get serious about the issues that face this state and Nassau County and the region,” too, he added.