Federal prosecutors revealed charges Tuesday against seven Chilean migrants accused of running a sophisticated burglary ring that targets pro athletes across the country,
Among the victims were players for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Milwaukee Bucks, Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs. Those latter burglaries appear to coincide with reported burglaries at the homes of star players Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.
Another of the burglary details appears to match that of Bucks player Bobby Portis. Court documents say the burglars made off with nearly $1.5 million in property from that residence.
The burglars tracked the team schedules and knew when players were playing away games, which gave the criminals windows of opportunity, investigators said.
Detectives used cell phone data from the burglary locations to try to match people who were present at the times and locations of multiple burglaries.
They obtained search warrants that gave them access to Apple iCloud accounts, where they also found pictures of men posing with what authorities believe to be stolen loot and a broken-into safe, taken just minutes after the burglary of Mr. Portis’ home.
One of the men in the photo was also wearing a Kansas City Chiefs shirt, which investigators said was an attempt to brag about the earlier burglaries of the Chiefs players.
Authorities linked the seven men to the South American Theft Group, which is based in Chile but has deployed operatives to ransack wealthy U.S. communities.
“The Chilean SATG is known to travel throughout the United States and burglarize residences belonging to popular and well-known professional athletes,” an FBI agent, whose name was redacted in court documents, said in a sworn complaint.
The agent said the theft ring members are careful to approach their target homes from woods or dark areas. They break into homes by smashing windows or prying open a sliding door.
They also use “throw phones” that have spoofed subscriber data to try to throw investigators off the trail, and they switch their phones regularly.
The seven men are charged with conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property. The charges were brought in federal court in Florida.
They are Pablo Zuniga Cartes, 24; Ignacio Zuniga Cartes, 20; Bastian Jimenez Freraut, 27; Jordan Quiroga Sanchez, 22; Bastian Orellano Morales, 23; Alexander Huiaguil Chavez, 24; and Sergio Ortega Cabello, 38.
Some of the seven were already facing state-level charges connected to the crimes.
The burglaries mentioned in the case include an Oct. 21 break-in of a Buccaneers player, which netted $167,000 in goods and a firearm; the two Chiefs players, on Oct. 5 and 7; a Nov. 2 break-in of the Bucks player; a Dec. 9 burglary at the home of a Cincinnati Bengals player, which netted about $300,000; and a Dec. 9 burglary of a Memphis Grizzlies player, netting $1 million.
The FBI agent said hockey players are also targets of the theft group.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.