Seven men from Chile were arrested and charged in connection with the home burglaries of several high-profile NFL and NBA athletes, including Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, per multiple reports.
The defendants are identified as 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.
According to ABC News, they were charged with conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property and are facing a maximum of 10 years in prison if convicted.
The FBI tracked the seven men by their selfies bragging about their loot uploaded to a secure Apple iCloud account, which they were able to access through a search warrant, per ESPN.
On Feb. 5, Sanchez, Morales and Cabello were indicted in Ohio for burglarizing Burrow’s home in Anderson Township in December 2024. The three Chilean were identified in a photo taken from the cellphone of one of the suspects which showed multiple luxury items stolen from Burrow’s home.
The photo taken on Dec. 10, a day after Burrow’s home was burglarized, showed the suspects posing with some of the stolen items.
A photo obtained by ABC News from the Department of Justice also showed multiple items — including wristwatches, jewelry and $10,000 in cash — stolen from the Bengals star quarterback.
Traffic Stop Led to Arrest
The three Chileans were later apprehended due to a traffic violation in Ohio. A fourth man was also in the car but was not charged. The three suspects showed fake identification cards to the authorities.
One of the suspects was seen wearing a Bengals beanie. An LSU shirt believed to have been stolen from Burrow, along with two Husky automatic center punch tools, which authorities said “are used to break glass and enter houses to break glass,” were also found in their car rental’s trunk.
Joe Burrow Wasn’t Home During Burglary
Burrow was on away game in Dallas when the the South American gang burglarized his home.
ABC News reported that Burrow’s friend, Olivia Ponton, contacted the police after she arrived at the Bengals quarterback’s residence around 8 p.m. “and noticed that the living room and master bedroom looked unusually messy. She then observed that a master bedroom window on the back side of the residence had been broken,” according to the complaint.
“I feel like my privacy has been violated in more ways than one, and way more is already out there than I would want out there and that I care to share,” Burrow said in a press conference after the burglary. “We live a public life and one of my least favorite parts of that is the lack of privacy and that has been difficult for me to deal with my entire career. Still learning but I understand it’s the life that we choose [but] doesn’t make it any any easier to deal with.”
According to multiple reports, the sophisticated theft group stealthily barged into Burrows and their other targets’ homes via backdoor after they carefully studied and analyzed their security details moves and schedules from a nearby wooded area where security cameras could not locate them.
Stolen Items Sold in NYC Pawnshop
Dimitriy Nezhinskiy, a pawnshop owner in New York City and his employee, Juan Villar, were also charged with conspiracy and receipt of stolen property in connection with the South American theft group’s activities.
They have pleaded not guilty.
According to ABC News, Nezhinskiy was linked to at least two members of the Burrow home burglary crew by phone records and video surveillance, according to court filings. They are believed to be in possession of around $5 million in stolen property, including wine, art, jewelry, watches, handbags and sports memorabilia.
“They have created a marketplace that promotes residential burglaries of homes across the United States,” prosecutor Michael Maffei said in court, per ABC News.
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