Professional South American burglary gang is filmed EMPTYING luxury California h

[Ptarmigan]

Professional South American burglary gang is filmed EMPTYING luxury California homes after carrying out similar raids across East Coast, Indiana and Texas before flying home
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10619547/Spate-home-burglaries-California-linked-criminal-tourists-target-rich.html

Gangs of South American 'crime tourists' are being blamed for at least two home burglaries in California this week - as well as similar raids across the country in recent months, including sprees in Indiana, Texas, New York, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

The criminals target wealthy neighborhoods in places with lax criminal justice laws to conduct their home burglaries, before returning home with the loot while out on bail, according to police.

The San Francisco suburb of Hillsborough is just the latest community plagued by similar schemes, with previous groups hailing from Chile, Colombia and elsewhere in South America.

Hillsborough Police said it suspected the 'crime tourists' were behind at least two brazen burglaries that took place recently in the affluent Bay Area community, where the average home price sits around $5.4 million, according to Zillow. 

Many of these burglaries are committed by "crime tourists" from South America.

Law enforcement experts say the foreign cells of professional burglars - mostly from Columbia and Chile - enter the country illegally or exploit a 2014 visa waiver program intended to spur tourism from dozens of trusted countries.

The Electronic System for Travel Authorization allows citizens from 40 nations to be prescreened to travel to the U.S. for tourism or business for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa, a process that lets travelers undergo less scrutiny to enter the country

After entering the country, they reportedly carry out strings of break-ins and other crimes, bringing home up to hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen goods, the FBI estimates.

It is also a problem outside of America.

Detectives said Asian and Middle Eastern homeowners were targeted because the thieves believe that people of those cultures keep a lot of high value jewelry at home and have cash-oriented businesses.

Dan Heath, a supervisory special agent with the FBI's criminal investigations division, said 'South American theft groups,' are a growing plague throughout the United States - and in countries including India , Britain and Australia, where they often employ similar tactics.

In January, British authorities took down dozens of crime tourists from Chile who stole more than $200,000 in a spring of robberies across the UK.

They are often out of jail due to low or no bail.

The visiting criminals are emboldened by their discovery of a 'sweet spot' in the American criminal system because their offenses don't meet the requirements for federal investigation, and are often overlooked because the country is focusing on a frightening rise in homicides.

What's more, no cash or low bail law allow the repeat offenders endless opportunities to continue to the brazen heists, even after being caught.

Like Virginia, California is one such state that criminals take advantage of due to its controversial 2014 law - Proposition 47 - that barred prosecutors from charging suspected shoplifters accused of stealing less than $950 worth of merchandise with felonies.

[DefiantSix]

Must suck to have such a porous southern border, eh Commiefornia?

 

[SVPete]

Gangs of South American 'crime tourists' are being blamed for at least two home burglaries in California this week - as well as similar raids across the country in recent months, including sprees in Indiana, Texas, New York, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Hillsborough is a pretty high end community on the SF Peninsula, a generally very expensive area to live. Much as I'd love to see Proposition 47 repealed, I doubt that its $950 threshold for theft being a felony is relevant. Similarly, given how expensive Hillsborough and the SF Peninsula are, I doubt illegals did these burglaries, even as hired assistants.

More relevant, I think, is that all of Hillsborough is within 3 miles of SFO, with easy freeway and artery street access to and egress from Hillsborough. The burglars could look like any of the thousands or 10s of thousands of business people flying in and out of SFO, staying just a day or two.