The DPD issued a warrant for an illegal migrant from Chile whom they say is part of a theft ring that has been hitting jewelry stores across the country, CBS News reported Wednesday.
Police say the theft, which occurred at a store in Hyde Park on July 22, was perpetrated by 33-year-old Gustavo Salas Ortega. They also say that Ortega has a criminal record for theft in his home country of Chile.
Ortega allegedly made off with $12,289,731.76 in watches, jewelry, and other items during the robbery.
Police also say the gang that hit the store at about 8 p.m. on July 21 came equipped with blowtorches, drills, saws, and other tools. Prosecutors also say the robbery crew spent as much as eight hours inside the store and left at about 3:30 a.m. the next morning.
The gang had reportedly broken into the jewelry store by knocking a hole through the wall of an adjoining store.
The DPD revealed that store security footage shows the suspect looking around the store on the day before the robbery. They also say his phone had Google searches for jewelry stores in Denver, and his iCloud account featured photos of some of the items stolen from the store.
This is far from the first time police have pinned high-dollar crimes on migrants from Chile. Chilean nationals have also been implicated in a string of home invasions of the homes of pro athletes and last week seven were charged in connection with those crimes.
The crimes have also sparked alarm in Congress. Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy has warned of the growth of “burglary tourism” as law enforcement tracks gangs of South Americans who fly into the country to commit home invasions, and he wants to remove the country of Chile from the State Department’s approved Visa Waiver Program (VWP).
“American communities have experienced an outbreak of ‘burglary tourism,’ in which Chilean organized crime rings have been able to exploit the VWP loopholes by entering the U.S. without a visa or any proper criminal background check.,” Roy noted late last month.
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