While the FBI has been the subject of a lot of criticism of late, the Bureau can still do good work when they’re on the trail of bad guys. As an example, we see that a Los Angeles-area burglary tourism ring has been busted by the FBI, with a bunch of arrests and a bunch of charges filed. That’s an unmitigated good thing:
Multiple people have been charged with operating a burglary tourism ring in the San Feranando Valley.
The seven defendants were charged with multiple felony offenses, including wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy, and structuring transactions to avoid federal financial reporting requirements.
According to an indictment, Juan Carlos Thola-Duran, 57, and his girlfriend, Ana Maria Arriagada, 41, operated Driver Power Rentals (DPR), a Van Nuys-based car rental business.
According to the Department of Justice, from at least January 2018 to July 2024, Thola-Duran directed associates, often members of a South American crime tourism theft group, to travel to various parts of the US to commit thefts, including shoplifting, burglarizing homes and commercial businesses, and stealing victims’ credit cards and debit cards.
There is no statement as to the immigration status of any of the individuals involved, which is, sadly, hardly surprising. We should be able to presume that the ringleaders, Juan Carlos Thola-Duran and Ana Maria Arriagada, would be in the United States legally since they were operating a business and must have had the appropriate business licensing and so on. But in California? It’s anyone’s guess. The crime tourism gang they organized and ran is described as a “South American organized crime ring,” so draw what conclusions you can from that.
The plan was large in scope, which is why the FBI is involved, but not complex:
Thola-Duran and Arriagada directed people to steal credit or debit cards and immediately go to stores such as Target, Best Buy, The Home Depot, to max out the stolen cards by purchasing electronics, gift cards, designer purses and other high-end luxury goods before the stolen cards could be frozen or cancelled.
Thola-Duran then had the thieves deliver the stolen goods to associates at DPR or mail them to other co-conspirators. Other defendants would then pick up the packages and deliver them to Thola-Duran and other conspirators.
The ring took in over $5 million, which the ringleaders reportedly spent on real estate and – yes, really – horses.
At least the real estate was a good investment.
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Much of the recent criticism of the FBI was justified, as I mentioned. But in this case, they hit the target dead-center. A major interstate theft ring has been broken up, a bunch of malefactors are going to jail, and the agents – along with the LAPD officers who were also involved – had better get some hearty pats on the back. Taking bad guys off the street and putting them behind grey iron bars is their primary purpose, after all, and in this case, as the saying goes, they done good. In an enterprise like this, it was only a matter of time before an innocent person got hurt, and not just financially.
