Three men sentenced to prison in ‘burglary tourism’ case

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan announced on Monday that three defendants who burglarized a home in Carlsbad in January were sentenced prison terms between four and six years.

Christian Tapia, 39 and Romai Aranedapogge, 36, both received a six-year prison sentence while Joe Acevedo, 20, was sentenced to four years, according to the DA’s office.

The group is part of a foreign traveling crew using the Visa Waiver Program to get into the country to commit “burglary tourism,” which has exploded in prevalence across the country.

“These cases are hard to solve because they are very sophisticated rings that commit what I’m calling Tourism Burglaries,” Stephan said. “They come in on tourist visas from Chile, from Italy and this is a quick visa where they apply for it online.”

Stephan says 100 homes across the county have been burglarized by this crime ring and 11 people have been prosecuted in the county so far for their connection. Investigators say the group is mostly made up of Chilean men ages 18 – 55.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my career, this level of sophistication,” Stephan said.

Prosecutors say those involved in the theft group travel to the United States through the ESTA Visa Waiver program. This program allows people from Chile fill out an online questionnaire with no foreign background checks and receive a 90-day tourist visa. Most of the defendants involved in theft cases in the U.S. also have a criminal record in Chile.

Once in the country, the suspects obtain false foreign driver’s license and IDs and use the fake identities to rent the vehicles. The burglary team members will all have what is considered a work phone which most often is a pre-paid cellular phone. The suspects change the phone and or SIM card every 30 days or sooner.

The residential burglaries have similar circumstances. The homes were wealthy neighborhoods where houses backed up open space, a golf course, hiking trail or horse trail. On many homes, entry was made via a second story balcony.

“This case is part of a crime spree that has plagued our nation where organized criminal rings, often with criminal records in their own country, are given a visa to the United States that they use to commit burglary tourism,” Stephan said. “I’m proud of the Carlsbad Police department investigation and of our prosecution team for their continued work on taking down these roving theft networks that eat away at the safety and security of residential neighborhoods.”

On June 4, all three defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary, residential burglary, identity theft and resisting arrest.

Stephan added more needs to be done on the federal level to crack down and tighten up a visa system she calls “broken.”

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