South American gangs armed with knives are running wild on Los Angeles highways, targeting jewelers in terrifying daytime robberies.
The criminals brazenly slash tires, shatter windows, and even plant trackers on their victims’ cars.
One jeweler, Stacy Nolan Soper, found herself in danger on October 18 as she drove home from downtown LA’s jewelry district with a bag of valuable merchandise.
Soper’s vehicle was suddenly ambushed by masked thieves on the ramp from the westbound 10 Freeway to the southbound 405.
‘It seemed like [he] was going to attack me,’ Soper told the LA Times.
As traffic slowed, a car ahead stopped abruptly, and three men, including two wearing ski masks, attacked her vehicle – slashing tires, smashing windows, with one whipping out a weapon – resembling something out of an action movie.
South American gangs armed with knives are running wild on Los Angeles highways – targeting terrified jewelers in brazen daytime robberies
One jeweler, Stacy Nolan Soper, found herself in danger on October 18 as she drove home from downtown LA’s jewelry district with a bag of valuable merchandise
Soper’s experience mirrors several similar incidents targeting jewelers on LA freeways as armed South American gangs brazenly carry out daytime robberies
Soper’s experience mirrors several similar incidents targeting jewelers on Los Angeles freeways.
Another jeweler from Hong Kong fell victim to a robbery on the eastbound 10 just six days later.
The shocking moment the driver was driven off the road and then robbed in broad daylight as he kneeled on the road with his arms in the air was caught on camera.
Four men with ski masks, intentionally crashed into a black-colored Alfa Romeo on the eastbound I-10 west of Arlington Avenue in South Los Angeles.
‘The victim vehicle was rendered disabled, as the suspects proceeded to rob the victim,’ the California Highway Patrol later confirmed.
A passenger in a passing car filmed the terrifying moment the robbers surrounded the victim and began rifling through his vehicle.
Police said the suspects, who were armed with a hammer and a crowbar, then fled from the scene in a white Chevrolet Malibu.
A witness, who also filmed the incident, later told Eyewitness News ‘it seems like they knew what he had in his car… I felt really bad for him, I thought it was over for him but he did the right thing’.
‘The number of crimes tied to these kind of crews are way, way up,’ said LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton
Organized crime and theft have become an increasing problem for the Dem-led city with officials blaming zero cash bail policies.
This escalating trend, including additional thefts in Orange County, reveal a coordinated effort by South American gangs.
Authorities, including the LAPD’s Commercial Crimes Division and the California Highway Patrol, are investigating these crimes.
According to Captain Francis Boateng, the heists follow a pattern: thieves target jewelers in transit, creating scenarios to force them to stop, such as slashing tires or staging accidents.
These highway heists look like a scene out of an action film, as they exploit the freeways’ potential for trapping victims and delaying authorities’ response.
LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton emphasized the continued presence of such gangs, while highlighting that recent incidents reveal a surge in their activity.
‘There is not one crew doing all these crimes,’ he said to the LA Times. ‘Basically these individuals crew up for individual jobs or series of jobs.’
The Los Angeles Police Department launched a taskforce in March in a bid to crack down on ‘burglary tourists’ who use the US tourism visa system to commit crimes.
Criminals from Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru target wealthy neighborhoods in places with relaxed criminal justice laws to conduct home burglaries – before returning home with the loot while out on bail.
The troubling trend of ‘lanzas internacionales’ – translated to ‘international thieves’ – dates back at least two years across America, while the problem has also reared its ugly head in the United Kingdom.
Authorities in Los Angeles announced the taskforce after a 17-year-old Chilean national was caught in Arizona following a series of jewel heists across the California city. The FBI set up its own taskforce to combat the thieves in 2022.
The suspect and his two accomplices – 32-year-old Grecia Romanduski Gaete Castillo and 23-year-old Sebastian Jesus Parraguez Soto, all from Chile – were taken into custody, where they admitted to breaking into several homes in the region.
Suspects: 32-year-old Grecia Romanduski Gaete Castillo (pictured right) and 23-year-old Sebastian Jesus Parraguez Soto (pictured left) were taken into custody
The 17-year-old was initially arrested weeks earlier in the Los Angeles area with three other Chileans for robbing homes.
The teenager falsified Venezuelan identification and continuously got away from the LAPD by making excuses that his parents had left him alone in the country with a friend of the family.
He then disappeared after he was turned over to the child and family services unit.
Experts say the issue has been increasing over the past five years, as South Americans continue to use the tourist visa system to rob Americans.
Law enforcement experts say the foreign cells of professional burglars – mostly from Columbia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru – enter the country illegally or exploit a 2014 visa waiver program intended to spur tourism from dozens of trusted countries.
The program, known as ESTA – Electronic System for Travel Authorization – allows South Americans to enter the United States for an unlimited number of 90-day periods.
After entering the country, they carry out strings of break-ins and other crimes, bringing home up to hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen goods, the FBI said.
In more conservative Orange County, District Attorney Todd Spitzer has made it his mission to crackdown on crime tourists behind hundreds of break-ins.
Spitzer’s argued that the Chilean government, led by socialist President Gabriel Boric, refuses to give the US criminal histories of Chileans who use the program, which other South American countries typically do.
He’s even sued the federal government for not disclosing negotiations with Chile over visa requirements and is calling for new laws to stop these criminals from getting into the country.
‘The number of crimes tied to these kind of crews are way, way up,’ said LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton, despite overall burglaries being down.
He said that in one part of Los Angeles alone there were 94 burglaries believed to be committed by the ‘crime tourists’ in 2023.
Hamilton told the LA Times that these groups are rarely armed but are more likely equipped with what’s known as ‘jamming’ devices to access a home’s WiFi and potentially unlock home security systems in affluent neighborhoods.
‘They often target homes often connected to open spaces, hiking trails and canyons that give them access,’ Hamilton said.
The LAPD sent out a tweet pledging to use the task force to stop the problem.
They said: ‘LAPD recognizes the increase in burglaries where homes in affluent neighborhoods are targeted.
‘We’re in the process of connecting with other agencies impacted by these organized groups coming to the country specifically to engage in this criminal activity.’
They also tend to target people with less comprehensive alarm systems or only alarm systems for the first floor of their homes.
‘Some of these residential burglars have been recorded going through second-story homes,’ Officer Jessica Cuchilla with Huntington Beach Police told the OC Register.
‘In these instances, the reason why they’re going in through there is because people don’t install alarm systems on their second story.’
Chilean Felipe Leiva Solis, 33, was apprehended multiple times last year after being suspected of being part of ‘an organized burglary ring responsible for a minimum of ten residential burglaries in Glendale,’ authorities said.
He was arrested alongside Abraham Pablo Herrera Montecino – AKA Juan Eduardo Salomon Castro – and Francisco Alegria Velasquez, two more members of the alleged crew.
One detective with the LAPD said in a court declaration that Leiva Solis was part of a crew linked to over 30 thefts in the West Los Angeles area alone, and saying he used a fake passport to open an account with Bank of America to wire $23,000 home.
Three other members of the alleged crew were found with over $1million in stolen apparel from a single burglary on December 27 in Beverly Hills.
‘I can tell you that we have a significant increase in burglaries from organized groups that are outside this country, that are coming into the country, and they are targeting high-end residents,’ LAPD Chief Dominic Choi said.
Leiva Solis is being held without bail ahead of a court appearance next week, having pled not guilty to three counts of burglary and one count of conspiracy to commit burglary.
Solis Leiva was arrested alongside Abraham Pablo Herrera Montecino – AKA Juan Eduardo Salomon Castro (pictured left) – and Francisco Alegria Velasquez (pictured right), two more members of the alleged crew
Experts say the issue has been increasing over the past five years, as South Americans use the tourist visa system to rob Americans
Shep Bryan, owner of Maximum Security Safes in Santa Ana, said that these thieves have ‘changed what a typical burglary is.’
Bryan told the OC Register he’s had several clients ask them how to protect safes, which the criminals will use commercials to tear from bolted-down positions.
Nancy Silverberg, 69, came home to Laguna Hills on Valentine’s Day 2023 to see her door ‘gouged out’ and a hole in her patio roof, believing a thief to have tried to get to the second floor window before follow through the patio cover.
She reported $150,000 in jewelry and watches stolen, including what she called ‘sentimental pieces’ that cannot be replaced.
These burglars are suspected to use ladders, rain gutters, or stacked patio furniture to get into master bedrooms.
Christine, 55, who wouldn’t give her last name, said she came home one night in 2022 to her sliding door completely shattered.
Burglars had taken $25,000 in handbags, wallets and jewelry, adding she’s ‘never had anything like this’ in her ritzy Dana Point neighborhood.