Five members of a Chilean burglary crew have been charged with burglarizing three North Shore homes and attempting to burglarize another, according to officials.
According to detectives from the Nassau County Police Department, the five men burglarized residences in Sands Point, Great Neck Estates and Locust Valley, and attempted to burglarize a Glen Cove residence.
Officials said the men, who were arraigned in First District Court in Hempstead on Friday, had fake Argentine visas at the time of their arrests.
The burglaries took place from Feb. 12 to March 4, according to officials. The men stole cash, watches and a safe, according to officials.
Anne Donnelly, deputy chief of the Nassau district attorney’s Rackets Bureau, said the men brazenly told arresting officers their handler recruited them to burglarize New York homes and the risk of jail was low because of the state’s new bail reform laws, according to a representative from the district attorney’s office.
Efforts to reach Donnelly for comment were unavailing.
Fabian Lopez Catalan, 20, William Jesus Mendel-Perez, 23, Amaro Valentino Rosas, 23, Juan Antonio Hernandez Rosas, 25, and Bayron Felipe Cruz Palta, 26, each pleaded not guilty to second-degree burglary charges, according to officials.
Officials confirmed James Clark, the court-appointed defense attorney, asked for the men to be released on their own recognizance. District Court Judge Martin Massell ordered the men to be held without bail, though only two were charged with bail-qualifying offenses, according to a representative from the district attorney’s office.
Efforts to reach Clark for comment were unavailing.
Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said the men had ties to the Chilean theft crew whose members have burglarized homes throughout New York, California and other areas of the country.
“They’re out of Chile, they come in here on a 90-day visa, and almost all of them overstay the visa unless they are arrested,” Ryder said Friday. “When they get arrested for the charge, when they get out, they get back to the plane or to the border and head back out of the country.”
Ryder said despite the new bail reform laws, the department will continue to use every resource at its disposal to apprehend more members of crews such as this one.
“You come to our community, we’re going to hunt you down,” Ryder said in January. “You commit these crimes, we’re going to hunt you down. There will be more arrests coming for these ongoing burglaries.”
Saddle Rock Mayor Dan Levy’s house was burglarized prior to the arrest of two men in December. According to officials, more than $100,000 worth of collectible coins and family mementos were stolen from Levy’s home.
Ryder said residential burglaries in Nassau County since Jan. 1 have increased by 75 percent. He said it is the “largest jump in residential burglaries in any crime category in years.”
