Three men from Chile were arrested Friday, March 22, in Irvine after officers spotted a suspicious SUV, pulled it over and found items consistent with burglary tools, pet deterrent, shoe covers, gloves and masks, authorities said.
The men were linked to a transnational organized crime ring, and officers believe the men were casing a residential area to commit burglaries, police said.
An officer noticed the SUV in a parking lot near Bommer Canyon while police were conducting surveillance in the Turtle Rock and Shady Canyon neighborhoods. As the driver began to drive away, the officer pulled the vehicle over and found three men inside.
“The men were not from the area and appeared to have no reason to be in Irvine,” police said in a statement on Facebook.
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The men, ages 57, 55 and 19, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit burglary, providing false information to a police officer and possession of burglary tools.
Irvine police have dealt with a rash of home burglaries, reporting 34 over a 35-day period on March 16, seven of which Sgt. Karie Davies said bore similar characteristics to those pulled off by organized theft rings from South America.
Homeowners in wealthy neighborhoods throughout Orange County have been targeted by the theft rings in what authorities have dubbed “burglary tourism.”
The thieves surveil homes for days and return when the occupants are gone to break in and steal expensive items, according to law enforcement.
Whether the three men arrested Friday were involved in any of those burglaries was not yet known, Davies said Saturday.
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