By Four Chilean men were arrested in Clark County, Ohio, earlier this month, as part of a multi-state investigation into high-profile home burglaries. The arrests may be tied to the break-in at the home of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.
According to the criminal complaint obtained by CNN, the four men were arrested during a continuing investigation involving burglaries in multiple states of multi-million dollar homes.
Burrow’s house in Anderson Township, Ohio, was broken into last month, according to a Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office incident report, while the Bengals were playing the Dallas Cowboys in Texas.
According to the affidavit, after searching the suspects’ black Chevrolet Blazer following a traffic violation on January 10, “an old LSU shirt and Bengals hat, believed to be stolen from the December 9, 2024 burglary in Hamilton County,” were found, reads the report.
Burrow’s home was broken into on that date, although he is not named in the report.
The quarterback won the 2019 Heisman trophy and a national championship while attending Louisiana State University.
According to police, all four men — Sergio Cabello, Alexander Chavez, Bastian Morales and Jordan Sanchez “were identified as being illegally in the country or overstayed their permission.”
The men were arraigned last week and three of them are expected in court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing. CNN has reached out to the defendants’ attorney.
The Chilean nationals are charged with “engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, participating in a criminal gang, possessing criminal tools and obstructing official business.”
During a search of the vehicle, detectives state in their arrest report that burglary tools were found.
“OSP (Ohio State Police conducted a search of the black Blazer and located two Husky automatic center punch tools wrapped in a cloth towel behind the glove box,” the report states.
Investigators said they have arrested at least six South American burglary organizations, five of them have been Chileans.
In a December 20 bulletin that was distributed to professional sports leagues and teams, the FBI said, “Between September and November 2024, organized theft groups allegedly burglarized the homes of at least nine professional athletes and targeted entry points including glass rear doors, windows, and second-story doors.”
“We live a public life and one of my least favorite parts of that is the lack of privacy, and that has been difficult to deal with my entire career. I’m still learning, but I understand it’s the life that we choose. It doesn’t make it any easier to deal with,” Burrow said in December, responding to the break-in at his home.
In November, the NFL – as well as the NBA and NHL – warned teams that organized and skilled groups are targeting the homes of athletes for break-ins, including while the players are away at games.
The Kansas City-area homes of Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce were burglarized in October, according to multiple local news outlets citing authorities.
The high-profile home burglaries involving sporting stars continued in December. Along with Burrow, Dallas Mavericks star guard Luka Doncic’s home was also targeted.
