Federal prosecutors have charged four men who are in the United States illegally of being part of an international theft group that stole roughly $1 million in cash and goods during a string of burglaries in Wisconsin and other states.
Indictments were returned in Milwaukee on May 12 against Chilean nationals Luciano Alexis Silva Cifuentes, Enjerbet Alejandro Rojas Silva, and Leandro Felipe Pino Uribe, and Venezuelan national Nobuaki Jesus Lara Watay.
The investigation began Waukesha County Sheriff’ Office last year, and the Milwaukee area Homeland Security Task Force later joined the case, according to a criminal complaint, filed April 13 in Milwaukee.
Brad Schimel, the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, said in a statement the theft group is connected to more than a dozen completed and attempted residential burglaries in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Florida.
Losses from these crime total about $1 million in U.S. currency, jewelry, firearms, precious metals, and rare coins.
The Chilean nationals are alleged to have repeatedly traveled from Florida to Wisconsin and Minnesota by rental car, with the support of Watay, who is living in the U.S. illegally in Florida, and who reserved Airbnb rentals for the crew.
Watay also is believed to have posted their bail when needed and conducted financial transactions on the group’s behalf, Schimel said in the statement.
In one instance, on Oct. 17, a group of thieves entered a Delafield home by breaking in through the rear glass door while the occupants were out. Roughly 100 pieces of jewelry were reported missing, according to the complaint.
Other break ins, carried out in a similar fashion, had been reported in Mequon just days earlier — on Oct. 10 and Oct. 16.
Another burglary was reported Nov. 4 in Colgate.
In that incident, Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office received records from T-Mobile which identified four International Mobile Subscriber Identifiers that police believed were involved in the burglaries.
The information told authorities the phones were present in Delafield at the time of the break in there, as well as the Oct. 16 burglaries in Mequon, the complaint says.
Other break ins connected to those phones were reported in Middleton, Fox Point and DePere in December.
Burglaries of this nature have become familiar to police in other Wisconsin communities since the FBI began issuing warnings in 2024 about so-called international theft groups.
Local agencies have been sharing notes about other groups of burglars whose methods of operation also mirror those outlined by federal authorities.
Four men are accused of stealing more than $800,000 in cash and jewelry from a Beaver Dam home during a rash of similar break ins in January.
The men, who were from Colombia, were also separately charged in nearby Dodge County. Prosecutors there have alleged in court papers the perpetrators specifically targeted homes owned by Asian Americans.
While multiple states are involved, the prosecution is being led by the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Schimel said.
Chris Ramirez covers courts for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached at caramirez@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Three Chilean men charged in Wisconsin as part of multi-state burglary string
Reporting by Chris Ramirez, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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