According to a shocking new report, organized criminal gangs have begun targeting San Diego’s wealthiest neighborhoods as part of an operation dubbed “robbery tourism.”
‘The house is carefully selected. They have been watching from rental cars that blend into wealthy neighborhoods. They are masked, gloved and care little about the cameras. They are in and out of your home in just a few minutes,” said San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan. he told NBC this week.
‘When a robbery happens, it’s your home, you never feel the same. This is organized. “This is not just any child,” she added.
The district attorney says the gangs come from South America and take advantage of the Visa Waiver Program that allows residents of certain countries to come to the U.S. after filling out an online form.
Stephan said that although the program is supposed to help boost tourism, it has become the “anti-theft tourist visa.”
Criminals target products they know they can sell quickly, such as “jewelry, coin collections, cash and high-end handbags.”
A hooded group is shown loitering around a house in an affluent San Diego suburb; Authorities say they are foreigners who are in the U.S. on tourist visas.
‘The house is carefully selected. They have been watching from rental cars that blend into wealthy neighborhoods. “They are masked, gloved and care little about the cameras,” the San Diego County prosecutor said this week.
Knife-wielding South American gangs have been running rampant on Los Angeles roads throughout 2024, attacking terrified jewelers in brazen daytime robberies.
Authorities have so far managed to arrest eight suspects who are Chilean citizens, Stephan said. The district attorney said that since they are not nationals, the suspects are difficult to identify.
“The mother country has a responsibility to take care of business and make sure that they do not allow these visas to people with uninvestigated criminal records,” the district attorney continued.
The most recent robbery committed by a tourist gang in the San Diego area took place on March 29.
In February, a group robbed a safe containing assault rifles in the Mira Mesa section of the city. The San Diego Union Grandstand reported at the time. The crime remains unsolved.
Although extradition laws exist in countries that take advantage of the waiver program, Stephan said authorities prefer to reserve that right for the most serious crimes.
The waiver system allows people from certain countries to enter the US for 90 days without restrictions.
Conservatives allege that once here, many of Sout
In the Detroit area, officials have said the groups use military-like tactics and have equipment that allows them to jam alarm systems.
A Republican sheriff in Michigan is calling on President Joe Biden to end the waiver system in Chile, where many of the suspects come from.
Meanwhile, 2,300 miles away in Detroit, officials said this week they are preparing for a new wave of robberies from Chilean tourists, reports. The Detroit News.
Authorities in the area said the robberies began in the city’s affluent suburbs in 2023. The main targets of the crimes are Asian American families.
Michigan investigators described the group as using “military-style tactics” and wearing “camouflage clothing.” They are armed with electronic devices that can jam home alarms and have the ability to open safes.
“We saw these gangs come to Bloomfield Township in February of 2022, and that crew was captured and linked to similar cases in Indiana,” Bloomfield Township Police Officer Nick Soley said. The Detroit News this week.
“We didn’t see any cases for a while, and then toward the end of the summer (of 2023), we took a hit until about Thanksgiving week,” Soley continued.
‘We knew these gangs would return and we are sure they will return. “We think they will stay, so we are definitely preparing for it.”
Local Republican Sheriff Michael Bouchard of Oakland County called on President Joe Biden to remove Chile from the waiver program as a result of the crimes.
Other gangs of thieves enter the United States illegally from countries such as Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.
Closer to San Diego, in Los Angeles, criminals brazenly slash tires, break windows and even place trackers on their victims’ cars.
A jeweler, Stacy Nolan Soper, found herself in danger on October 18 while driving home from the downtown Los Angeles jewelry district with a bag of valuable merchandise.
Soper’s vehicle was suddenly ambushed by masked robbers on the ramp from the westbound 10 Freeway to the southbound 405.
‘It seemed that [he] was going to attack me,’ Soper said to the Los Angeles Times. As traffic slowed, a car ahead stopped abruptly and three men, including two in balaclavas, attacked his vehicle, slashing tires, breaking windows and one of them pulling out a gun, something like something out of an action movie.
Soper’s experience mirrors several similar incidents that targeted jewelers on Los Angeles freeways.
Just six days later, another Hong Kong jeweler was the victim of a robbery on Highway 10 eastbound.
The shocking moment the driver was run off the road and then robbed in broad daylight while he was kneeling on the road with his arms raised was caught on camera.
Four men wearing ski masks intentionally crashed into a black Alfa Romeo on eastbound I-10 west of Arlington Avenue in south Los Angeles.
A jeweler, Stacy Nolan Soper, found herself in danger on October 18 while driving home from the downtown Los Angeles jewelry district with a bag of valuable merchandise.
“The victim’s vehicle was disabled as the suspects proceeded to rob him,” the California Highway Patrol later confirmed.
A passenger in a passing car filmed the terrifying moment the robbers surrounded the victim and began searching his vehicle.
Police said the suspects, who were armed with a hammer and crowbar, fled 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.”
Organized crime and theft have become a growing problem for the Democrat-led city, and officials blame zero cash bail policies.
This growing trend, which includes additional robberies in Orange County, reveals a coordinated effort by South American gangs.
Authorities, including the LAPD Commercial Crimes Division and the California Highway Patrol, are investigating these crimes.
According to Captain Francis Boateng, the robberies follow a pattern: thieves attack jewelers in transit, creating scenarios to force them to stop, such as slashing tires or simulating accidents.
These highway robberies are straight out of an action movie, exploiting the potential of highways to trap victims and delay authorities’ response.
LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton emphasized the continued presence of such gangs, while noting that recent incidents reveal an increase in their activity.
“There is no single team that commits all of these crimes,” he told the LA Times. “Basically, these individuals are grouped together for individual jobs or a series of jobs.”
The Los Angeles Police Department launched a task force in March in an attempt to crack down on tourists who steal.