Jewelry heist gang focused Asian properties, robbed over $235,000 earlier than arrest: cops

A jewelry heist gang who allegedly robbed their method via cities in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina concentrating on Asian people had been lastly stopped in Texas this week, legislation enforcement officers confirmed to The Post.

Investigators throughout the Dallas suburb of Plano had been trailing the gang for a 12 months after a spike in condominium burglaries which all adopted the an identical pattern — a entrance door pressured open and gold or jewelry stolen, the division talked about, noting the residents of the properties had been on a regular basis of Asian descent.

Plano police arrested illegal immigrant Jose Gonzalez, 58 and accomplices Libardo Soto, 35, and Melba Gaitan, 53, on Monday. They declare they’re linked to no much less than 15 completely completely different burglaries throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and that Indian people had notably been focused.

Eventually, Plano authorities working with completely different police forces and federal corporations arrested Soto and Gaitan throughout the Houston area. Gonzalez is jailed in Miami and awaiting deportation, as he was throughout the nation illegally, police talked about.

Five additional victims in North Carolina, three in Florida and one in Georgia have moreover been acknowledged as victims of crimes matching the an identical methodology and tied to the an identical suspects, and cops assume there may presumably be further in the marketplace.

“We strongly suspect that there are more [suspects] out there,” Plano Police Officer Andre Smith instructed The Post.” This has merely opened our eyes and we’re going to aim to solid this net as large as we’re capable of.”

When regulation enforcement searched their properties, they discovered a combined $35,000 in cash and jewelry valued as a lot as $200,000. Tools for dismantling jewelry and make contact with information for retailers that buy gold and silver had been moreover found.

The division didn’t want to speculate on why people of Asian descent had been singled out, nevertheless Dinesh Hooda of the Indian Association of North Texas did.

“They were specifically targeting the Indian community because they see we wear lots of jewelry, are wealthy people and keep a lot of cash,” Hooda instructed WFAA.