Sophisticated SoCal crime tourism ring stole millions in heists, home burglaries, feds say
A multimillion-dollar crime tourism scheme that operated for years in Southern California, facilitating thefts across the country, led investigators to a most unusual hub: a Los Angeles car rental business.
But this wasn’t just any rental car shop. The business “catered only to crooks,” U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada said at a news conference Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors allege Juan Carlos Thola-Duran, who owns Driver Power Rentals in Van Nuys, ran the go-to rental car business for thieves, providing vehicles for crime tourism groups arriving from South America and directing them to locations both in and outside California for their thefts.
Thola-Duran, 57, is one of six people facing charges including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to transport stolen goods for their alleged roles in the scheme, federal prosecutors said. The indictment identifies the other five as Thola-Duran’s girlfriend, Ana Maria Arriagada, 41; his son John Carlo Thola, 33; Miguel Angel Barajas, 57; Patricia Enderton, 43; and Federico Jorge Triebel IV, 78, court records show.
“These defendants acted essentially as quarterbacks for a massive team of eager thieves,” Estrada said.
Estrada said the group directed crime tourists who committed hundreds of thefts across the nation — including in Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties — beginning around 2018. The thefts occurred in about 80 cities in California, Colorado, Arizona, New Jersey, Kansas and Illinois and netted about $5.5 million for those charged in the case, according to the indictment. However, prosecutors estimated the loss to businesses and homeowners was about $35 million.
The crews would use the rented cars while shoplifting luxury goods, breaking into homes and businesses and stealing people’s credit and bank cards, prosecutors said.
Crews of thieves who travel from Chile and other South American nations for the purpose of stealing jewels and luxury goods are not new in Los Angeles, authorities say, but such heists “are way, way up.”
Thola-Duran and Arriagada are accused of directing the crews to max out the stolen cards by purchasing electronics, gift cards, designer purses and other goods from retailers such as Target, Best Buy and Home Depot, according to prosecutors and the indictment.
The couple would have the illicit goods brought back to the rental car business or direct the thieves to mail them to others involved in the scheme, and Barajas and Thola would pick up the parcels and deliver them to Thola-Duran, prosecutors wrote in the indictment.
Thola-Duran would buy the stolen goods from the thieves at a fraction of their retail value and either sell them to other buyers or keep them for his group, prosecutors allege, adding that the individuals used the money to buy luxury goods, including real estate and horses, and used gift cards to buy flooring, appliances and other items for their homes.
“These criminals were running a burglary operation with a sophistication that rivals Amazon, and instead of dispatching delivery drivers, they were dispatching trained thieves throughout Southern California to steal from what should be where we are safest — our homes,” Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer said.
Some heists were particularly lucrative.
On New Year’s Eve 2020, thieves broke into Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry in Menlo Park and stole high-end watches and jewelry, including a 4.78-carat yellow diamond halo ring. The pilfered goods were valued at more than $5 million.
Over the course of roughly two months, Thola then set out to sell the luxury items, prosecutors allege. In a WhatsApp chat, Thola wrote to one of the alleged thieves that he had “a customer for your jewel,” and that “the Russian pays well whatever good jewels come up,” according to the indictment. Thola said a $1,000 car rental fee would be deducted from what he paid the thief for the goods.
During a traffic stop in Burbank in September 2022, authorities discovered Thola had more than 130 gift cards with a total value of about $19,500, roughly $9,400 in cash and receipts for electronics that were bought in San Jose and San Diego using stolen credit cards, according to the indictment.
“This group essentially acted as a linchpin for South American crime tourists who wanted to come to our country, take advantage of our liberties to steal from the American people,” Estrada said. “This group not just facilitated crime tourism, but in many cases, actively directed it.”
The indictment also alleges that Thola-Duran, Arriagada and others obtained nearly $275,000 in fraudulent COVID-19 business relief loans during the pandemic.
If convicted, the defendants face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each count related to wire fraud and money laundering, up to 10 years for each count of structuring transactions to avoid reporting funds, and up to five years for conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate.
The defendants could not immediately be reached for comment and have not entered pleas.
A Chilean burglary crew was apprehended in Pacific Palisades, police say. The three men and one teen came to the U.S. on tourist visas, according to authorities.
The trend of South American crime groups visiting Southern California for thefts and robberies emerged roughly five years ago, and authorities have been grappling to get it under control. The thieves, authorities say, often arrive on easily obtainable tourism visas. The phenomenon, which police have called “burglary tourism,” has spurred political outrage.
Dist. Atty. Spitzer said the Chilean government has refused to abide by a requirement to provide the U.S. with the criminal history of Chilean citizens who use a visa program called Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA. The program allows Chileans to enter the U.S. for 90-day periods an unlimited number of times. Visa requirements vary from country to country, but travelers from several other South American nations typically require visas with tighter restrictions to come to the U.S.
In Orange County, the thieves have been spotted casing homes in tony neighborhoods, wearing specialized suits that resemble foliage in an effort to blend in, prosecutors said. They rent luxury cars to blend in at the neighborhoods and shopping centers they’re intent on burglarizing, Spitzer said.
In Ventura County, more than 130 people who authorities say were involved in crime tourism rings have been arrested. The vast majority were using vehicles obtained through Driver Power Rentals, officials said.
Federal agents said they served 11 warrants, seized 35 cars and some horses while making arrests in the case. The years-long inquiry was unique in that it “targeted the entire wheel” of the scheme and “created a blueprint for future investigations,” said Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office.
“We are not done here targeting South American theft groups,” Davis said. “They have seriously impacted our quality of life in the Southland and the FBI is committed to further investigating these groups wherever they arise.”
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