South American crime rings that have targeted wealthy Southern California neighborhoods for sophisticated home burglaries the last several years may now be targeting professional athletes’ homes across the country.
According to an FBI report obtained by ABC News, organized theft groups from South America are believed to be behind burglaries at the homes of at least nine professional athletes between September and November. The string of thefts prompted the FBI to issue a warning to sports leagues noting that crime groups are targeting athletes’ homes in pursuit of cash and valuables including watches, designer handbags and jewelry, the report states.
Some of the biggest names in American sports — including Patrick Mahomes, Luka Dončić and Travis Kelce — have been victims of these recent break-ins and burglaries.
According to the report, South American theft groups conduct extensive research before plotting the burglaries. This includes monitoring players’ whereabouts and weekly routines via social media, tracking their travel and game schedules and conducting physical surveillance at their homes.
Many of the attacks are staged while the athletes and their families are away at games. Oftentimes, the robbers are aware of where valuables are stored in the players’ homes prior to staging the break-ins, the report states.
“These preparation tactics enable theft groups to conduct burglaries in a short amount of time,” the report states. “Organized theft groups bypass alarm systems, use Wi-Fi jammers to block Wi-Fi connections and disable devices, cover security cameras, and obfuscate their identities.”
For the last five years, thieves from South America have entered the U.S. for the purpose of committing robberies, selling the pilfered goods and returning home to enjoy their riches, police officials say. And although crime statistics show that burglaries overall are on the decline in Los Angeles, the city has seen an uptick in the number of crimes tied to these burglary tourism groups, LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton told The Times in March.
These groups target wealthy Los Angeles neighborhoods where homes have jewelry and high-value items that can be easily exchanged for cash, he said. Some of the techniques Hamilton describes these thieves as employing — such as using jamming devices to disable home security systems — mirror those the FBI reported being used in the recent burglaries of athletes’ homes.
In November, both the NFL and NBA issued warnings that skilled criminals were targeting the homes of professional athletes and noting that a South American crime syndicate was believed to be behind the burglaries, according to reporting from NFL.com and the Associated Press. The NFL and NBA both noted that the FBI was investigating the robberies.
In September, the home of Mike Conley Jr., guard for the Minnesota Timberwolves, was burglarized while he was playing in an NBA game. Then, Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce had their homes burglarized on back-to-back days in October while they were playing away games. And in November, Bobby Portis, a forward for the Milwaukee Bucks, was similarly targeted.
Earlier this month, the home of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was burglarized while he was competing with his team against the Cowboys in Texas. Then on Friday, thieves made away with an estimated $30,000 worth of jewelry from Dallas Mavericks player Luka Dončić’s home while he was on the road.
The NFL’s November warning included advice to players not to share their location on social media in real time, and to upgrade their security systems and ensure that their valuables could not be viewed from outside their home, according to NFL.com. The warning shared in the recent FBI report echoed this advice and also recommended that athletes keep close inventory of their valuables and refrain from sharing pictures of the interior of their homes on social media.
