A “highly sophisticated” Colombian crime ring with likely cartel ties drilled through concrete and made off with more than $1 million in jewelry last month — but pushed its luck too far in attempting a similar brazen break-in Thursday, police said.
The crew of four bandits, including an alarm specialist and demolition expert, first targeted a jewelry store in Sacramento County during a wild burglary on Sept. 13, according to the county’s sheriff’s office.
“The methods used in that burglary are something that is straight out of the movies,” Sgt. Amar Gandhi told ABC 10. ”Very methodical, extremely planned out, very sophisticated as far as their methods, techniques, tools and expertise.”
The highly organized thieves traveled around parts of the Sacramento and the Bay Area in an RV to allegedly scout out potential jewelry stores while disabling alarms and gaining access to the shops, according to cops, who were surveilling the crew.
But the group of Colombian nationals was caught in the act while trying to commit another heist at Lodi Pawn and Fine Jewelry Thursday, according to police — who swooped in as the burglary was unfolding.
Just before the police bust, the group broke into the store by cutting a hole in a brick wall, shutting off power and disabling the building’s alarm system, cops said.
Thanks to the quick action of the cops no jewelry was taken from the store and all four were arrested.
Sandro Torres-Morales, 49, Orlando Goyeneche-Sanchez, 41, Miguel Osorio-Castaneda, 49, and Melany Pascagoula-Correa, 25, were taken into custody.
The crew is believed to be tied to an international crime ring that has stolen millions of dollars of jewelry, Gandhi said.
“These guys are really sophisticated in what they do. They had a female who had registered cars under her name and would serve as kind of an office manager,” said Gandhi.
“We believe that they are responsible for several of these types of heists throughout the state, if not, even more. We know one of the members owns a jewelry store in Colombia. We believe there are ties to cartels.”
The crew is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 20.
