Keansburg Short-Term Rental Was Hideout For Foreign Burglary Ring, Feds Say

KEANSBURG, NJ — A short-rental property in Keansburg was used as a hideout by a burglary ring that broke into homes in New Jersey, Massachusetts and across the United States, acting U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna announced Thursday.

The six men and one woman in the ring are all Chilean nationals, said the FBI. Either some or all seven had previously been arrested on immigration violations but then released, according to John Tsoukaris, director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Newark field office.

"These alleged criminals are part of South American theft groups who have been coming in and out of the United States for months," said Special Agent-in-charge Brian Driscoll, Jr., who runs the FBI's Newark office. "They hit an area and immediately disappear, using fake identifications and short-term rentals to evade getting caught. It’s like chasing ghosts."

Charged are: Christofer Sanguesa Aguirre, Fabiana Prado Scatarzi, Santana Arturo Castillo Gonzalez, Felipe Andres Del Valle Munoz, Carlos Alfredo Calderon Valencia, Diego Antonio Calderon Leiva and Pedro Alejandro Salgado Vallejos, all Chilean nationals. All seven are charged with one count of conspiracy to sell and receive stolen property that had crossed state lines, and one count of receiving stolen property that had crossed state lines.

One of the homes they broke into was in November in Colts Neck, where they stole high-end watches, jewelry and designer handbags and then fled to the Keansburg safe house, said the FBI.

"On or about November 15, 2024 Colts Neck Police responded to a home for a reported burglary," read the criminal complaint, which was unsealed this week. "The homeowners told police their burglar alarm had been activated at approximately 8:41 p.m., and a rear window of the home had been broken and interior rooms ransacked. The homeowners said multiple valuables were missing, including several high-value wristwatches."

Using GPS records, police found an SUV had been rented from a rental car company in Fort Lee and it was in the vicinity of the Colts Neck home around the time of the burglary. The SUV then immediately drove to Keansburg and parked in front of the short-term rental (U.S. prosecutors could not specify the name of the short-term rental company). A security camera on the property recorded multiple people going in and out of the home, and one of them was recorded carrying a device for covering a vehicle’s license plate under his arm.

FBI agents began monitoring the group, and tracked them as they drove the rental SUV from Keansburg into Queens and then traveled to Massachusetts, where police watched the men purchase marijuana from a Massachusetts marijuana dispensary. At 10 p.m. on Nov. 17, a home in Westwood, Massachusetts was burglarized, again ransacked and several high-value wristwatches and expensive pieces of jewelry stored in a dresser were taken.

"GPS records for the rental SUV showed it was immediately across the street from the Westwood residence between 6:27 p.m. and 7:23 p.m." that night, said the FBI.

On Nov. 19 in Spring Valley, NY police stopped the rental SUV and searched it. FBI agents found one of the men wearing a high-value wristwatch, bearing a specific model number and serial number. The Colts Neck resident was shown a photo of the watch and provided a sales receipt to prove it belonged to him, showing its purchase price at approximately $10,022. Also in the SUV, FBI agents found $100,000 worth of wristwatches, bracelets, earrings, designer handbags and belts, perfume bottles and thousands of dollars in U.S. paper currency. The same Colts Neck resident recognized several more wristwatches, pieces of jewelry, designer bags and belts and perfume bottles, all in photographs taken from the SUV.

Bags in the car also contained burglary tools, including work gloves, a pry bar, window punches, license plate covers, and an electronic jamming device that can be used to block wireless signals to deactivate residential home-security alarm systems. Police found false passports, a false driver’s license and an international driver’s permit.

The group of Chileans also used short-term rentals in Seattle, Washington and Carlton, Oregon. A later search of a short-term rental in Oregon recovered bags of gold jewelry, diamonds and wristwatches, plus more burglary tools, said the FBI.

“To disrupt these fast-moving, well-traveled crime networks, it often takes strong collaboration and state-of-the-art technology. Thankfully, we have both,” said Port Authority Police Superintendent Edward Cetnar. “By working together and leveraging our advanced technology, including CCTV and ALPR systems, we were able to track these subjects across state lines."

“We allege these men and women ransacked houses here in New Jersey and the East Coast, and then quickly traveled across the country, stealing over one hundred thousand dollars in valuables from private homes," said Driscoll of the FBI Newark field office. "We put in a tremendous amount of hard work with incredible partner agencies from here to Oregon. We caught this group — and a warning to others, this doesn’t end here.”