Seven defendants face charges in federal court, accusing a Santa Clarita Valley man of organizing a “crime tourism” group that targeted businesses and private homes across Southern California and elsewhere and then laundered millions of dollars in illicit proceeds, officials said Wednesday.
The indictment, unsealed in federal court in Los Angeles, accuses the defendants – six of whom were arrested Wednesday in a series of raids in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties – of several serious crimes, including wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and arranging transactions to evade financial reporting requirements.
“These criminals conducted a burglary operation with a sophistication that rivals Amazon's, and instead of sending out delivery drivers, they dispatched trained thieves across Southern California to steal where we should be safest – our homes,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement.
The criminal tourism groups are criminals from abroad who come to a city and commit burglaries, shoplifting and other crimes, federal prosecutors explained.
At a press conference downtown announcing the charges and arrests, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she was aware of groups of such thieves operating throughout the city.
“Make no mistake, this is not the end of our work, it continues,” she said. “And recently I met with residents from the valley, from Brentwood, Encino, and I have to tell you that these neighborhoods are scared and terrorized by what has happened. We, along with our partners, have increased crime-fighting efforts in these areas and will continue those efforts because, of course, the goal of all of us is to make our communities safer.”
According to the indictment, Juan Carlos Thola-Duran, 57, of Canyon Country, and his partner, Ana Maria Arriagada, 41, controlled and operated Driver Power Rentals, a Van Nuys-based car rental and dealership business. Arriagada was the registered owner of DPR.
From around January 2018 until last month, Thola-Duran allegedly conducted a criminal tourism operation that involved luring groups from South America to various parts of the United States to commit thefts, including shoplifting, burglaries of homes and businesses, and the theft of victims' credit and debit cards, according to the 46-count indictment.
Thola-Duran and Arriagada allegedly instructed criminals who had stolen credit cards to immediately go to stores such as Target, Best Buy and Home Depot and maximize the value of the stolen cards by purchasing electronics, gift cards, designer handbags and other high-end luxury items before the stolen cards could be canceled, the indictment states.
Thola-Duran then arranged for the thieves to deliver the stolen goods to DPR employees or to mail the products to other accomplices, including defendant Miguel Angel Barajas, 57, of Northridge, or to conspirators at a FedEx store in Sherman Oaks, prosecutors allege.
At Thola-Duran's direction, defendants Barajas, John Carlo Thola, 33, of Canoga Park, and others picked up the packages and delivered them to Thola-Duran and other conspirators, with Thola-Duran acting as a fence and purchasing the goods at a fraction of their retail value, the indictment states.
Federal prosecutors allege that the Santa Clarita man sold approximately $5.5 million worth of the stolen goods to other buyers during the conspiracy, including $5.1 million that was transferred to various bank accounts of accomplices.
The defendants are accused of using the proceeds from the thefts to purchase assets such as real estate and horses and structuring cash withdrawals so that banks do not have to report transactions over $10,000 to the U.S. Treasury.
The indictment alleges that from May 2020 to June 2021, Thola-Duran, Arriagada and others also conspired to fraudulently obtain $274,998 in COVID-19 business relief loans.
If convicted, the defendants face decades in a federal prison.
