EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn — In a nice Eden Prairie neighborhood, highlighted by a walking path, the home of Sarah and James Shaser was burglarized on Jan. 9.
"They took jewelry," the Shasers said. "Mainly gold and watches and things like that. They really knew what they were doing."
The Shasers didn't realize it at the time, but they had fallen victim to what metro police departments now believe is a complex burglary ring involving South American suspects that has targeted 60-plus homes across 12 Minnesota cities using sophisticated surveillance and tools like Wi-Fi and cell phone jammers.
Investigators later learned through GPS that the burglars' rental car was parked a couple blocks away where a walking path runs behind the Shasers' home. The couple assumes the thieves scoped out the homes from the path, saw theirs was dark, and figured it would make a good one to target.
The Shasers knew it wasn't an average smash and grab when they saw how the burglars entered.
"It was not a broken window. It was a cut window," the Shasers said. "They cut the window somehow, pulled it out and set it inside, right inside the house."
Then, 10 days later, 1100 miles away, Eden Prairie police learned of an arrest.
"Sometimes you get a break in the case, and this was one of those breaks that really helped us a lot," said Eden Prairie Sgt. Lonnie Soppeland.
A group of four Chilean nationals using fake Argentina IDs was arrested during a burglary in suburban Philadelphia. Radnor Township Police say the youngest suspect, Felipe Sandoval, escaped their custody when he started vomiting in the squad car, loosened his hands from the cuffs, then ran when they let him outside to finish throwing up.
But they charged the other three suspects, Miguel Guzman Pardo, Alejandro Gallardo Sepulveda, and Yanara Venegas Rodriguez, with burglary.
With the help of those Pennsylvania authorities, Eden Prairie police determined Venegas, the female suspect, had a ring belonging to Sarah.
And this Guzman Pardo had left a clear footprint in snow outside the Shasers' window. After being extradited to Hennepin County in August, he pleaded guilty and received his sentence in court on Wednesday. Judge Daniel Moreno gave him a suspended sentence and probation, noting that Guzman Pardo will now be sent to Ohio to face burglary charges there before facing deportation.
Search warrants filed by various Minnesota law enforcement agencies since that January crime Court papers reveal the scope of the investigation into this same group by multiple police departments.
Guzman-Pardo now admits he rented an SUV in Los Angeles on January 2nd.
According to court documents, that SUV with California plates was then tracked using GPS and license plate readers over the next few days near other burglaries in Texas, Oklahoma and Iowa before reaching the Twin Cities on Jan. 9 when the Shaser home was broken into.
Police in Minnetonka, Golden Valley, Chanhassen and St. Louis Park also believed the SUV was connected to burglaries in their cities in that time frame.
After leaving Minnesota, court papers say the rental SUV was traced to burglaries in Chicago, Ohio, then the suburbs of Philadelphia where on January 19th, the suspects were arrested following a series of residential burglaries.
Pennsylvania court documents say inside the vehicle, police found large bags "filled to capacity with items," burglary tools, and a large signal jammer — a device that can disarm surveillance cameras and alarms that rely on Wi-Fi.
As a second wave of these types of burglaries are affecting communities like Medina this fall, the Shasers empathize with the sense of violation other victims are feeling.
"So, my wedding ring of 45 years was sitting by my sink because it needed a diamond replaced in it. They stole that from me," Sarah Shaser said. "So they stole a piece of my heart."
None of Guzman Pardo's co-defendants are charged in Minnesota, and as far as we know, no one has been charged in the latest wave of high-end burglaries.