MINNETONKA, Minn. — With his name recognition, the burglary of Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley's west metro home made headlines.
But now court documents reveal he is just one of 60 victims across 12 metro cities in what police believe is a sophisticated ring targeting high-end homes for jewelry, with the burglars using "cell phone and Wi-Fi jammers, GPS trackers, surveillance cameras and rental vehicles," according to a search warrant affidavit.
These groups are not believed to be local, as the only suspects arrested and charged so far have been South Americans accused of crisscrossing the country, conducting surveillance, getting in and out of these homes in mere minutes — then quickly leaving the state.
"That is really scary," said Nadera, a resident of a Long Lake/Medina neighborhood that's been hit three times recently.
"What's happening is it seems like they know where to go," Nadera said. "That kind of scares me. They're going to the bedroom and getting what they need, jewelry mostly, and I mean, how do they know?"
"Their methods of entry are all pretty similar," said Minnetonka Police Assistant Chief Jason Tait.
Minnetonka had three new incidents last month. In one, the suspects appear in the corner of the victim's doorbell camera.
Tait said they had several last year they linked to a group of Argentina citizens arrested in Pennsylvania.
"Through that investigation, they were able to determine that they arrived in Los Angeles and rented a car there and traveled through the Midwest and across the country doing these burglaries. And they were able to tie it back to different parts of that," Tait said.
Police are working to trace rental cars, and it shows how swiftly the burglars leave the state.
According to one search warrant, the burglar who broke into Conley's home had rented a car in Florida on Sept. 11. That car was seen in Hudson on Sept. 13, in Long Lake on Sept. 14 and Sept. 15, then it was spotted back in Georgia just 17 hours after the burglary of Conley's home.
Court documents show that one Orono homeowner got suspicious of a man driving a car with Texas license plates flying a drone near their home. Police learned that too was a rental car that happened to be parked near the home of Twins owner Jim Pohlad when his Minneapolis home was burglarized last year.