The four men were arrested on Jan. 10 and are being held in the Clark County Jail.
According to court documents, investigators found an old LSU shirt and a Bengals hat they believed to have been taken in a Dec. 9 Hamilton County burglary. The documents do not specifically name Bengals QB Burrow, but as this newspaper previously reported, his home was robbed that day, and he has played football for both LSU and the Bengals.
Last year, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost created the Southwest Ohio Burglary Task Force after a series of break-ins throughout Hamilton County. Multiple Southwest Ohio law enforcement offices are part of the task force.
The FBI, Ohio State Highway Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations are assisting the task force.
According to court documents, on Jan. 10, an agent saw “four male Chileans” leave the La Quinta Hotel in Fairborn, carrying luggage and getting into a black Chevrolet Blazer. After surveilling the vehicle and seeing the driver commit a marked lanes violation, the Ohio State Highway Patrol stopped the vehicle and found the driver, Sanchez, did not have a valid driver’s license. He allegedly showed a fake Argentinian ID card.
Morales and Cabello allegedly also showed fake IDs, and Chavez presented his real driver’s license. According to the probable cause affidavit, all four men were illegally in the country or had overstayed their permissions.
The Highway Patrol found two Husky automatic center punch tools wrapped in a cloth towel behind the glovebox when searching, according to the document. This style of tool is allegedly used by the South American theft group to break glass and enter homes.
The LSU jersey and Bengals hat were also found in the car.
According to the document, one of the agents recognized Morales, who was wearing a blue winter jacket and carrying a Louis Vuitton duffle bag, as the man previously identified as possibly being involved in the Dec. 9 burglary. Two days after the burglary, he was allegedly seen on surveillance footage at a Miami McDonalds leaving a white Volkswagen Atlas that was known to be in the area of that burglary.
The agent also recognized the green canvas duffle bag Chavez carried as similar to one that left the Volkswagen on Dec. 11.
The men allegedly told authorities at the Clark County Sheriff’s Office that they were in Ohio “for vacation to see the snow but did not offer much information to investigator when questioned.”
According to the affidavit, when investigators told the men they knew their true identities, they asked for a lawyer, but Chavez spoke to investigators further. He reportedly said he was visiting the state with the other men and did not know their real names, and said he purchased the glass breaking tool but would not say why.
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