“In the past weeks, charges and indictments have been filed by the U.S. Attorneys' Offices for the Southern District of Ohio and Middle District of Florida, as well as the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office, against these individuals for the same actions and crimes for which they were indicted in Clark County on Jan. 21 of this year,” he said.
A Clark County grand jury indicted the four men earlier this year on engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, participating in a criminal gang and possessing criminal tools, according to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
Investigators found an old LSU shirt and a Bengals hat they believed to have been taken in a Dec. 9 Hamilton County burglary, according to court documents. The documents do not specifically name Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, but as this newspaper previously reported, his home was robbed that day, and he has played football for both LSU and the Bengals.
All four of men, along with three others not connected to the burglary at Burrow’s house, are also facing federal charges tied to several other burglaries, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Sara Sweeney in Florida.
According to Sweeney’s office, the men targeted high profile athletes in the NFL and NBA, all of whom were away or playing in professional games while their homes were burglarized. The group of Chilean nationals were part of a South American Theft Group that traveled throughout the country.
Federal officials said the group burglarized the homes of two Kansas City Chiefs players on Oct. 5 and 7, and the home of a Tampa Bay Buccaneers player on Oct. 21. After that, they allegedly broke into the Wisconsin home of a Milwaukee Bucks player on Nov. 2, and the home of a Memphis Grizzlies player on Dec. 19 and 20.
Driscoll said, “As Hamilton County and the Federal Government are better equipped to handle the heavy economic toll of housing and prosecuting these individuals and the victims of all of their alleged crimes reside outside of this jurisdiction, I believe the case should be prosecuted elsewhere.”
The seven men were charged in Florida federal court with orchestrating burglaries at the homes of the several prominent professional athletes around the country, according to the Associated Press.
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, and the FBI, Ohio State Highway Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations are also helping.
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