Law enforcement still grappling with TdA, South American theft group crimes

Audio By Carbonatix

(The Center Square) – Border crisis fallout continues with law enforcement in multiple states still grappling with crimes being committed by men from Venezuela and South American countries. 

Authorities are in the process of extraditing a Venezuelan national and leader of a Tren de Aragua Chilean cell and are continuing to target South American Theft Group members primarily from Chile and Colombia committing a string of burglaries.

From Venezuela to Texas to California to Chile

After directing a string of crimes to be committed in Chile, including extortion, kidnapping and murder, Venezuelan national Rafael Enrique Gamez Salas illegally entered the U.S. under the Biden administration, authorities allege. At the time, the administration had created a new parole program and the greatest number of Venezuelan illegal border crossers were reported in U.S. history of more than one million, The Center Square exclusively reported. The majority were released into the U.S. and not properly vetted, including TdA members, the Trump administration argues.

By December 2024, TdA members were reported to be committing crimes in at least 22 states, The Center Square exclusively reported. TdA is known for violence, murder, kidnapping, extortion, bribery and human and drug trafficking and are linked to hundreds of law enforcement investigations nationwide. The Trump administration was the first to designate TdA as a foreign terrorist organization. The Department of Justice has prosecuted hundreds of its members nationwide.  

One Venezuelan illegal border crosser who wasn’t released into the U.S. was Gamez Salas, the alleged leader of Los Piratas, a TdA Chilean cell. He was first apprehended and deported to Venezuela in 2023. Undeterred, he again illegally reentered the U.S. in Texas, where he was arrested for human smuggling. He was prosecuted by the Val Verde County District Attorney’s Office and convicted last February. 

He was also indicted in the Southern District of Texas for illegally reentering the U.S., a charge to which he pleaded guilty last April while he was serving his prison sentence in the Central District of California. While in prison, he was also served with an extradition warrant at the request of Chilean officials. He is accused of directing multiple extortions, kidnappings and murder on behalf of TdA, relying on money laundering to support subordinates’ efforts to carry out crimes abroad. 

He is wanted by Chilean authorities for his alleged role in a high profile kidnapping and murder of a former Venezuelan military officer in Santiago, Chile, in 2024. After the officer was killed, authorities found his dismembered body “by drilling into the concrete floor of a makeshift dwelling in a housing development, … covered in lime, concealed inside a suitcase, buried in concrete more than three feet deep and sealed beneath a concrete slab,” according to the charges. An autopsy determined he’d been hung and tortured; investigators determined this was ordered by TdA, paid with funds from outside Chile.

He’s also wanted by Chilean officials for an April 2024 armed confrontation that killed a Chilean police officer, for February and June 2024 kidnappings for extortion and for a March 2024 attempted kidnapping, among other offenses.

He is in the process of being extradited by U.S. Marshals in coordination with Central District of California authorities and the DOJ’s Office of International Affairs.

Last September, the U.S. extradited another alleged TdA member, Edgar Javier Benitez Rubio, to Chile. He was also wanted for multiple offenses related to the same kidnapping and murder of the Venezuelan officer. This extradition was handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana. 

From Columbia and Chile to Texas and other states

In Texas, law enforcement officers are still combatting a string of SATG burglaries. In the West University Place neighborhood of Houston, alleged SATG members have burglarized more than 60 homes since January. More recently, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office is still searching for a Hispanic man who has two active warrants and is a person of interest in more than 15 high-end burglary cases targeting gated communities in Montgomery County.

Investigators said he “operates as part of an international organized crime ring responsible for a series of burglaries across the United States, with more recent burglaries occurring in Southeast Texas and surrounding areas.” Authorities are looking for him and his known associates.

The Center Square first reported on the new phenomenon of SATG burglaries occurring nationwide as the border crisis escalated. In late 2023, NFL players’ homes were being increasingly targeted in multiple states. By January 2024, authorities in Texas were responding to a string of SATG crimes from Laredo to Katy.

The transnational criminal enterprise is orchestrated primarily by Columbian and Chilean nationals who either illegally entered the U.S. or exploited a visa program, authorities have found. They primarily commit commercial and residential burglaries, frequently use rental vehicles, rely on fake IDs and documents and use multiple burner phones and signal jammers to evade capture, the FBI explains. They target wealthy communities, sell the stolen goods, send some of the stolen items to Chile or Colombia and wire most of the profits overseas, the FBI says.