EXCLUSIVE INVESTIGATION: How Crews of 'Burglary Tourist' Chilean Master Criminals are Invading U.S. to Plunder Star Athletes' Mansions During Games
Star athletes have been put on high alert.
Aug. 14 2025, Published 7:50 p.m. ET
Joe Burrow had no idea his jewelry collection was vanishing as he sent a 40-yard touchdown spiraling through the air.
"It's like completely messed up," model and influencer Olivia Ponton, 22, told police in a 911 call that night as she described the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback's ransacked Ohio home – and her horror is part of a new crime epidemic, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Crime Details Exposed
Thieves reportedly stole $300,000 in jewelry from his Ohio home.
The Burrow home heist was carried out on December 9, 2024. Burrow, 28, was in Arlington, Texas, playing the Dallas Cowboys.
Just an hour earlier, police say, a Chilean burglary crew calling themselves lanzas internacionales had slipped in through a window, heading straight for the master bedroom.
They left with roughly $300,000 in diamond pendants, gold chains, luxury watches, and sunglasses – including the quarterback's diamond 'JB9' necklace, once proudly worn after Cincinnati's 2022 AFC North victory.
These were no ordinary burglars.
Law enforcement officials are classifying the suspects as part of a sophisticated network of Chilean "burglary tourists" – young thieves who fly in under the U.S. visa waiver scheme, time their heists to athletes' game schedules, and target sprawling, secluded properties.
They allegedly struck at least six other sports stars in late 2024, including Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis Jr., Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
The gang targeted other professional athletes across the U.S.
According to police files, the gangs research properties from aerial maps, avoid guard dogs with pepper spray, block security cameras with $3,000 signal jammers, and communicate via walkie-talkie, leaving phones behind to avoid tracking.
They dress identically, in either all black or all white, with baseball caps and masks.
Only master bedrooms and adjacent closets are searched – cash, jewels, handbags, and watches taken, while electronics are ignored.
Detectives say the gang that hit Burrow fled 1,100 miles to a safe house near Orlando, Florida.
Photos later recovered showed them brazenly posing with 21 pieces of jewelry, one suspect wearing six necklaces, and two luxury watches on a single wrist.
Their downfall came after investigators in Ohio cross-referenced cell tower pings with license plate reader data from multiple heists, eventually zeroing in on three suspect phones.
Four weeks after the Burrow burglary, the crew returned to Ohio and was tailed by state agents. They were arrested outside a Dayton hotel, allegedly carrying burglary tools and disguises.
Police tracked the suspects using phones and license plates.
Among them was Bastian Morales, 23, from La Legua, a tough Santiago neighborhood with barred windows, stray dogs, and a deep cultural history of petty theft.
Morales told police they were simply there "to see the snow."
Chilean police intelligence analyst Pablo Zeballos says such international crews adapt quickly.
"When the Chilean delinquent sees an opportunity others are developing, he arrives and perfects the technique," he said.
The tradition dates back to the 1940s, when Chilean pickpockets worked the Buenos Aires subway.
Modern crews, Morales said, prefer high-value US targets because "the culture of wealth is more in the U.S. – the Americans put the trophy in the living room, and the door is unlocked."
Stealing High-End Items
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Seven Chileans are charged with stealing $2million from homes of stars like Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Joe Burrow.
Funded through shady travel agencies, these operations can net thieves enough in two weeks to live six months in Chile.
Loot is often smuggled back by "camels" wearing gold disguised as belt buckles, or fenced in the US with proceeds wired home in small amounts to avoid detection.
Once home, says Johnny Fica of Chile's Investigations Police, the returning burglars are welcomed like celebrities. "They come back with substantial amounts of money," he said.
"Logically, they are going to share it… to show that, in the other country, all went well with the job."
