4 Chilean Nationals Charged With Burglary-Related Crimes In Montco

ABINGTON TOWNSHIP, PA — Police in Abington Township took four men from Chile into custody in connection with residential burglaries in the township.

According to police, Alvaro Javier Ganin Ganin, 36, Jorge Fabrizeo Sepulveda Alvarez, 34, Vaster Miller Guajardo Pedrero, 31, and Nicolas Andres Matus Lucero, 29, all of Chile, were apprehended and charged on Friday.

Police said officers stopped a vehicle while conducting surveillance in an area targeted by South American theft groups.

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The stop occurred at 6 p.m. and police found four men, identified as the defendants above, inside it.

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The men claimed to have driven to Pennsylvania from California to visit a friend and were looking for a restaurant. They had either fake ID cards or no identification at all, and they were detained for further investigation, police said.

Authorities found burglary tools — including masks, gloves, flashlights, pry bars, reciprocating saw, and a glass break tool — in their vehicle. They also had photos and GPS navigational directions to specific homes and locations in the Meadowbrook neighborhood that they were casing, police said.

All four suspects were charged with attempted burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary, possessing instruments of crime, and loitering and prowling at nighttime.

"Since 2021, there have been twelve residential burglaries of affluent homes in the Meadowbrook section of Abington, police said in announcing the arrests. "Investigators had linked these burglaries to similar crimes that were being committed in the tri-state area, and throughout the country. The burglaries were being committed by South American Theft Groups, that were entering the US, mostly from Chile and Columbia, and targeting these high-end homes for break-ins. A task force was established, and detectives collected evidence, shared intelligence and studied the specific patterns of these criminal groups."