Fort Bend County, Houston Police Arrest 17 Colombian Nationals in Burglary Ring

RICHMOND, TX -- A Joint Task Force comprised of the Houston Police Department and the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office resulted in the arrest of 17 Colombian nationals who allegedly targeted Asian, Middle Eastern and Pakistani communities in more than 100 burglaries.

The year-long investigation was done in cooperation with the Houston Police Department, which established similarities linked to other burglaries in Houston.

Of the 120 burglaries committed by these men, Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls said 49 of those happened in Fort Bend County.

“This was a very complex investigation leading to these arrests,” Nehls said at a press conference Thursday.

The trend was discovered early last year that burglaries were being committed in communities in Fort Bend, Pearland in Brazoria County, and communities in west Harris County during the evening, as opposed the afternoon hours when most people are at work.

“We found this a little bit strange,” he said.

Those arrested all worked in small groups and all were arrested while they were committing these burglaries and was possible through surveillance once the men were identified.

“These people were pretty sly. They were only focused on jewelry and money,” Nehls said.

Many of the burglaries were focused on the bedrooms, with many of the homes being cased by these individuals.

Once these men were arrested, authorities learned that many of these men had been in the U.S. illegally before, had committed crimes and been deported, only to return again and repeat the same pattern.

One of those was Jhon Alvarado Riascos Valencia, 28, who first came illegally into the U.S. in 2012,was deported and returned again in 2014, to be deported again.

Nehl said Valencia committed crimes each time he was in the U.S. illegally.

Nehl said during one of his previous arrests that Valencia requested political asylum, which was denied.

“If you don’t want to go back to Colombia because you’re concerned about your own safety and security, when you’re over here the last thing you want to do is commit felonies,” Nehls said.

Another of the detainees, identified as Luis Hernando Mosquera Torres, 36, has ties to A Columbian Leftist Terrorists Group known as Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC.

Nehl said that is likely that the 17 all knew each other, but didn’t say how they were networked, how the communicated or how was leading the group.

Four of the 17 suspects are being held in the Fort Bend County Jail under a hold by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and will be held indefinitely.

The 17 suspects who were arrested included: Carlos Alberto Riasco Valencia, 35; Layonel Mosquera Mondragon, 31; Harold Jesus Lerma Mosquera, 43; and Reynaldo Rivera Centeno, 44, Jeferson Caicedo Perlaza, 36; Jhon Zamora Ibarguen, 26; Victor Sanchez-Murillo, 38; Miguel Gamboa Espinosa, 41; Jorge Johan Perea, Moreno, 27; Marving Paredes-Arrechea, 34; Victor Alfonso Ayovi Cuena, 31; Hector Sinisterra, 34; Anderson Rosera Gamboa, 38; Mario Hurtado Galindo, 28; Andres Fong Luna, 38; Torres, and Valencia.

All of those arrested are being held in the Fort Bend County Jail, the Harris County Jail and the Brazoria County Jail

“It was a very thorough investigation that included many man hours” he said. “It was just very good police work.”

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