Seven men from Chile have been arrested in connection with a series of burglaries at NFL and NBA players’ homes across the country, authorities announced Tuesday.
The men were tied to break-ins at the homes of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs, Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals and Bobby Portis of the Milwaukee Bucks, the Justice Department said.
Though the feds did not specifically identify the players, the details of the burglaries matched previous reports. The burglary crew also allegedly hit players with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Memphis Grizzlies, whose identities have not been publicized.
Pablo Zuniga Cartes, 24; Ignacio Zuniga Cartes, 20; Bastian Jimenez Freraut, 27; Jordan Quiroga Sanchez, 22; Bastian Orellano Morales, 23; Alexander Huiaguil Chavez, 24, and Sergio Ortega Cabello, 38, were identified as the suspects and charged with trafficking stolen goods.
Quiroga Sanchez, Orellano Morales and Ortega Cabello were previously arrested in connection with the Dec. 9 burglary at Burrow’s Cincinnati home.
The burglaries began with break-ins at Mahomes and Kelce’s residences in the Kansas City area in October and concluded with the robbery of a Grizzlies player in mid-December, the feds said.
At every location, the crew knew the athletes would not be home because they were busy playing games at the time, according to the feds. The crew would either break in through a window or use a crowbar to open a sliding door, investigators said.
