ABINGTON >> Four Chilean nationals were arrested on burglary charges Dec. 8 after an Abington detective on a detail observed a vehicle casing a neighborhood in the Meadowbrook section of the township.
There have been 12 residential burglaries of affluent homes in Meadowbrook since 2021, which had been linked to similar crimes in the tristate area and throughout the country, police said. Investigators determined the burglaries were being committed by South American theft groups entering the United States, mostly from Chile and Columbia, targeting high-end homes, police said.
Detectives in a task force established to investigate the burglaries collected evidence, shared intelligence and studied the specific patterns of the criminal groups, police said.
An Abington detective was conducting surveillance at 6 p.m. Dec. 8 in an area in Meadowbrook targeted by the groups in the past when he spotted a vehicle that appeared to be casing the area, police said. Officers stopped the vehicle, which was occupied by four males who claimed to have driven to Pennsylvania from California to visit a friend and were looking for a restaurant, police said.
The males produced either fraudulent identification cards or had none and were detained for further investigation, police said.
Numerous burglary tools, including masks, gloves, flashlights, pry bars, a reciprocating saw and a glass break tool, were found during a search of the vehicle, police said. The group also had photos and GPS navigational directions to specific homes and locations in the Meadowbrook neighborhood, police said.
Police identified the four suspects as: Alvaro Javier Ganin-Ganin, 36; Jorge Fabrizeo Sepulveda-Alvarez, 34; Vaster Miller Guajardo-Pedrero, 31; and Nicholas Andres Matus Lucero, 29. They were arrested and charged with attempted burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary, possessing instruments of crime, and loitering and prowling at night.
They were arraigned before District Judge Edward Kropp and transported to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in lieu of $99,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 19.
