Seven South American gang members — including four Colombian nationals — accused of using brazen tactics to rob unsuspecting homeowners across Los Angeles, including during break-ins with terrified residents still inside, have been arrested.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman hosted a press conference Wednesday where he described the crime spree and main offenders taken down by the LAPD.
Chilean national Kevin Diaz was hit with 18 felony charges after allegedly trying to rob a home on May 4 while a family of four was inside the Rexford Drive residence, Hochman announced.
The resident heard a loud crash and saw a man on surveillance video smashing through the back door with a heavy object. The homeowner ran upstairs, locked himself in a bathroom and called 911, according to Hochman.
When LAPD arrived, Diaz, 22, was still inside the home and fled on foot. Footage shown at the press conference, which also included LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell and Sheriff Robert Luna, captured Diaz running down the sidewalk with stolen items.
Police set up a perimeter and arrested him. Hochman said investigators later linked Diaz to 17 other burglaries dating back to January 2025. Diaz faces up to 26 years in prison and is believed to be part of a sophisticated burglary ring targeting Angelenos.
“They are crews that are an international enterprise,” McDonnell told The California Post. “Many of these individuals are coming in on tourist Visas for 90 days exploiting the visas and then if they get caught they bail out, and go back to the country they came from,” he added.
They are also using sophisticated tactics. Luna presented hidden cameras made to look like greenery and “a jammer” which is a device “suspects carry to jam your camera system and other wifi devices connected to the cloud,” Luna said.
Representatives from The Ventura County Police and Sheriff’s departments were also on hand.
Hochman made it clear that all entities have been working closely together which led to the arrest of three South Americans that were robbed a home on the 24000 Block of Mathew Street in Newhall with a UHaul.
Owen Rivera Chacon, 26, Christopher Sanchez 26, and Edison Bioka, 27 were all taken into custody for that incident. During the investigation, detectives recovered U.S. currency, jewelry, a luxury handbag, a Wi-Fi jamming device, gloves and other burglary tools.
Mayoral hopeful Spencer Pratt has been very vocal about residential burglaries, and on Saturday held an event in Sherman Oaks addressing crime and other issues.
Before the event, Pratt fired off a blistering public safety message, accusing city leaders of pointing to falling crime statistics, while ignoring what residents are experiencing on the streets.
“It’s easy to say crime is down when you simply stop responding to crimes,” Pratt wrote in a social media post.
When asked if the crackdown had anything to do with the Mayoral race, Luna was passionate about law enforcement’s actions.
“If you turn on the news tonight or you did last night, the first five or six stories are usually about a residential burglary, And there’s a lot of people who say, where are the police? This is a reminder that this is what we came here to do today is to remind everybody that our people are working 24-7, seven days a week, 365 days a week, and we’re hitting this hard,” the Sheriff said.
Hochman says this isn’t political and had a tough message for the South American gangs.
“If you want to come here and steal from us, if you want to come here and break into our houses, if you want to come in here and scare and traumatize our families, let me assure you where you will spend some time in our jails and our prisons,” he said.
