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Seven people have been accused of being part of a multi-state burglary ring that mostly targeted the homes of Asian business owners in Oregon and Washington and has led to a loss of at least $60,000 in stolen property, federal prosecutors said. The crew drove from state to state in four cars and stayed in Airbnbs while members surveilled potential victims and struck when they were not home, according to a federal affidavit. The suspects communicated during the break-ins on a 7-way WhatsApp call, posted lookouts and scrambled security camera footage with wifi jammers as they ransacked homes, Assistant U.S. Attorney William McLaren wrote in a detention memo. One of the alleged leaders, Derinson Martinez-Grandas, and accomplices ran into the woods when local police and federal agents arrived to search an Airbnb rental home in Eugene last month, the memo said. Martinez-Grandas, 34, is one of the seven people accused of conspiracy to transmit stolen property. He made his first appearance in federal court in Eugene on Thursday. Two of the seven are in federal custody; the other arrest occurred in Arizona. “He and his group targeted members of vulnerable communities to take advantage of their time away doing honest work,” McLaren wrote. McLaren submitted to a federal magistrate judge a statement from one of the victims, an unnamed woman, as he argued for Martinez-Grandas’ continued detention pending trial. In the statement, the woman described how she was devastated that her parents, who spend long days working as business owners, were “taken advantage of.” The statement did not identify where the family lived or when the break-in occurred. “This systematic targeting of Asian business owners didn’t just affect my family, our possessions, and personal feelings of safety. It affects all the people who care so much about us and disrupts a sense of normalcy for us all,” the woman wrote. Members of the alleged criminal ring are Colombian citizens who drove a Ford Escape, a Kia Sportage, a Honda Civic and a Lexus RX, all with California plates. They were found to have traveled from California, through Nevada and Idaho and into Washington and Oregon, where they stayed in short-term Airbnb rentals, the detention memo said. One of Martinez-Grandas’ first detected Airbnb reservations was from Sept. 30 to Oct. 6 in Tumwater, Wash., followed by an overlapping reservation in Eugene from Oct. 5 through Oct. 10. He and his crew are accused of breaking into multiple homes in Auburn, Wash., and Salem and Eugene during that period, the memo said. About 5:50 p.m. on Oct. 3, burglars shattered a back sliding door of a single-family home in Auburn that belonged to a man who owns a jewelry store with his son in Kent, Wash. On phones seized from two men in the alleged crew, detectives found photos of the burglarized residence and evidence that at least one member of the crew had tagged the locations of the father’s business and home on a mapping application and had taken photos of the jewelry business and its operating hours, according to McLaren’s memo. Two days later, Martinez-Grandas’ vehicle arrived in Eugene, where he and alleged accomplices stayed in a rental home on Skyline Boulevard. In Eugene, they struck the home of a family that operates an Asian restaurant in the city, stealing thousands of dollars in cash, as well as jewelry, luxury bags, passports and travel documents, the memo said. By Oct. 9, Eugene police were conducting surveillance of Martinez-Grandas and his alleged conspirators as the crew traveled from Eugene to Salem and Corvallis. In Salem, the crew shattered a back window of a Salem home belonging to an Asian family that owns and operates a nail salon, making off with cash, jewelry and women’s bags, according to the memo. Police obtained a warrant to search the Skyline Boulevard rental in Eugene and found bags containing pearls and gold jewelry, stacks of U.S. cash and Asian currency, watches, purses, wallets and designer bags, McLaren wrote. They also found receipts from money wires to Bogota, Colombia, and various travel documents from Colombia, according to a federal affidavit in support of the criminal complaint. Eugene police initially arrested Martinez-Grandas but he was released on bail when a colleague flew up from California and paid $10,000, or 10% of his bail, according to McLaren. At that time, Martinez-Grandas told Eugene police he was not aware of any criminal activity and worked as a surveillance camera repair person who “helped his friends get Airbnb reservations” because they were banned due to parties, the detention memo said. After he was released from Lane County Jail on bail, federal officials took him into custody on an immigration hold, before federal charges were filed this week, according to federal prosecutors. In Martinez-Grandas’ car, investigators found detailed handwritten ledgers containing names beside dollar amounts, a box of face masks, a pry bar, and bank statements showing payments and withdrawals of thousands of dollars, according to the memo. The other man arrested, William Estiven Rodriguez-Gaviria, 26, made his first appearance in federal court in Arizona Thursday and was ordered detained as well. “This multi-state operation deliberately targeted hardworking families and struck at the very core of personal safety – the victims’ own homes – instilling fear throughout multiple communities,” said Scott E. Bradford, Oregon’s interim U.S. attorney, in a statement. The FBI and Eugene police are continuing to investigate the case, with help from Salem and Auburn police.
