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AMERICAN FORK — Three people who claim they work for a criminal organization in Chile have been arrested in American Fork and accused of breaking into cars from California to Utah.
On Sunday, American Fork police responded to a car burglary in progress. The car owner then notified emergency dispatchers that the suspects were driving away in another vehicle. Officers responding to the call spotted the vehicle and pulled it over.
"Officers searched the vehicle and located several items that did not appear to belong to the occupants," according to a police booking affidavit. "Plane tickets, financial transaction cards, and documents containing many different names were located inside the vehicle. The names did not match any of the occupants."
The three suspects were taken to the police station for questioning. One of suspects said she met up with one of the others in California "to help break into cars and steal valuable items" and they started their crime spree by renting a vehicle using a fake identification card, the affidavit states.
Police say the group then broke into cars in California, Nevada and St. George before traveling to Utah County.
Another suspect told police "they are all from Chile and they came here with an organization that commits crime in different countries. He stated they have been traveling to different states and breaking into vehicles to steal items of value," according to the affidavit.
During a more thorough search of the suspects' vehicle, detectives found a wallet belonging to a Cedar City resident that was stolen the night before in a car burglary, and the credit cards in it were used to make approximately $2,000 in purchases, according to police.
"While looking through the property located inside the vehicle, officers located a notebook that held a ledger of all of the items they have stolen from vehicles. When asked about the notebook, Luis stated the crime organization put Rayza in charge of keeping track of the stolen items," the affidavit alleges.
Ricardo Antonio Riffo, 52, Rayza Lee Gonzalez Cerda, 30, and Luis Felipe Cerda de la Puente, 31, all from Chile, were each booked into the Utah County Jail for investigation of car burglary, engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity, possessing burglary tools and unlawful acquisition of a bank card. De la Puente was also arrested for investigation of forgery.
