Three men who are alleged to be part of a theft group from South America were indicted Wednesday in the break-in at Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow’s home, prosecutors in Ohio said.
The three men, all from Chile, were arrested on state charges in Ohio late last month in connection with the break-in, which was discovered at the home in Hamilton County on Dec. 9.
Burrow was in Texas at the time, leading the Bengals to a 27-20 win over the Dallas Cowboys.
Jordan Francisco Quiroga Sanchez, 22; Bastian Alejandro Orellana Morales, 23; and Sergio Andres Ortega Cabello, 38; were indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury. They are charged federally with transporting stolen goods interstate and falsifying records in a federal investigation.
“Our investigation remains ongoing as these individuals seem to be the alleged tip of the iceberg of South American Theft Groups committing crimes throughout our district and elsewhere,” Kenneth L. Parker, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, said in a statement.
An FBI affidavit filed with a criminal complaint Monday says investigators found photos in Cabello’s phone showing items stolen in the burglary and of the three men posing together with another man.
Burrow’s name is not spelled out in court documents, but the victim is referred to as “J.B., an NFL player for the Cincinnati Bengals.” Using initials in a criminal complaint is not unusual.
The date and time the break-in was discovered as laid out in the indictment matches a Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office incident report that does name Burrow — and Burrow himself acknowledged that his home was broken into and said he felt violated, including by the information that was out in the public.
“So, obviously everybody has heard what has happened. I feel like my privacy has been violated in more ways than one,” Burrow said Dec. 11, two days after the break-in. “And way more is out than I would want out there and that I care to share.”
The burglary was reported at around 8:14 p.m. on Dec. 9, by an associate of the homeowner who saw disarray and a broken window, the federal prosecutor’s office said.
More than $300,000 in luggage, glasses, wristwatches and jewelry was stolen, an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit as part of a criminal complaint against the three men filed Monday.
A trail camera caught a single person carrying luggage near the home, and nearby license plate readers led to the identification of a suspicious vehicle, a 2024 Volkswagen Atlas SUV, which was later found abandoned in Florida, the FBI agent wrote.
The person who leased that SUV led the FBI to the eventual discovery that Cabello leased it using a fake ID, and then investigators identified Morales from a photo of the pair in the vehicle, the affidavit says.
Cellphone data led to a motel in Fairborn, Ohio, on Jan. 10, and all three men now federally charged were pulled over by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, according to the FBI affidavit.
A fourth man was also arrested and faces state charges. All of them were in the country without authorization, having either entered the county illegally or overstayed their visas, the FBI agent wrote.
Federal online court records did not show attorneys for any of the three men federally charged Wednesday evening.
Two men alleged to be linked to the burglary crew accused in the break-in of Burrow’s home were charged this week in New York with acting as “fences.” A “fencing” operation involves the buying and selling of stolen goods.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn charged Dimitriy Nezhinskiy and Juan Villar with conspiracy to receive stolen property.
Nezhinskiy is alleged to have had contact with at least two members of the group that broke into the home in Ohio on Dec. 9, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
Nezhinskiy and Villar pleaded not guilty in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday.
The U.S. attorney’s office said that Nezhinskiy and Villar operated a pawn shop in Manhattan and that investigators found a large number of stolen items there, as well as more stolen items at storage units in New Jersey.
Prosecutor Michael Maffei said at the men’s arraignment Wednesday that the scheme involved transferring the stolen goods out of the country or selling them.
Maffei estimated the value of the stolen goods found in the storage units at $1.5 million, with a potential to be valued at $5 million when all is tallied.
Nezhinskiy’s attorney, Todd Greenberg, told reporters outside court that he was happy that the judge set bond, although they still have to secure liens and Nezhinskiy was not expected to be released Wednesday.
“It’s just the beginning of the case, as you know,” Greenberg said. “We’re looking forward to seeing the evidence, and we’re going to take it from there and look forward to fighting the case.”
