The December 2024 burglary at the Ohio home of Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has recently sparked two waves of arrests. And one member of law enforcement believes it’s just the start.
“These individuals seem to be the alleged tip of the iceberg,” U.S. attorney Kenneth Parker told the Associated Press.
Last month, four Chilean nationals were arrested for the Burrow heist, which allegedly resulted in more than $300,000 in property being stolen. More recently, authorities arrested two alleged fences in New York — and uncovered allegedly stolen items in a New Jersey storage unit.
While most criminal enterprises are brought down from the bottom up, the possibility that the alleged fences had items from other thefts (potentially including items taken from the homes of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce) could allow investigators to work down to the bottom before working up collectively to one or more masterminds of the crime ring.
The masterminds could be the alleged fences. By creating a cash market for items stolen from high-profile athletes: (1) who are likely to have expensive things in their homes; and (2) who have a publicly-known travel schedule associated with their employment, groups that smash and grab and flee will have a clear profile for their victims.
And to the extent that the groups are using common techniques for evading cameras and gaining access, someone is presumably coordinating all of it. It’s quite possibly the fences, who might have taught the burglars how to do what they’ve done. With the overriding goal of buying the stolen items low and re-selling them high.
It’s still early. But they call it organized crime for a reason. And it appears that the authorities are in the process of learning plenty about the possible extent of this specific organization of alleged criminals and its alleged crimes.
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