Four men have been indicted in Ohio and are accused of breaking into multimillion-dollar homes. The arrests appear to be linked to the Dec. 9 break-in to Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow’s home during Monday Night Football, though authorities have declined to explicitly make that connection.
Law enforcement found an LSU shirt and Bengals hat during a search of the suspects’ car in Clark County, Ohio, which the probable cause affidavit says officers believe are connected to the break-in at Burrow’s home. Some of the men had previously been identified by investigators as possible suspects for the Burrow burglary based on cellphone tracking and surveillance footage of a car and duffel bag, the document says.
Jordan Francisco Sanchez, Alexander Esteban Huaiquil-Chavez, Bastian Alejandro Morales, and Sergio Andres Cabello face charges of participating in a criminal gang, engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, and possessing criminal tools, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced Tuesday. All four were arrested Jan. 10 and sent to Clark County Jail, where they are still being held. They were indicted by a Clark County grand jury Tuesday. (The affidavit also listed a charge of obstructing official business, but that was not included in the indictment.) On a five-point scale from least to most severe felony violations in Ohio, one charge is the least severe, another is the second-least severe, and the third is the most severe.
Burrow is one of several NFL and NBA players who experienced home break-ins throughout the fall, particularly while they were at a game. Mike Conley, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Bobby Portis Jr., Linval Joseph, and mother of Jaylen Brown, and Luke Dončić have all been impacted.
Special Agent Doug Eveslage saw the four men leaving a La Quinta Inn in Fairborn, Ohio, and along with highway patrol, pulled them over for a lane violation, according to the affidavit. Three of the four men presented fake identification and their car smelled like marijuana, and the special agent found two drilling tools he believed could help break glass and enter homes, the document says.
Police called one of the phone numbers identified in the investigation, and a phone belonging to Sanchez started ringing, according to the affidavit. That phone number had previously been tracked to the area near Burrow’s home on Dec. 9, and also in Miami on Dec. 11, the affidavit says. Morales had been spotted in surveillance footage at a McDonald’s in Miami on Dec. 11 getting out of a different car that was known to have been near Burrow’s house on Dec. 9, the affidavit reads. Morales had been carrying a green duffel bag in Miami, and Chavez was carrying a similar bag leaving the La Quinta—which tipped off agent Eveslage, according to the affidavit.
The four men are from Chile and believed to be in the U.S. illegally or overstaying their approved permits, the affidavit says. The investigation is ongoing.
