Four Chilean nationals have been arrested in connection with a string of burglaries of the homes of professional athletes, including Cincinnati Bengals stat QB Joe Burrow.
According to WLWV-TV, four Chilean men, Sergio Cabello, Bastian Morales, Jordan Sanchez, and Alexander Chavez, were pulled over by Ohio State Highway Patrol officers on January 10. All four men presented fake identification cards to the officers.
“All four males were identified as being illegally in the country or overstaying their permissions,” the arrest report read.
The connection to Burrow emerged when officers searched the men’s possessions in their vehicle. Officers found “an old LSU shirt and Bengals hat, believed to be stolen from the December 9, 2024 burglary in Hamilton County, Ohio.” Burrow’s home is located in Hamilton County.
The vehicle search also revealed “two Husky automatic center punch tools wrapped in a cloth towel.” Authorities claim the South American Theft Group has used the center punch tools.
The burglary of Burrow’s home occurred on December 9 while Burrow was in Dallas playing the Cowboys on Monday Night Football.
Authorities were alerted to the break-in by Diane Ponton, whose daughter was in Burrow’s residence at the time.
“Someone is trying to break into the house right now,” Ponton said on the 911 call. “My daughter is there. This is Joe Burrow’s house. She is staying there. He’s at the football game. She’s wondering what she should do, if she should be hiding or if she should go outside.”
Burrow lamented both the burglary and the loss of privacy due to media reporting of the incident.
“So obviously everybody has heard what has happened,” Burrow told reporters. “I feel like my privacy has been violated in more ways than one. And way more is already out there than I would want out there and that I care to share, so that’s all I got to say about that.
“We live a public life, and one of my least favorite parts of that is the lack of privacy. And that has been difficult for me to deal with my entire career. Still learning. But I understand it’s the life that we choose. Doesn’t make it any easier to deal with.”
The arrests jive with an FBI statement claiming that the burglaries of star athletes are the work of a South American crime syndicate. The burglary spree has targeted high-profile players while away from their homes during games.
So far, the spree has hit the homes of Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, Burrow, Mavericks star Luka Doncic, and Penguins star Evgeny Malkin.
