A group of Colombian nationals used remote cellphone cameras, illegal Wi-Fi jammers and phony food deliveries to monitor and break into 13 homes in Southeastern Pennsylvania last year, according to Montgomery County officials.
Their crimes, prosecutors wrote in court documents, were far from random — each of the break-ins came after meticulous research, surveillance and planning. And they netted more than $300,000 in stolen cash, jewelry and luxury items.
The 10 members police say are connected to the group conducted their raids in Chester, Montgomery and surrounding counties with precision. They coordinated over text message, swapped stolen license plates on their vehicles to evade detection and off-loaded their pilfered jewelry to fences in New York City almost immediately.
Prosecutors in Norristown unveiled the group’s operations this month in court as four of its members, including its ringleader, pleaded guilty to racketeering, theft and related crimes, and were sentenced to state prison for the burglaries at homes in Lower Merion, Abington, West Goshen and other towns.
Roger Pinilla-Pardo, 22, whom coconspirators called “Boss” in text messages, was sentenced to 3 ½ to 10 years in state prison. The resident of Queens, New York, dictated how much to sell the stolen goods for, approving every sale over text message, prosecutors wrote in the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.
Juan Meneses-Munoz, 19, Misael Angel Sanchez, 52, and Juan Manuel Guerrero Acosta, 26, all of Queens, were sentenced to four to 10 years in prison for helping to carry out the burglaries, which occurred between July and December 2024.
Attorneys for the four men did not return calls for comment.
Three other members of the ring are in custody, awaiting trial, and four others are being sought by police.
The group was first identified with the help of cellphone tracking data, through which detectives found that the same phones were present at multiple burglaries.
In December, an alleged member of the ring, Randall Jeremy Aldana Cruz, was pulled over in Delaware County, the affidavit said. Inside the BWM he was driving, detectives found two radios, a Wi-Fi jammer and burglary tools.
Aldana Cruz, 20, is awaiting trial in Montgomery County on burglary and related charges, court records show.
Data from Aldana Cruz’s cellphone showed he was on his way to target a home in Media when he was taken into custody.
His phone also illustrated to detectives exactly how the ring carried out the burglaries.
The group, prosecutors said, specifically targeted Asian families that owned businesses in the region, under the belief that they would have stockpiles of cash in their residences.
Using publicly available tax-assessment data, the group would identify the families that owned businesses in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs, and would track the families to their personal residences.
There, the group would use cellphones as makeshift surveillance cameras, hiding them in shrubbery or grass. One homeowner, in Allentown, thwarted a potential robbery by discovering one of these hidden cameras and turning it over to police, the affidavit said.
Other times, members of the group would pose as food-delivery drivers and knock on the victim’s door, claiming they had gotten the wrong address.
Prosecutors said the group is also tied to burglaries in other parts of the country, including Kentucky and Northern New Jersey.
