Newark, NJ– A member of a South American theft group was charged with federal crimes after he was caught with a wristwatch that he allegedly stole from an Essex County mall last year, investigators announced Tuesday.
Gustavo Ignacio Salas Ortega, 33, of Chile, and the group scouted the unidentified jewelry store that was located at a mall “in or around Millburn,” before committing the burglary, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of New Jersey.
He and the others entered the store through the ceiling and a hole they cut through an adjacent wall to steal multiple pieces of jewelry, the office said.
When police officers arrived at the business on Oct. 5, they reviewed surveillance footage which showed five people wearing masks, gloves, and some wearing reflective vests near the store while carrying bags and a collapsible ladder, according to a criminal complaint.
Further review of the footage showed some of the men, including Salas Ortega, surveilling and scouting the location of the store on both the day of and the day before the burglary, the complaint stated. He was not wearing a mask and his face was visible in the footage.
On Oct. 14, police, including members of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, detained Salas Ortega in Rochelle Park. They recovered the wristwatch, which he had also been seen wearing in ATM surveillance footage in New York a few days earlier, authorities said.
Detectives determined that the watch, which had been purchased for $10,800, was at the jewelry store for maintenance work, according tot he complaint.
Salas Ortega was charged with one count of conspiracy to receive stolen property that had crossed state lines and one count of receiving stolen property that had crossed state lines, the office said.
“The Joint Organized Crime Task Force has been working tirelessly to apprehend these alleged criminals, following a labyrinth of conspirators that span multiple states,” FBI-Newark Acting Special Agent in Charge Terence G. Reilly said in a statement. “These alleged criminals are part of South American theft groups who have been targeting stores throughout the United States for months.”
Salas Ortega was detained Tuesday after his appearance in federal court in Newark, officials said
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