California “crime tourism” ring worked with South American theft groups and laundered millions, prosecutors say

By Marissa Wenzke

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    LOS ANGELES, California (KCAL/KCBS) — A so-called “crime tourism” ring in Southern California is accused of directing co-conspirators from abroad — often from South America — to fly into the country and commit thefts across the U.S., according to federal prosecutors.

The group allegedly laundered millions of dollars as part of an operation spanning at least six years.

Prosecutors unsealed a 46-count indictment Wednesday listing seven defendants, including six people and a Van Nuys-based rental car agency they allege was used to send thieves out on missions to commit home burglaries and shoplift at retail stores. The defendants face felony charges including money laundering, wire fraud, conspiracy and structuring transactions to avoid federal financial reporting requirements, according to the indictment.

screenshot-20240828-020532.png Defendants accused of taking part in a so-called “crime tourism” ring based in Southern California are pictured. They were indicted in August 2024. U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California “Crime tourism occurs when foreign nationals come to this country for the purpose of committing crimes,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said during a Wednesday news conference, where he was joined by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, FBI officials and leading law enforcement agencies from LA, Ventura and Orange counties.

He said there’s been an increase in recent years in these sorts of crimes, which usually entail thefts of money or property.

“Many of these crime tourists are from South America, more specifically from the country of Chile,” Estrada said, adding that Chile is the only Latin American country you can travel from without a tourist visa, which has an application and vetting process.

While crime tourism is happening across the U.S., the effects are “being felt very acutely in Southern California,” Estrada said. He said home burglaries in the region have “shot up” in the last two years as a result of this organized crime.

“These defendants facilitated and directed crime tourists who committed hundreds of robberies across the country — in essence, they acted as quarterbacks for a team of thieves,” he said in a statement announcing the charges.

Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said in the statement that the case offers “a blueprint for future investigations” amid the spike in crime tourism. Earlier this month, a Columbian national and Venezuelan national described by prosecutors as crime tourists were charged in connection with a $1 million robbery in Beverly Hills that led investigators back to a handgun registered to Christopher Dorner, the late ex-LAPD officer accused of multiple killings.

The alleged crime operation ran from January 2018 to July 2024, with one of the defendants accused of selling stolen items for about $5.5 million during that time including roughly $5.1 million allegedly sent to multiple bank accounts.

Juan Carlos Thola-Duran, 57, is accused of buying stolen items from the theft groups that he and his girlfriend, Ana Maria Arriagada, 41, sent out — later purchasing back these products at just a fraction of their retail value and paying the thieves their own cut, according to federal prosecutors.

Thola-Duran, who lives in Canyon Country with Arriagada, allegedly worked with her in controlling and operating the rental car business Driver Power Rentals. Prosecutors say he goes by “Parcero” and she goes by “Parcera.”

They provided vehicles for the thieves to drive throughout the U.S. and commit crimes, having them use false IDs when renting the cars so it all appeared legitimate, according to federal prosecutors. Arriagada was the registered owner of the business.

“This was no ordinary car rental business,” Estrada said. “This business catered only to crooks.”

He said the defendants would sometimes direct the crime tourists on where to go to commit burglaries and other heists.

When the theft groups stole credit and debit cards from victims, prosecutors say, Thola-Duran and Arriagada would have them go straight to retail stores such as Best Buy, Target and Home Depot to max out the cards on purchases of high-end luxury goods, electronics, gift cards and other items — making these illicit purchases before the cards could be cancelled or frozen.

From there, Thola-Duran would allegedly direct the thieves to either deliver these goods to some of his associates at the rental car business or mail them to other co-conspirators in the crime ring. Two other defendants listed in the indictment — his son, John Carlo Thola, 33, of Canoga Park and Miguel Angel Barajas, 57, of Northridge — would allegedly receive the stolen goods and then deliver them to Thola-Duran and other co-conspirators.

Some co-conspirators at a FedEx store in Sherman Oaks also allegedly received stolen goods as part of the operation.

Once the products were delivered back to him, prosecutors say, Thola-Duran would act as a “fence” in buying them back.

With millions of dollars allegedly laundered in the years-long crime operation, according to federal prosecutors, the defendants purchased assets from real estate properties to stables of horses. They allegedly made structured cash withdrawals, not taking out too large of amounts all at once, so they could avoid having the banks report transactions of more than $10,000 to the U.S. Treasury Department (as required by law).

The federal indictment also alleges that Thola-Duran, Arriagada and some of their other co-conspirators fraudulently obtained COVID-19 business relief loans totaling $274,998 from May 2020 to June 2021.

The other two defendants facing federal criminal charges are Patricia Enderton, who lives in Northridge and owned a company called “MoreLuxe4Less,” and Federico Jorge Triebel IV, a Woodland Hills man who prosecutors say is the father of one of the other defendants.

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