Winnebago County home invasion, burglary: Victims own jewelry stores
WINNEBAGO COUNTY, Wis. - The Winnebago County Sheriff's Office is investigating a home invasion and burglary that occurred on May 1 in the Town of Algoma. It happened in the area of Oakwood Road and Omro Road between the hours of 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.
According to the sheriff's office, on May 1 around 1:50 p.m. a suspicious vehicle described as a new model Toyota Highlander, silver or light gray in color, believed to be displaying Louisiana plates, parked at the end of the cul-de-sac, just west of the victim's residence.
The victims say they spotted the vehicle and driver as they were leaving their house. They described the driver as a male, possibly black or Hispanic, with very short hair/shaved hair, in his 30s.
Their residence was burglarized shortly after they left the house. Upon returning, the victims found that someone had entered through the rear patio door of the residence. They found that the suspect(s) had entered the upstairs master bedroom and ransacked it. They located their small safe, which had been pried open, and they are now missing a large amount of cash and jewelry valued at over $100,000. Also, a Louis Vuitton purse was stolen from inside the safe which contained $5,000 cash.
"Of notable interest, the victims are Asian and own two jewelry stores and also manufacture jewelry inside the home," said the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office.
It is believed the Toyota Highlander driver was the getaway driver and lookout.
The Winnebago County Sheriff's office says a criminal network has been identified, working in the US, targeting Asian Jewelry store owners by following them home and burglarizing the homes.
The Winnebago County Sheriff's Office says they have gathered intelligence that this is stemming back to at least 2020, from multiple incidents documented in a bulletin released by the Douglas County Sheriff of Omaha, Nebraska. They have had numerous burglaries where at least two to three Hispanic males and one female were involved in six different incidents in their jurisdiction, burglarizing homes in the same manner and targeting the same items.
SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News
They identified their suspects as operating out of Houston, Texas and are originally from Honduras.
"The suspects are sophisticated, minimizing cellphone use, also using Wi-Fi disabling equipment so WiFi-based cameras do not detect them on video. Two Wi-Fi based Ring doorbell cameras were disabled during the act of the burglary and no video was captured whatsoever. The suspects have been identified as staying at Hampton Inns. Coincidentally, the jewelry store in our jurisdiction is positioned directly next door to a Hampton Inn," said Winnebago County Sheriff's Office.
The Winnebago County Sheriff's Office says they discovered the state of Massachusetts also broke up a ring practicing in the same exact manner, targeting Asian jewelry store owner's residences in 2018 and indicted multiple individuals on 95 counts of home invasion burglaries.
