HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Houston police have arrested 20 people in connection with a South American burglary ring and recovered $4 million in stolen property, according to investigators.
The ring is believed to be responsible for more than 60 home break-ins across the Houston area, including seven in West University Place.
Eyewitness News has learned HPD’s Westside Crime Suppression Team took one of the “major players” into custody last month.
Chilean national Patricio Munoz and his wife, Tania Barra, were arrested Jan. 28.
Investigators said the couple was funding and directing many of the break-ins. Munoz was previously charged and sentenced in Los Angeles for the 2022 break-in of then-Congresswoman Karen Bass’ home.
The FBI has linked the same Chilean burglary ring to break-ins at the homes of professional athletes in Ohio, Wisconsin, and Kansas.
In Houston, Munoz allegedly was selling jamming devices to a separate Colombian burglary ring.
The devices, which are illegal under federal law, can interfere with home security systems and other wireless communications.
West University Place police said they found a jamming device on Chilean burglary suspect Ignacio Castillo Contreras during a break-in last year.
“It’s sending out a really strong signal to overwhelm the signal of your security cameras, your alarm system, your cell phones,” Nigel Neilsen, who runs the IT firm Idealtek, said.
When Munoz and Barra were arrested last month, they were initially booked on charges of tampering with government records.
Munoz had a fake Mexican passport and fraudulent car title, according to court records, while Barra is alleged to have used a fake Argentinian ID to rent an apartment.
Days later, Munoz was charged with the Oct. 4 burglary of a home in a gated Royal Oaks neighborhood.
Investigators said he broke in through a window after jumping a fence and then pried open a safe and stole four watches, each worth thousands of dollars.
When police searched his apartment, they said they found watches, jewelry, and other pricey items. In his child’s bedroom, they said they found pry bars and a jamming device.
While the tampering charges against Munoz and Barra were later dropped, Munoz currently faces the burglary charge, and Barra is being held on a warrant out of Pennsylvania.
Both are also wanted by federal immigration authorities.
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