7 suspects charged in connection with crime ring that stole $1.5M from churches in 14 states
Authorities in Georgia have arrested more suspects connected to a crime ring that is believed to have stolen approximately $1.5 million from churches in over a dozen states, bringing the total number of suspects arrested to seven.
The Fayette County Sheriff's Office recently arrested Houston, Texas, residents Eduardo Antelo-Gonzalez, 36; Dayani Antelo-Gonzalez, 38; and Jose Leyva-Guerrero, 36; and Tampa, Florida, resident Pedro Ramirez-Camillo, 30.
Last month, deputies arrested Houston residents Roberto Toboso-Morodo, 31, Mayrelis Rodrigues-Roldan, 32, and Arian Ochoa-Agular, 32, for their alleged involvement in the robberies.
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Ten more suspects are still wanted by authorities, Fox 5 Atlanta reported on Monday, with the seven arrested suspects being charged with violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
According to authorities, the crime ring operated out of Houston but stole donations from churches in 14 states across the Midwest, Southeast and California.
The crime ring is alleged to have raided church mailboxes for donation checks, taking approximately $154,000 in donation checks from 36 churches in Fayette County alone.
The ring primarily operated during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, when most churches were not holding in-person worship, and many church members would send donations to church mailboxes instead.
Fayette County Sheriff Barry Babb told Fox 5 that many people, "especially some of our elderly," were mailing their checks to churches during the pandemic.
"Probably, some of these churches might not have even been open during that time, and these checks were piling up," Babb said.
"So, they knew that when they hit a mailbox, which in most of these cases the mailboxes were not secure mailboxes, and they were able to take the mail."
After stealing the checks from the church mailboxes, the crime ring would cash them at bank ATMs located in Houston, reported Fox 5.
This is not the only crime ring to hit church mailboxes for donations. Authorities in Florida arrested four individuals last year from a group of six who stole approximately $740,000 of donations from church mailboxes.
According to police, the Florida group stole over 1,500 checks from 636 churches operating out of Orlando. The thieves would wire the money to their native county, Romania.
"This low-tech yet well-organized effort to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of mailed-in charitable donations — at a time when donations may have been most needed — has been stopped," Commissioner Rick Swearingen of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said in a statement last year.
