Operation Daylight Burglaries: Attorney General’s Office secures prison time, restitution in home burglary ring targeting Asian-American business owners
July 29, 2022 (FORT COLLINS, Colo.)—A Larimer County District Court judge today sentenced Carlos Florez Molina and Santiago Hoyos-Gaviria for conducting and participating in a 2019 home burglary ring that targeted 26 Asian business owners in Colorado and Wyoming.
The statewide grand jury indicted the defendants in July 2020 on 46 counts related to the criminal enterprise. The defendants used a common plan to commit the residential burglaries and theft. They worked together to gather intelligence about Asian businesses and connected the businesses to the owners’ home addresses. One or more members of the criminal enterprise then conducted a daytime or early evening burglary of the homes while the residents were away at work. The burglars often persistently knocked on the door or rang the doorbell before forcing entry through a door or window. Total losses from this crime spree include approximately $1.4 million in stolen cash and jewelry.
During a court hearing on May 25, 2022, Florez Molina pleaded guilty to one count violating the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act (F2) and one count felony theft (F3). Chief Judge Susan Blanco today sentenced him to 18 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections and ordered him to pay restitution. In March 2021, Hoyos-Gaviria pleaded guilty to one count violating the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act (F2). The judge sentenced him to 10 years in the Department of Corrections and ordered him to pay restitution.
A third defendant in the case, Yenny Rodas-Florez, pleaded guilty to a class 2 felony and is scheduled for sentencing on Aug. 16. A fourth defendant, Jhon Florez Molina, remains at large and is believed to be in Colombia.
“I am proud of my department’s hard work to bring justice for the 26 business owners who were the targets of this pernicious home burglary crime ring. These were not random burglaries. All the victims were Asian families who owned local small businesses. These types of targeted crimes can send a chill through a community, and we are committed to holding accountable those who rob others of their personal property and their privacy,” Attorney General Phil Weiser said.
“This was a sophisticated criminal operation where out-of-state networks came to victimize residents in Larimer County and across Colorado. The multi-year effort by the Attorney General’s Office, Fort Collins Police Services, and other partners, to hold these individuals accountable should serve as a signal to other would-be criminal enterprises that we will relentlessly pursue those who target our local communities. I hope today’s sentence brings some measure of closure to the victims and their families across the state and the restitution ordered can begin to make them whole again,” Eighth Judicial District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin said.
The successful prosecution of this case was made possible by the hard work and dedication of the Special Prosecutions Unit of the Criminal Justice Section in the Colorado Department of Law, the Eighth Judicial District Attorney’s Office, and the Property Crimes Unit of Fort Collins Police Services.
The case numbers are Carlos Florez Molina, 20CR2100; Santiago Hoyos-Gaviria, 20CR1500; and Yenny Rodas-Florez, 20CR1506.
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