INDIANAPOLIS — A million-dollar, cross-country crime spree ended in Marion County last month, authorities said.
According to court documents, it started in California, where suspect Sebastian Marcelo Orlando Briones Tapia is alleged to have stolen, with several accomplices, $132,000 in merchandise from a Vallejo, California, store. Police said they drove off in a silver Dodge van with no license plates.
Then in June, there was a burglary in Charlottesville, Virginia. Three men in a white van with no registration tried concealing themselves while they cut a hole in the metal door, stealing $75,000 worth of goods before tripping an alarm and leaving.
Similar crimes happened in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, reports said.
On Aug. 9, Wisconsin police found an abandoned white van with its engine running, similar to one caught on camera in the previous burglaries. Inside, police found clothing, cellphones, a license plate and rental paperwork indicating the van was used by Briones Tapia.
And on Dec. 9, Indianapolis police got a call about a possible robbery at a jewelry store. When they arrived, officers found a man wearing dark clothing in the alley behind the business. Police said he ran but was later found in a laundromat nearby.
He was arrested and charged with attempted burglary and resisting police. An FBI database later linked him to a fingerprint found on the white van spotted at multiple crime scenes.
Later, officials identified Briones Tapia as a citizen of Chile. Records show he used his passport to enter the U.S. in February 2021 before leaving months later, in September, after overstaying his visit. He later told police he had re-entered the country last June by crossing the border in Texas without inspection.
The suspect is the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on a $10,000 bond.