Four South American nationals have been charged with burglary after they allegedly used construction equipment to cut through the walls of two Aspen businesses to break into a luxury watch store.
The men from Peru, Argentina and Chile were arrested in Vail on Nov. 11 and may be connected to a “South American Theft Gang” in which people enter the U.S. on short-term visas, create webs of false identities and target high-end retail stores, Aspen police said in an arrest affidavit.
Aspen police officers responded to a shopping complex in the 600 block of East Cooper Avenue just before midnight on Nov. 10 after a burglary alarm went off at the Avi & Co watch store.
Officers initially didn’t find anything out of place, but, when a second burglary alarm went off in the watch store around 1:30 a.m., police noticed a ladder inside the art gallery next door had been moved and began investigating.
Investigators discovered someone had cut holes through the drywall of a vacant restaurant to get into the art gallery and cut through the art gallery walls to get into the back room of Avi & Co., where they unsuccessfully tried to pry open a safe, according to the affidavit.
This is the third burglary spree under investigation in Colorado this month.
