An indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in New Haven, Connecticut has charged seven people for their alleged involvement in an organized jewelry theft ring that targeted mall-based stores and kiosks across the country. One of the locations was in Horseheads on April 18th of this year.
The indictment was returned on July 16, 2024, and partially unsealed last week.
44-year-old Edixon Puentes, formerly of Los Angeles, California, was arrested on July 17 in Queens, New York, and Harold Cagua, also known as “Gordo,” 40, of Miami, Florida, and Yesenia Rincon, of Kissimmee, Florida, were arrested on July 18. Puentes and Ramirez Cagua are detained, and Melendez Rincon is released to home confinement with location monitoring. A fourth defendant, Jorge Escobar Gonzalez, of Kissimmee, Florida, was previously detained in Florida on preexisting state charges but is now in federal custody. The three remaining defendants are currently being sought by law enforcement and their identities remain under seal.
As alleged in court documents and statements made in court, from May 2023 through April 2024, Ramirez Cagua, Rincon Puentes, Melendez Rincon, Escobar Gonzalez, and others burglarized jewelry stores and kiosks in malls and then transported the stolen property or the proceeds from it across state lines. The co-conspirators burglarized jewelry establishments at the Connecticut Post Mall in Milford, Connecticut, on October 5, 2023; in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, on October 27, 2023; in Henrico, Virginia on November 4, 2023; and in Horseheads, New York, on April 18, 2024. The total losses from these burglaries exceed $1.28 million. Members of the conspiracy cased additional jewelry stores and kiosks in Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Delaware.
The indictment charges Ramirez Cagua, Rincon Puentes, Melendez Rincon, and Escobar Gonzalez each with one count of conspiracy, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years, and one count of interstate transportation of stolen property, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.
This ongoing investigation is being conducted by the FBI New Haven’s Transnational Organized Crime Task Force with the assistance of the Milford (Conn.) Police Department, the Hamilton Township (N.J.) Police Division, the Delaware State Police, the Henrico County (Va.) Police Division, the New York State Police, the New York Police Department, and the Pensacola (Fla.) Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David T. Huang and Conor M. Reardon.
