Mequon police say recent home break-ins connected to South American crime ring

MEQUON, Wis. (CBS 58) - The Mequon Police Department has connected a recent stretch of around a dozen break-ins in the city to a South American crime ring.

The break-ins started late this summer, with burglars targeting homes in cul-de-sacs, dead-ends, and backyards with woods.

Handbags, cash, and jewelry were the main items taken in the robberies.

“An agency in Florida reached out to us, told us they took some people into custody, and they have a connection to that they were in our area, believed to be committing burglaries,” Mequon Police Captain John Hoell said. “These individuals were connected to a South American crime ring.”

Hoell says the most recent break-in happened on Friday, Nov. 14, and was reported to the department on Monday.

“They’re not going away right now, but we’re doing everything in our power, and other agencies around us, to bring this to a close,” Hoell said.

Krishna Pandey lives in Mequon and says his neighbor’s house was broken into, and he saw the burglars on a neighbor’s camera.

“This is very scary,” Pandey said. “I’ve been living in Mequon for almost 20 years, and I’ve felt very safe all this time.”

Police are urging people to be more aware and to keep an eye on anything suspicious.

“Burglaries are not an uncommon thing, we have burglaries, but not to this extreme that we can connect this many together and connect this many together with other agencies. That’s the concerning part,” Hoell said.

Pandey and others say they are taking extra precautions trying to stay alert.

“We are more vigilant, we try to lock all the doors and everything,” Pandey said.

Hoell says the home break-ins are similar to the celebrity home break-ins throughout the country.

“Their M.O. was the same as ours of how they entered, what they looked like when they entered, how they were dressed, because it’s all in black, only things that are showing are eyes,” Hoell said.