4 Chilean men arrested in Meadowbrook, Pennsylvania, accused of attempted burglary; 1 arrested in Bryn Mawr

Residents of Meadowbrook, Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States have been complaining about burglaries. Members of South American theft groups from Chile and Colombia are accused of targeting high-end residences in the community.

In 2021, the Abington Township Police Department started investigating the burglaries by building a task force and collecting evidence. Detectives tracked the patterns of the theft groups and recently arrested five suspects.

All of the suspects are from Chile. Here are their names and ages:

1. Alvaro Javier Ganin Ganin, 36
2. Claudeo Alexander Fuentez-Soto, 25
3. Jorge Fabrizeo Sepulveda Alvarez, 34
4. Nicolas Andres Matus Lucero, 29
5. Vaster Miller Guajardo Pedrero, 31

At around 6:00 p.m. on December 8, 2023, a detective surveilling an area in Meadowbrook previously targeted by the theft groups noticed a vehicle driving around the neighborhood. In the car were Ganin, Alvarez, Lucero and Pedrero.

When Abington Township Police Department officers stopped the car, the four Chilean men said they had driven from California, USA to Pennsylvania to visit and they were looking for a restaurant. The men either had no identification or had fraudulent identification cards.

The officers detained the four Chilean men for further investigation, searched their car and found a reciprocating saw, a glass break tool, masks, gloves, flashlights, pry bars and several other burglary tools. The suspects also had photos and global positioning system (GPS) navigational directions to specific residences and locations in that neighborhood.

Ganin, Alvarez, Lucero and Pedrero were arrested and booked into the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Eagleville, Montgomery County. They were each charged with possessing instruments of crime, loitering, prowling, attempted burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary.

At around 6:35 p.m. on December 8, 2023, Fuentez-Soto and three other men allegedly burglarized a residence in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania while the homeowners were away. He allegedly drove a car and fled the scene while the other three fled on foot.

That evening, Fuentez-Soto was arrested in Montgomery County. He was in possession of false identification from Venezuela.

Bail for Fuentez-Soto was set at $25,000. He was booked into the Montgomery County Correctional Facility and charged with burglary and related offense.