LOS ANGELES
A 46-count indictment alleges that a man from Santa Clarita Valley facilitated a crime tourism group composed of South Americans and others, according to officials.
Law enforcement arrested six defendants who are accused of participating in burglaries, thefts, and various other crimes across the United States, laundering millions of dollars in illegal proceeds in the process.
The indictment, which was returned on Aug. 1 and unsealed Wednesday, charges seven individuals with multiple felonies, including wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy, and structuring transactions to evade federal financial reporting requirements.
Crime tourism theft groups typically consist of individuals, often from outside the United States, particularly from South America and other regions, who engage in widespread criminal activities across the country.
These groups are known for entering the U.S. to carry out coordinated theft sprees.
The stolen property was frequently distributed among facilitators and co-conspirators who aided the crime tourists in carrying out their crimes, as well as others both within and outside the United States.
“Today, we dismantled a non-traditional facilitator of organized crime, and now we have a blueprint for future investigations,” said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.
“This investigation required years of hard work and dedication on behalf of the Los Angeles Police Department and our partners,” said LAPD Chief, Dominic Choi.
According to the indictment, Juan Carlos Thola-Duran, 57, also known as “Parcero,” of Canyon Country, along with his live-in girlfriend, Ana Maria Arriagada, 41, also known as “Parcera,” managed and operated Driver Power Rentals (DPR), a Van Nuys-based car rental and dealership business.
Arriagada was the registered owner of DPR.
From at least January 2018 to July 2024, Thola-Duran allegedly directed associates, often members of crime tourism theft groups from South America, to travel across the United States to commit various thefts.
These crimes included shoplifting from stores, burglarizing homes and businesses, and stealing credit and debit cards from victims.
Thola-Duran, Arriagada, and DPR allegedly provided the thieves with vehicles for their criminal activities throughout the U.S.
To maintain the appearance of legitimacy and protect their anonymity, they required the co-conspirators to use false identification when renting vehicles.
Thola-Duran and Arriagada are accused of instructing those who stole credit or debit cards to immediately use them at stores such as Target, Best Buy, and The Home Depot, purchasing electronics, gift cards, designer purses, and other luxury items before the cards could be frozen or canceled.
Thola-Duran then allegedly arranged for the stolen or fraudulently obtained goods to be delivered to associates at DPR or mailed to other co-conspirators, including defendant Miguel Angel Barajas, 57, of Northridge, or to a FedEx store in Sherman Oaks.
Under Thola-Duran’s direction, Barajas, John Carlo Thola, 33, of Canoga Park, and others would retrieve the parcels and deliver them to Thola-Duran and other conspirators.
Thola-Duran would then act as a “fence,” purchasing the stolen goods at a fraction of their retail value and paying the thieves a percentage.
He is alleged to have sold the stolen goods to other buyers, generating approximately $5.5 million over the course of the conspiracy, including $5.1 million funneled into various bank accounts controlled by the co-conspirators.
The defendants are further accused of using their illicit profits to purchase and maintain assets, such as real estate and horses while structuring cash withdrawals to avoid triggering federal reporting requirements for transactions exceeding $10,000.
The indictment also alleges that Thola-Duran, Arriagada, and others conspired between May 2020 and June 2021 to fraudulently obtain $274,998 in COVID-19 business relief loans.
“Since 2019, we have arrested over 130 suspects responsible for perpetrating these crimes, with the vast majority using cars supplied by Driver Power Rentals,” said Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoff. “Our efforts aren’t stopping there. We formally partnered with the FBI, creating the Ventura County Major Theft Task Force. This task force has been instrumental in pursuing federal charges against Thola-Duran and other members of his criminal organization.
“Driver Power Rentals provided cars that were allegedly used to take high-end merchandise and jewelry from Ventura County homeowners,” said Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko. “Taking down a key operator who fueled crime tourism is essential to neighborhood safety, and I am grateful to U.S. Attorney (Martin) Estrada and his team for aggressively prosecuting this network.”
“These criminals were running a burglary operation with a sophistication that rivals Amazon, and instead of dispatching delivery drivers, they were dispatching trained thieves throughout Southern California to steal from what should be where we are safest – our homes,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “Crime doesn’t pay in Orange County and individuals who engage in crime tourism are on notice that my office will work with our local and federal partners to continue demanding accountability and bringing those who victimize our community to justice.”
All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
If convicted, the defendants would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each wire fraud- and money laundering-related count, up to 10 years in federal prison for each structuring count, and up to five years in federal prison for the conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate count.
The FBI, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office are investigating this matter.
Assistant United States Attorneys Jennifer Chou and Lindsay M. Bailey of the Violent and Organized Crime Section and Assistant United States Attorney Ryan J. Waters of the Asset Forfeiture and Recovery Section are prosecuting this case.