Thieves used hidden cameras, Wi-Fi jammers to target Massachusetts homeowners for break-ins, DA says
Three men are accused of using GPS trackers, hidden cameras and Wi-Fi jammers in a "sophisticated" home break-in scheme that targeted Indian and East Asian families in Massachusetts last summer.
Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said thieves stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and jewelry from five homes in Woburn, Wilmington, Burlington and North Reading in June and July of 2025.
David Rondon-Castro and Yeison Ramirez-Garcia of New York, and Itan Dami Beltran of Pennsylvania are being charged with conspiracy to commit residential break-ins.
Ryan said the suspects, all in their mid-20s, were "intensively surveilling the individuals who would become their victims."
"The technology-based strategies included attaching GPS trackers to the cars of the families whose homes they ultimately broke into, installing hidden video cameras in the yards and on the property of those homes, and using Wi-Fi jammers to disable the security systems that victims may have had in their home," she said.
According to Ryan, the suspects targeted the victims "based on their race and ethnicity and apparent belief that they may be more likely to have valuable heirlooms, jewelry, gold and cash in their homes as part of their heritage and culture."
The suspects are part of a group targeting homes in Massachusetts and the East Coast, Ryan said. She said they were tracked down by investigators who analyzed cell phone data and license plates of "suspicious vehicles" seen in the area of the break-ins.
The FBI and other law enforcement investigated a pattern of similar break-ins in several Massachusetts towns in 2023. Police said thieves entered homes when they knew the owners would be gone and stole their jewelry.
"We are very visible with jewelry," one Lincoln homeowner who was targeted, Samir Desai, told WBZ-TV at the time. "That's how we celebrate our heritage, how we live, that is not a material thing for us, it's something that is passed from generation to generation."
