When a robbery team investigated a wealthy Pacific Palisades enclave off Sunset Boulevard last week, LAPD detectives were watching undercover. They weren't going to let this team get very far. But the three men and the teenager had already traveled quite far. They were in the United States as tourists from Chile.
Three of the “tourist thieves” were detained without incident. But the 17-year-old took off running, throwing his cell phone away and even changing his clothes during a foot chase that had him dodging mid-afternoon traffic.
The trend of Chilean criminal groups visiting Southern California to commit robberies and robberies emerged about five years ago. The thieves, authorities say, arrive with tourist visas that are easily obtained. Police have dubbed the phenomenon “robbery tourism” and it has sparked political outrage and questions about visa tourism in the South American nation.
While it's not uncommon for thieves to take advantage of upscale areas of Los Angeles, investigators say Chilean teams are behind hundreds of robberies in Orange, Ventura and San Diego counties.
The three men and the teenager arrested on February 29 are suspected of carrying out a series of burglaries at homes throughout East Hollywood earlier in the month.
Inside the suspects' vehicle, Los Angeles Police Department investigators said, they found several burglary tools and evidence linking the four to the Feb. 17 robberies.
On February 29, Los Angeles Police Officer Ismael Peinado tracked the suspects throughout Los Angeles, from the San Fernando Valley to West Los Angeles. In the area of Castellammare Drive and Sunset Boulevard, officers swooped.
That's when researchers discovered the Chilean connection. Patricio Lián, 20; Carlos Antonio González-Ravest, 20; Joaquín Elías Muñoz, 19; and a 17-year-old who arrived from Chile on tourist visas in recent years, police said. The teenager's parents, according to investigators, left him in the United States with an unidentified friend.
Lian is being held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center after the Los Angeles County District Attorney filed a felony charge of robbery and violation of probation. According to authorities, he was described as homeless and living in several Los Angeles hotels after allegedly overstaying his Chilean tourist visa for two years.
Gonzalez-Ravest was arrested on suspicion of robbery and had outstanding felony warrants for robbery and grand theft. Prosecutors declined to file a charge of conspiracy to commit robbery, but he is being held on two felony warrants. Like Lian, he has been living in Los Angeles-area hotels after overstaying his tourist visa, according to authorities.
Elías Muñoz, also on a tourist visa, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit robbery and posted $50,000 bail.
The teen told investigators he arrived four months ago on a tourist visa. He was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery and turned over to the Department of Children and Family Services pending a filing decision from the district attorney.
But while in the care of family services, the teen said he went for a walk and never returned. According to investigators, he was reported missing in Lakewood and his whereabouts are unknown.
