Federal officials announced a Canyon Country man was central to a 46-count grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday, alleging he facilitated a “crime tourism theft group” that came from South America, stole throughout the country and then laundered millions in illicit proceeds. He and his significant other are also accused of conspiring with others in order to obtain more than a quarter-million dollars through fraudulent COVID-19-related business-relief loans. According to the indictment, Juan Carlos Thola-Duran, 57, aka “Parcero,” of Canyon Country, and his live-in girlfriend, Ana Maria Arriagada, 41, aka “Parcera,” controlled and operated defendant Driver Power Rentals, or DPR, a Van Nuys-based car rental or dealership business.
Arriagada was DPR’s registered owner. Federal agents with FBI and Homeland Security Investigations could be seen Wednesday morning going in and out of a home in the 27300 block of Sand Canyon Road listed on the federal complaint shared by Department of Justice officials. From at least January 2018 to July 2024, Thola-Duran directed associates, often members of crime tourism theft groups traveling from South America, to travel to various parts of the United States to commit thefts, including shoplifting goods from stores, burglarizing residences and commercial businesses, and stealing victims’ credit cards and debit cards, according to the DOJ release.
Federal officials declined to comment regarding their presence on the rural property in the quiet equestrian community. On Wednesday the home was surrounded by vehicles with two vans near entrances to two buildings on the property. A federal agent referred questions to media relations in the Los Angeles field office, which confirmed the agents were serving a search warrant connected to the unsealed indictment.
A teen and a woman leaving the property Wednesday afternoon declined to comment. Thola-Duran and Arriagada used DPR to provide vehicles for his associates to drive throughout the country and commit burglaries and thefts, according to the DOJ release. In order to make the car rentals appear legitimate and maintain anonymity, law enforcement officials believe the pair required their co-conspirators to provide false identification when renting a vehicle for DPR’s records.
The indictment, returned Aug. 1 and unsealed Wednesday, charges seven defendants with multiple felony offenses, including wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and structuring transactions to avoid federal financial reporting requirements. Thola-Duran and Arriagada directed the co-conspirators who stole credit or debit cards to immediately go to stores such as Target, Best Buy, The Home Depot and others to max out the stolen cards by purchasing electronics, gift cards, designer purses and other high-end luxury goods before the stolen cards could be frozen or cancelled, according to the release.
Federal prosecutors believe Thola-Duran then arranged for the thieves to deliver stolen or fraudulently obtained goods to associates at DPR or to mail them to other co-conspirators, including defendant Miguel Angel Barajas, 57, of Northridge, or to other conspirators at a FedEx store in Sherman Oaks. The DOJ statement claims defendants Barajas, John Carlo Thola, 33, of Canoga Park, and others picked up the parcels and then delivered them to Thola-Duran and other conspirators, at Thola-Duran’s direction. Thola-Duran then acted as a “fence” to buy the goods — at a fraction of their retail value — and pay the thieves a percentage of the items’ value, according to the DOJ release.
He then sold the stolen goods to other buyers for approximately $5.5 million over the course of the conspiracy, including approximately $5.1 million sent to various bank accounts controlled by the co-conspirators, according to the DOJ release.
“The defendants allegedly used their ill-gotten gains to purchase and maintain assets, including real estate and horses, and structured cash withdrawals to avoid triggering the requirement that banks report transactions exceeding $10,000 to the U.S. Treasury Department,” according to the release.
The indictment further alleges that Thola-Duran, Arriagada, and others from May 2020 to June 2021 conspired to fraudulently obtain $274,998 in COVID-19 business relief loans. The DOJ identified crime tourism theft groups as individuals often originating from outside of the United States, including from South America and elsewhere, who engage in burglaries, thefts and other crimes throughout the United States. “As part of the modus operandi of crime tourism theft groups, individuals would enter the United States and engage in theft crime sprees.
The fruits of the thefts were often shared with facilitators and co-conspirators who assisted the crime tourists in the commission of their crimes, as well as others, both inside and outside the United States,” according to the federal release issued Wednesday. The concerns surrounding the group are not unfamiliar to local law enforcement officials, with SCV Sheriff’s Station Capt. Justin Diez fielding a question about such thefts during a recent Sheriff’s Foundation fundraiser event.
He said the crews often target homes that are near golf courses due to their access, and he also said recent changes to laws regarding how thefts are prosecuted have made it difficult to hold perpetrators accountable when they are caught, mentioning bail reform and policy changes by District Attorney George Gascón. “Crime tourism is a major problem impacting not just Southern California, but our entire nation,” United States Attorney Martin Estrada said in the release. “These defendants facilitated and directed crime tourists who committed hundreds of robberies across the country — in essence, they acted as quarterbacks for a team of thieves.
We will continue to work with our local partners to hold accountable those who would come to our country and take advantage of our liberties to steal from the American people.” “Today, we dismantled a non-traditional facilitator of organized crime, and now we have a blueprint for future investigations,” Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said in the release. “We hope these arrests will discourage future businesses from conducting similar operations, thus reducing the number of thefts and burglaries in our communities.
” The DA’s office for both Orange and Ventura counties issued statements in cooperation with the federal government: “Driver Power Rentals provided cars that were allegedly used to take high-end merchandise and jewelry from Ventura County homeowners,” Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said in a release. “Taking down a key operator who fueled crime tourism is essential to neighborhood safety, and I am grateful to U.S.
Attorney Estrada and his team for aggressively prosecuting this network.” 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 L.
A. County Sheriff’s Department and the L.A.
County DA’s office were not among the organizations that participated in the operation, according to the release..
