Four Colombian nationals were arrested by Oregon authorities following a recent string of home burglaries.
The Tigard Police Department (TPD) confirmed the arrests were in connection with 39 burglary cases targeting what appeared to be affluent Asian-American households beginning in late September.
Investigators said the suspects used a similar break-in method each time.
A warning was sent out in November alerting residents across three jurisdictions of the home burglaries, including four in Tigard, four in Washington County and two in Beaverton.
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On Feb. 2, search warrants were executed in Oregon City, Bend and Portland related to this investigation.
The first was in Oregon City where TPD, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team and many other agencies served a warrant in an apartment complex in the 14100 block of South Beavercreek Road.
The second was in Bend where Bend police and the Central Oregon Emergency Response Team executed a warrant in an apartment complex in the 55000 block of Gross Drive.
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Investigators recovered cash, evidence, and stolen jewelry, and seized multiple vehicles during the execution of the warrants.
Four suspects, all of whom are Colombian nationals, were arrested by Tigard police on felony charges. They were extradited back to Washington County.
They were identified as Herbert Grueso-Vergara, 30; Maria Castro-Gamboa, 26; Fabio Vergara-Cortes, 29; and Fatima Gomez-Aragon, 33.
An additional warrant was served on Feb. 5 by the TPD, the Portland Police Bureau and PPB’s Special Emergency Reaction Team (SERT) at an apartment complex in the 9400 block of North Bristol Avenue.
Stolen jewelry and other evidence linked to the investigation were also recovered at this location.
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The TPD also thanked the handful of Oregon and Washington officials involved in the investigation.
This is an ongoing investigation and authorities expect more charges to be filed.
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