CRIME NEWS: Burglary Arrests

From the CMPD -- South Division:

South Division Officers Make Arrests in Professional Burglary Ring

Over the last two weeks, South Division Officers have uncovered a professional burglary ring with national and international connections. The burglars targeted high-end homes in New York and South Charlotte.

The investigation started July 18th with a 911 call about a suspicious vehicle call on Colony Road. The responding officer observed a vehicle in the area that matched the description. The officer followed the car for a while but chose not to stop it after determining that the registration and insurance was valid. The officer did write down the tag of the vehicle.

Approximately 15 minutes later, officers responded to a 911 burglary in progress call at a residence on Colony Road. The owners of the residence had observed two males running from their house when they arrived home. As part of the investigation of this incident, officers began looking for the earlier suspicious vehicle through the tag information that had been recorded by the initial officer. This tag information led the officers to a rental company. The information obtained from that company lead officers to an apartment in Pineville. The Response Area Commander and several members of his Focused Mission Team went to this apartment and made contact with the occupants. Four people were encountered at this location. One of these persons matched the description of a subject seen fleeing the Colony Road burglary. A witness was brought to the apartment in Pineville. The witness positively identified Christian Aguirre as being one of the persons seen running from the burglary. The investigation continued on into Sunday July 19th.

Officers obtained and executed a search warrant for the apartment in Pineville. This resulted in the confiscation of 2 ounces of cocaine and several items of stolen property that have since been identified as being taken from 3 other burglaries that occurred in the South Division. Based on these discoveries, officers obtained warrants on Refugio Castanon, Carlos Bonetti, and Fidel Sandoval. Observation of the apartment continued following the service of the search warrant.

On Tuesday, July 21, suspicious individuals returned to the apartment in an apparent attempt to recover property still in the apartment. As a result of continued observation of the apartment, a traffic stop was conducted as the suspects attempted to leave the area. Refugio Castanon attempted to run but was quickly apprehended. The second occupant, Darwin Cruz was arrested for not having a driver’s license. A subsequent search of the car revealed a duffel bag containing $25,600. This money was confiscated.

During the arrest processing, Castanon’s fingerprints were entered into the P.I.D. (Positive Identification) system. The system alerted jail staff the Refugio Castanon was actually Pablo Castro and wanted by New York authorities. The system also listed an “America’s Most Wanted” hit which indicated that Castro had been featured on the TV show.

On Thursday July 23rd, South Division detectives received information that Carlos Bonetti was in Rock Hill. This information was passed to the Rock Hill Police who were able to quickly apprehend Bonetti.


This is a very complex investigation but based on information gained from the Search Warrant and New York authorities we believe that this group has been operating in South Charlotte since 2006. The subjects targeted specific high-end homes. Jewelry was most often the target during the burglaries. The jewelry and other items were packaged and shipped to the New York City area. From there, some of the property was shipped to Columbia South America.

The investigation is continuing. We ask that anyone with information on these subjects please contact South Division burglary detectives at (704) 544-4835.

Best regards,

Captain R. M. Golding
South Division Commander

BEWARE: Suspicious Characters

Note from Al Bonner to Chris, who shared it with the neighborhood:

From: A. A. BONNER
Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 2:48 PM
To: Evans, Chris
Subject: SUSPICIOUS CHARACTERS

CHRIS,

The following info might be appropriate to disseminate to your Watch contacts.

At approximately 1:50pm, 8 July 2009, I observed a car slowly passing my house and then pull in behind some bushes in the drive at 2335 Oberwood Drive across the street. That house has a for sale sign but, is occupied although no one was at home at the time. A black male got out and went to the door so I went outside and he saw me and started back down the steps. I asked him what he was doing and he yelled some excuse that he was looking for a girl who had told him she lived there. There was another black male in the car who got out but then got back in as I approached the vehicle from across the street. They left before I got there and went right on Providence Road.

The male who went to the door was tall, thin and had shoulder length dreadlocks and was not wearing a shirt. The second male was also tall, heavier and wore a long outside white T-shirt.

They were driving an older red Ford Contour sedan and the license was YTS 5608.

I called 911 and gave them the info and an officer came about 2:15pm and I gave him the same info. He checked the door and no entry had been made - I got outside too fast for them to break in if that was their intent. The officer said he was also responding to another alarm "over here" and he was pleased to get the license number.

Before you decide I was reckless to approach them, I am ex-military and have a concealed weapon permit so I was armed.


Hope this helps.

AL