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