Josh Einiger has details on the FBI raid in Midtown and the suspects now under arrest.
MIDTOWN, Manhattan (WABC) — The FBI searched locations in Manhattan’s Diamond District in connection with the recent rash of burglaries targeting professional athletes and two arrests were made.
A search warrant was executed at 75 West 47th Street on Tuesday around 11:30 a.m.
Dimitriy Nezhinskiy, 43, and Juan Villar, 48, are charged with conspiracy to receive stolen property as part of an alleged fencing operation tied to the South American theft groups behind the string of burglaries targeting professional athletes, including Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.
The two men are accused of buying luxury items linked to burglaries across the country and then selling them from a pawn shop in the Diamond District. The suspects allegedly bought stolen property from Bryan Leandro Herrera Maldonado, who’s accused of committing 16 residential robberies across the U.S. between 2019 and 2020.
Nezhinskiy was arrested Tuesday in New Jersey and Villar in Manhattan. The two are due to appear in court in Downtown Brooklyn on Wednesday.
“As alleged, the defendants created an illicit market and fueled demand for burglaries by South American Theft Groups and other crews around the country by purchasing stolen watches, jewelry and other luxury items, and then re-selling them in their New York City store,” said United States Attorney John Durham.
For almost five years, authorities say Nezhinskiy and Villar served as unlawful brokers to sell stolen luxury items by purchasing them from burglary crews based out of South America. The stolen property, including jewelry, watches, handbags and assorted luxury items, had been swiped from homes outside of New York and transported into the state, prosecutors said.
According to the indictment, phone records and video surveillance links Nezhinskiy to at least two members of a four-man burglary crew believed to be involved in the December 9, 2024 burglary of Burrow.
An undercover detective conducted seven controlled sales of purported stolen property, between October 2022 and January 2024, including high-end handbags and luxury accessories, to Nezhinskiy or Villar, or both, at their business location in Manhattan’s Diamond District.
During these controlled sales, the undercover detective provided the defendants with items that the undercover told the defendants had been stolen, and received cash in exchange for the stolen goods, the indictment said.
During Tuesday’s search on West 47th Street, authorities seized large quantities of suspected stolen property, including dozens of high-end watches and jewelry. Law enforcement also recovered large quantities of cash and marijuana.
Simultaneously, law enforcement executed a search warrant at storage units belonging to Nezhinskiy in New Jersey where an additional cache of suspected stolen property was found. From inside Nezhinskiy’s storage units, law enforcement recovered large quantities of luxury goods and clothing, including high-end handbags, wine, sports memorabilia, jewelry, artwork and power tools consistent with those commonly used in burglaries and opening safes.
(ABC News contributed to this report.)
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