Multiple states report cases of 'distraction thefts' targeting unsuspecting shoppers.

"Distraction thefts" carried out by transient criminals who travel the country to steal before crossing state lines to strike elsewhere, often affiliated with Romanian and South American crime rings, have plagued a quiet Utah town.

In the past year, St. George has experienced 37 distraction thefts at grocery stores, retailers, and restaurants. Sgt. Zack Bahlmann of the St. George Police Department informed Planet Chronicle Digital that this new method of theft has been observed by the department for the past three years.

"On Wednesday, Bahlmann stated that the suspects were typically working in groups of two or three and would enter business establishments. One person in the group would identify a target, search for a purse or wallet in the shopping cart or nearby, and engage the victim."

"Another person will divert the target's attention by asking them a question about the product, while another person will pull something out of the cart."

This month, a St. George detective, along with state and federal agencies, arrested Colombian nationals Jairo Gavida-Monroy, 37, Andres Fabian Villanueva-Rodriguez, 32, and a third man for a series of crimes that had been ongoing for several months.

According to surveillance footage and an affidavit, on May 18, two individuals wearing bucket hats stole a woman's purse from her shopping cart at a home improvement store.

The victim's bank cards were used to charge $1,138 at a retail store within the same shopping complex minutes later. Police said one man had changed and appeared to be wearing a wig when the pair was seen on surveillance footage using the store's self-checkout.

An hour after buying $1,050 in goods with the woman's cards at a nearby pharmacy, the men were seen stealing a second victim's wallet from her purse at a grocery store on the same street.

On the same day at a big-box store, two victims had their bank cards used in quick succession, with the first victim's cards being charged a total of $3,200 and the second victim's cards seeing six transactions totaling $6,250.

According to the affidavit, one man would make the purchases while the other would "surveil" the stores.

Months after the St. George Police Department sent a bulletin to Homeland Security and other surrounding agencies, three men were captured in Wisconsin.

Multiple law enforcement agencies, including two county agencies in Southern California, detectives in Illinois and Nebraska, and multiple police departments in Wisconsin, collaborated to gather evidence that helped clarify the circumstances surrounding a series of thefts. The evidence pointed to a Honda CRV that had been traveling in and out of the areas where the thefts occurred.

"Bahlmann stated that the transient nature of these crimes necessitated the development of a robust investigative network. These criminals would commit a crime in one state and then quickly move to another, making it challenging to track them. However, with the help of our investigative network, we can monitor their movements and identify individuals from other agencies."

Villanueva-Rodriguez is currently imprisoned in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, on a $10,000 bond for pick-pocketing and using someone else's personal information to obtain money. He will be extradited to Utah after being processed for these charges.

At least five times before his capture, Villanueva-Rodriguez visited the St. George area, as stated by Bahlmann.

Gavida-Monroy is currently incarcerated in Washington County for two second-degree felony charges, including theft and pattern of unlawful activity, as well as seven third-degree felony counts of unlawful acquisition of a financial card, one for each card reportedly stolen. Additionally, he faces seven misdemeanor counts of theft.

This Romanian crime ring member would "shoulder surf" grocery store customers at self-checkout lines to learn their PINs, then approach his victims with a $20 bill, claiming they had dropped it, and clandestinely steal their wallets or purses.

Despite being "very skilled" at his job, Bahlmann stated that the criminal was caught after their department traced him to Florida with the aid of other agencies.

A Hispanic couple was caught on camera stealing from an elderly shopper at a grocery store in St. George. The woman distracted the victim while the man repeatedly reached into the customer's cart to steal her belongings.

Bahlmann remarked, "It's quite remarkable how bold they are."

The Utah Attorney General's Office reports that about 30% of cases handled by its Economic Crimes Task Force involve domestic and international travel theft groups, primarily from California, who target residents of Southern Utah, Las Vegas, and Boise, Idaho, as they travel westward.

These interstate crime groups frequently use four common schemes: retail theft, gift cards, fuel theft, and card skimmers.

According to Jason Chaffetz, a former U.S. representative from Utah, these criminals appear to be focusing on areas that are not accustomed to big-city crimes.

Chaffetz stated that he believes they are relying on the gullibility of an unaccustomed population to exploit.

According to conversations with local law enforcement, Chaffetz speculated that the high number of crimes in Utah's Washington County is due to its proximity to Las Vegas and the I-15 corridor, which serves as the primary transit route from California into "anywhere north."

"Beware, as Utah is not like California and has strict laws against crime. The state will not only incarcerate you but also prosecute you."

The St. George Police Department is considering forming a task force to combat interstate crime rings and has been making a concerted effort to secure jail time for offenders, according to Bahlmann.

"If we could impose jail sentences on them for several months or years, that seems to be a deterrent to them," he said. "If someone is from another country and commits crimes here and is able to return home, maybe that's not as effective a deterrent as spending time in prison."