New York man admits stealing gold from South Asian homes
By Arun Kumar, IANSWednesday, September 22, 2010
WASHINGTON - A second New York man has admitted to conspiring to steal at least $500,000 worth of gold and other valuables from 37 homes of South Asians in Washington suburbs in neighbouring Northern Virginia.
The guilty plea of Dagoberto Soto-Ramirez, 27, was accepted by US District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema in Alexandria Tuesday, prosecutors said.
Soto-Ramirez was indicted July 15 by a federal grand jury for conspiracy. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison when he is sentenced Dec 3.
According to court records, from January to November 2009, Soto-Ramirez and at least two others-his wife, Melinda Marie Soto, 34, and Francisco Gray, 40, both from New York, came to Northern Virginia to burglarise residences of South Asians, who they believed kept large amounts of gold in their homes.
Soto-Ramirez admitted that he helped locate names and residences of potential victims, posed as a service man when approaching target residences, and would break into the home if no one answered to search the residence for gold, jewellery, computers, and other property.
He also admitted that the gang burglarised 37 residences in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties during 2009, stealing property worth more than $500,000. They then transported that property to New York, where they sold it.
Soto pled guilty to conspiracy last week. Gray remains a fugitive at large.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
