MARION COUNTY, FL (352today.com) – The Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) arrested two undocumented immigrants from Chile who they say broke into cars and stole credits cards.
On January 14, MCSO says they arrested 32-year-old Ricardo Araya Rojas and 29-year-old Bastiane Paiva Arriola.
The sheriff’s office says the two men broke into someone’s vehicle on December 28, 2023, while it was parked at Coehadjoe Park and stole their credit cards. MCSO says the two then went to the Walmart on East Silver Springs Boulevard and tried to make a purchase. Detectives say they were able to get surveillance footage of the two.
In a Facebook post, MCSO says Rojas and Arriola also “forcibly entered” a vehicle located at Silver Springs State Park on January 12. They say the two stole credit cards from inside and then made multiple large purchases at Best Buy in Ocala.
According to the sheriff’s office, the two then returned to Best Buy on January 14 and were noticed by the manager of the store who then called the Ocala Police Department (OPD) for help.
OPD officers arrived and arrested Rojas and Arriola, who they say were in possession of stolen credit cards. When officers contacted the woman the cards belonged to, she was still at Silver Springs State Park. She returned to her car and confirmed her car had been broken into.
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When detectives attempted to interview Rojas and Arriola, they say both declined to speak with them. They charged with three counts of burglary of an unoccupied conveyance, five counts of fraud for the illegal use of credit cards, five counts of grand theft, 13 counts of petit theft, and nine counts of possession of stolen credit cards. They were booked into the Marion County Jail where bond was set at $52,000.