Gold burglar targeting South Asian homes gets 3 years

Melinda M. Soto, 34, and her husband, Dagoberto Soto Ramirez, pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria to regularly travelling from New York to Fairfax and Loudoun counties, two Washington suburbs in neighbouring Northern Virginia, to commit the burglaries.
They admitted to burglarising 37 homes and stealing nearly $600,000 worth of gold jewellery between January and November of last year, when they were arrested along with a third alleged co-conspirator, Francisco Gray.

The cases against all three were thrown out by judges in Fairfax and Loudoun for lack of evidence, and Gray was deported to Peru. Federal authorities stepped in and indicted the trio in July.

The Sotos pleaded guilty in September to transporting stolen property across state lines. Gray has not been located.

Raman Kumar, one of the early victims who has organised the South Asian community to fight the crime wave, told the US District Court Judge Leonie M. Brinkema that "our community still lives in fear" and that "the South Asian community is a victim of an economically motivated hate crime."

Soto then apologsed saying, "I'd like to say I'm sorry to all the victims and all the people that I hurt."

Soto admitted that she would knock on doors, make a phony sales pitch if someone was home, or go back to her car if no one answered and call the home to confirm no one was there.

Her husband and Gray then would break in and seek the gold items. The stolen items were promptly melted down and sold, federal authorities said.

Soto faced a recommended sentencing range of 33 to 41 months. She has been in federal custody for five months, and Brinkema gave her another 36 months on top of that. The judge also ordered Soto to make restitution of $590,860.