The South American crime ring was busted and committed robberies throughout California

FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) – The FBI says it has now caught a South American crime ring that carried out robberies worth more than a million dollars for months.

Some locations the crew is said to be targeting are right here in the Central Valley.

The ring targeted banks and ATMs in California, Oregon, Washington and Texas, according to federal court documents unsealed last week.

This 78-page affidavit lays out how investigators pieced this together, including images that show investigators say they committed the crimes.

It is said that the group – identified as the “South American Theft Crew” with members from Chile, Venezuela and Peru – relied on a combination of underground car rentals, AirBNBs, power tools and dark spray paint.

In the affidavit, the members were identified as Alex Moyano, Maite Celis, Erik Osorio, Pablo Valdez, Rosa Bastias, Camilo Sepulveda, Bassil Dacosta, Camilo Alarcon and Michelle Parada.

The FBI says it only learned about the SATC in June, when it said the crew tried to break into an ATM in Merced.

However, a pattern was later found that linked it to other cases:

Forced entry.

Use of Covid masks and construction vests.

And use of devices including signal jammers and blowtorches.

Fresno area break-ins and attempts related to SATC include:

May 5 – A Wells Fargo ATM in northwest Fresno where more than $80,000 was stolen.

June 21 – An EECU ATM kiosk in Clovis. According to Clovis police, between $150,000 and $200,000 were stolen from each of the two machines at this location.

July 10 – An ATM was attacked in northwest Fresno. When security showed up, the crew threw away their crowbars and blowtorches.

September 15 – Valley First Credit Union in North Fresno. According to the FBI, crew members were filmed on cameras monitoring the site the day before. Although they failed to break into the plane, the crew moved to the Fresno State campus, where EECU estimates the crew stole at least $20,000.

According to the affidavit, a woman named Maite Celis would rent Air BNBs in Bakersfield, Tulare, Turlock and near the California-Oregon border.

Some of the homes were equipped with surveillance cameras that later showed the crew rolling in large containers and bags — which the FBI said were consistent with those used in the robberies.

The FBI says the crew relied on a club promoter from Southern California to rent SUVs – one of which was reported stolen.

But it had an Apple Air tag that helped locate the crew at the crime scenes.

Crew members often split up – some distracting workers while another covered the site for cameras, later spray-painting them black to avoid detection.

An informant told investigators the ringleader was Alex Moyano Morales, who has a handful of aliases, including “Gordito.”

So far he has evaded capture – there is already a warrant out for his arrest out of Glendale.

But it is said he didn't shy away from the attention and posted a picture of stacks of cash on his social media.