2 men arrested in New York’s Diamond District in connection to burglaries, including one reportedly of NFL star’s home
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By Lex Harvey, CNN
(CNN) — The FBI raided a pawn shop in New York City’s Diamond District and charged two men with running a fencing operation for South American theft groups in connection with a spate of burglaries targeting high-end homes, authorities said Tuesday.
The suspects, identified by prosecutors as Dimitriy Nezhinskiy and Juan Villar, are accused of creating an illicit market by purchasing stolen items such as jewelry, watches and handbags from burglary crews, according to an indictment unsealed in the Eastern District of New York.
Phone records and video surveillance allegedly link Nezhinskiy to two members of a four-man burglary crew believed to be involved in “the December 9, 2024 burglary of a high-profile athlete in Ohio,” federal prosecutors said in a statement Tuesday. CNN previously reported Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow’s house in Anderson Township, Ohio, was broken into on December 9 while he was away playing the Dallas Cowboys in Texas.
Police raided Nezhinskiy and Villar’s pawn shop on Manhattan’s 47th Street and seized “large quantities” of suspected stolen goods, including dozens of watches and jewelry, as well as large quantities of cash and marijuana, prosecutors said.
Police also searched Nezhinskiy’s storage units, where they found luxury goods and clothing such as high-end handbags, wine, sports memorabilia, jewelry, artwork and power tools “consistent with those commonly used in burglaries and opening safes,” the statement said.
Between 2020 and 2025, the indictment says, Nezhinskiy and Villar conspired to receive and purchase stolen property.
“Nezhinskiy and Villar regularly served as ‘fences’ for burglary crews based out of South America who traveled around the United States committing burglaries, typically targeting wealthier neighborhoods or jewelry vendors, and stealing luxury accessories,” the statement said.
Evidence allegedly links Nezhinskiy and Villar to crimes committed by one “prolific burglar,” who police say stole from at least 16 homes across the US in 2019 and 2020.
If convicted, the men face up to 10 years in prison. The two are expected to be arraigned Wednesday and CNN is working to determine their legal representation.
Federal investigators warned professional athletes in December of an uptick in sophisticated home burglaries thought to be emanating from international criminals.
“These homes are targeted for burglary due to the perception they may have high-end goods like designer handbags, jewelry, watches, and cash,” the FBI said in a December 20 bulletin obtained by CNN that was distributed to US professional athletic associations.
Four Chilean men were later arrested in connection with the burglary of a string of multimillion-dollar homes, including one on the date Burrow’s home was burgled, though Burrow was not explicitly mentioned in the police report, CNN reported.
“We live a public life and one of my least favorite parts of that is the lack of privacy, and that has been difficult to deal with my entire career,” Burrow said at the time. “I’m still learning, but I understand it’s the life that we choose. It doesn’t make it any easier to deal with.”
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