2 men accused of buying and selling luxury items linked to burglaries by South American theft groups

Two men have been arrested for allegedly buying stolen luxury items linked to burglaries across the country and then selling them from a pawn shop in Manhattan's Diamond District, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

Dimitriy Nezhinskiy, 43, and Juan Villar, 48, are accused of running a fencing operation for South American theft groups alleged to be behind a string of burglaries.

Nezhinskiy has been linked to part of the crew believed to have been involved in the burglary that occurred at Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow's home last year, according to prosecutors.

The two men were arrested on Tuesday -- Nezhinskiy in New Jersey and Villar in Manhattan -- and have been charged by grand jury indictment with conspiracy to receive stolen property and receipt of stolen property. The two are due to appear in court for an arraignment on Wednesday. Attorney information was not immediately available for either defendant.

"As alleged, the defendants created an illicit market and fueled demand for burglaries by South American Theft Groups and other crews around the country by purchasing stolen watches, jewelry and other luxury items, and then reselling them in their New York City store," U.S. Attorney John Durham said in a statement.

For almost five years, Nezhinskiy and Villar allegedly served as unlawful brokers to sell stolen luxury items by purchasing them from burglary crews based out of South America, according to prosecutors.

The stolen property -- including jewelry, watches, handbags and assorted luxury items -- had been swiped from homes outside of New York and transported into the state, prosecutors said.

According to court filings, phone records and video surveillance linked Nezhinskiy to at least two members of a four-man burglary crew believed to be involved in the Dec. 9, 2024, burglary of Burrow. A member of the crew was in contact with Nezhinskiy less than a week prior to the commission of burglary in Ohio, according to prosecutors.

As part of the federal investigation, an undercover detective conducted seven controlled sales of purported stolen property, including high-end handbags and luxury accessories, to Nezhinskiy or Villar, or both, at their business location in the Diamond District between October 2022 and January 2024, prosecutors said. During these controlled sales, the undercover detective provided the defendants with items that the undercover told the defendants had been stolen, and received cash in exchange for the stolen goods, prosecutors said.

During a search Tuesday at the men's pawn shop on West 47th Street, authorities seized large quantities of suspected stolen property -- including dozens of high-end watches and jewelry -- as well as recovered large quantities of cash and marijuana, prosecutors said.

Simultaneously, law enforcement executed a search warrant at storage units belonging to Nezhinskiy in New Jersey where an additional cache of suspected stolen property was found, prosecutors said. From inside Nezhinskiy's storage units, law enforcement recovered large quantities of luxury goods and clothing, including "high-end handbags, wine, sports memorabilia, jewelry, artwork and power tools consistent with those commonly used in burglaries and opening safes," prosecutors said in a press release.

If convicted of receipt of stolen goods, the defendants face up to 10 years in prison, the DOJ said.

Their arrest comes after four Chilean nationals were arrested last month in an apparent connection with the burglary that occurred at Burrow's home in Anderson Township, Ohio, according to court records.

A special agent with the Ohio State Highway Patrol spotted suspicious luggage being carried into a vehicle outside of a hotel in Fairborn, Ohio, on Jan. 10, according to court records.

In the vehicle, police found an "old LSU shirt and Bengals hat believed to be stolen from the December 9, 2024 burglary in Hamilton County, Ohio," according to the affidavit.

ABC News' Luke Barr contributed to this report.