A routine traffic stop on Interstate 75 near the Sun City Center Boulevard exit turned into a big catch for Hillsborough County deputies, who say they nabbed three Colombian nationals tied to two Tampa-area home burglaries that netted roughly $137,000 in jewelry, firearms and a personal safe.
Investigators say surveillance video linked the suspects' vehicle to a Jan. 24 break-in near West Kenyon Avenue and a second burglary later that same day in Town 'n' Country. Deputies located the car on I‑75 on Jan. 27 and pulled it over, taking all three occupants into custody.
According to a public statement, the homeowners in both cases came back to find a shattered sliding glass door and a house that had been ransacked. Detectives put the total value of the stolen property at about $137,000. After reviewing security footage from both crime scenes, investigators say they matched a vehicle to the burglaries, then tracked it down on the interstate. The second report was tied to a home on Osage Drive in Town 'n' Country, and detectives say they are still pursuing investigative leads, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
The traffic stop ended with the arrests of the driver and two passengers, identified by law enforcement as 39-year-old Juan Gabriel Caicedo Chasoy, 33-year-old Jhon Alex Riasco Vergara and 35-year-old Louis Ramon Monseque. Authorities say Caicedo Chasoy was taken into custody for driving without a valid license. Riasco Vergara was booked on multiple fraud and fugitive-warrant counts and has since been charged locally with armed burglary and grand theft. Monseque was accused of using fraudulent identification and was charged with giving a false name and possession of less than 20 grams of cannabis. Those details were reported by West Orlando News.
"This case demonstrates how our deputies enforce the law and follow established procedures to hold offenders accountable," Sheriff Chad Chronister said in comments carried by local reporting. Authorities say all three men are citizens of Colombia and that two of the suspects were turned over to federal immigration authorities, while the third remains in county custody on criminal charges. The immigration holds were processed under Section 287(g) of federal law, which allows ICE to delegate certain enforcement functions to trained local officers, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Charges and next steps
Local reporting indicates Riasco Vergara faces charges that include armed burglary of an unoccupied dwelling and grand theft over $100,000 and that he remains jailed on those counts along with an ICE detainer, according to Univision Tampa Bay. Prosecutors and immigration officials are expected to coordinate how the state criminal case and any federal removal proceedings move forward, and investigators say they will release updates as their work continues.
What 287(g) means locally
Programs that let local agencies carry out certain immigration functions have become both more common and more controversial. Advocates warn that 287(g) agreements can discourage immigrants from reporting crimes or cooperating with police and can raise civil-rights concerns, even as law enforcement agencies say the partnerships help them focus on criminal offenders. The American Immigration Council has outlined how the program works and flagged concerns about its impact on immigrant communities and local policing practices, offering a broader context for the use of detainers in this case.
The sheriff's public affairs office says the investigation remains active and is asking anyone with information to contact investigators. Officials plan to provide additional details through the Public Affairs Office as new information becomes available, per the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
