A San Jose homeowner's brush with an armed, ski-masked man posing as a delivery driver earlier this month has ended with two Dallas suspects behind bars in Texas, accused of running a scheme that targeted people with significant cryptocurrency holdings. San Jose police say Damian Vielma, 20, and Jeremiah Clybourn, 19, were arrested in Dallas after detectives traced them using license plate camera technology and a multi-agency manhunt that stretched from Santa Clara County to North Texas.
The case began on September 5, when San Jose police responded to a report of suspicious circumstances at a residence, according to KRON4. Police say two men attempted to deliver a package to the home, and one suspect brandished a gun while wearing a ski mask before both men fled the scene before officers arrived. San Jose Police reported that the pair specifically targeted people with substantial crypto wealth, according to police.
Cameras and Detective Work Led to Dallas
San Jose PD's Robbery Unit investigated the September 5 incident using the department's network of Automated License Plate Readers, ultimately identifying the suspect vehicle and, from there, pinning down Vielma and Clybourn as suspects. The investigation did not stop at one address — detectives linked the pair to multiple crimes across several jurisdictions, including the city of Atherton, per the reporting on KRON4's report.
With arrest warrants in hand, investigators discovered both men had fled to their home turf. San Jose's Covert Response Unit deployed to Dallas to work alongside the U.S. Marshals Service, the Dallas Police Department, and the Texas Department of Public Safety, according to the San Jose Police Department. Vielma and Clybourn were arrested in Dallas on September 24, and police also served a search warrant at an associated residence.
Firearms and Stolen Vehicle Evidence Recovered
The search warrant uncovered evidence of the crime along with firearms, and those weapons reportedly included the gun allegedly used during the San Jose incident. Vielma and Clybourn were booked into Dallas County Jail on charges including attempted robbery, possession of a stolen vehicle, and firearm-related offenses. Both men are now awaiting extradition back to Santa Clara County, per the same account from San Jose police.
Part of a Wider Pattern of Crypto-Targeted Home Invasions
The San Jose case fits into a broader and troubling pattern across the region and the country: physical home invasions aimed at draining cryptocurrency wallets, sometimes called “wrench attacks,” combined with delivery-driver impersonation as a way to get through a locked front door. Law enforcement and cybersecurity experts warned in late 2025 that this tactic is spreading nationally, in part because unlike a bank wire, a completed digital wallet transfer cannot be reversed, according to the SF Standard.
Hoodline reported earlier this month on how criminal crews nationwide are increasingly using delivery-driver disguises as a standard tactic to get residents to open their doors during the day and evening, with police urging homeowners to verify unexpected deliveries before answering.
ALPR Technology Under Fire Even as It Cracks Cases
The role that license plate readers played in cracking this case lands amid intense local scrutiny of San Jose's surveillance network. San Jose Police Chief Paul Joseph disclosed earlier this month that an off-duty officer was fired for using a personal phone to improperly access the department's ALPR system to track a domestic violence victim for a relative, a firing that led to new city policies barring surveillance database access on personal devices, according to CBS News.
San Jose police have said the camera expansion into commercial and residential corridors was meant to counter violent crime and organized theft amid staffing shortages, crediting the system with helping solve hit-and-runs, armed robberies, and attempted murders.
The question of how the suspects zeroed in on their targets' addresses in San Jose and Atherton remains unresolved, as does whether federal prosecutors will ultimately take over the case from Santa Clara County given the interstate travel involved. Also unclear is the timeline for extraditing Vielma and Clybourn from Dallas County Jail back to California. Separately, a related scheme surfaced this week when Hoodline reported that former Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy Eric Saavedra was sentenced to nearly two years in federal prison for passing victim home address information to armed crypto extortion crews, illustrating another way these crews can obtain targeted data on high-value investors.
