A pair of Diamond District merchants accused of fencing stolen goods for an international burglary ring are expected to face a federal judge in Brooklyn today, with one of them linked to a break-in at Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow’s home, according to law enforcement sources.
Dimitriy Nezhinskiy, 43, had contact with the Chilean crew accused of breaking into Burrows’ place less than a week before the Ohio burglary, sources said.
And both Nezhinskiy and his accomplice, Juan Villar, are tied to prolific thief Bryan Leandro Herrera-Maldonado, who committed at least 16 home burglaries across the U.S. in 2019 and 2020, federal prosecutors allege.
The two merchants, in fact, worked with at least five different burglary crews operating around the U.S. — including so-called South American Theft Groups, or SATGs, “who engage in crime tourism,” prosecutors say.
The Diamond District duo fenced items like jewelry, watches, handbags and other luxury goods out of Nezhinskiy’s pawn shop on 47th St. in Midtown, prosecutors allege.
An undercover detective conducted seven controlled sales to the men at their shop between October 2022 and January 2024, according to prosecutors.
When the feds raided the store Monday, they found dozens of high-end watches and jewelry believed to be stolen, as well as large sums of cash and marijuana, prosecutor allege. The feds found more swag in Nezhinskiy’s storage units in New Jersey, including fancy handbags, wine, sports memorabilia, jewelry, artwork and safe-cracking tools, prosecutors allege.
Nezhinskiy, a Georgian national living in North Bergen, N.J., and Villar, 48, of Queens, both have extensive criminal records, the feds say. Both are expected to be arraigned in Brooklyn Federal Court Wednesday, where prosecutors will ask that they be held without bail.
“Both defendants are charged with crimes that, at first blush, may not appear to be violent or dangerous, but in reality, the defendants’ crimes create a substantial risk to human life,” prosecutors wrote in a Tuesday filing.
“Indeed, their criminal conduct creates a market for residential burglaries and retail thefts that create a very real risk of danger. By creating a cash-based marketplace for stolen items, these defendants motivate individuals to engage in nationwide patterns of burglaries and thefts.”