One of the leaders of a multi-state burglary ring that prosecutors say targeted the homes of Asian business owners pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen goods.
Derinson Martinez-Grandas, 34, appeared before U.S. District Judge Michael J. McShane in federal court in Eugene.
He’s among seven people who were arrested in connection with a burglary ring alleged to have stolen at least $60,000 in property from the homes of Asian business owners in Oregon and Washington.
Under the plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend Martinez-Grandas serve one year and one day in federal prison.
Members of the crew are Colombian citizens who drove in a caravan of four vehicles from state to state and stayed in short-term Airbnb rentals while members surveilled victims and struck when they were not home, according to a federal affidavit.
They were found to have traveled from California, through Nevada and Idaho and into Washington and Oregon.
They drove cars with California plates and communicated during the break-ins on a seven-way WhatsApp call, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney William McLaren. They posted lookouts and scrambled security camera footage with wifi jammers as they ransacked homes, he said.
They’d approach a targeted home wearing masks and posing as food-delivery people, according to the plea agreement.
They’d forcibly enter the victims’ homes and steal their valuables, burglarizing the homes of Asian families in Gresham, Eugene and Salem and Auburn, Wash., according to the plea agreement.
By Oct. 9, 2025, Eugene police were conducting surveillance of Martinez-Grandas and his alleged conspirators as the crew traveled from Eugene to Salem and on to Corvallis. The police conducted some of the surveillance with the help of their Flock camera automated license plate reader technology. Eugene police later ended its contract for use of the Flock technology in December 2025.
Martinez-Grandas and his accomplices ran into the woods when Eugene police and federal agents arrived to search an Airbnb property in the city that month, where he and others returned to package their stolen goods.
Police searched the rental in Eugene and found bags containing pearls and gold jewelry, stacks of U.S. cash and Asian currency, watches, purses, wallets and designer bags, according to McLaren. They also found receipts from money wires to Bogota, Colombia, and various travel documents from Colombia, according to a federal affidavit.
Martinez-Grandas pleaded guilty to four burglaries between Oct. 3, 2025, and Oct. 9, 2025. He’s being held at the Polk County Jail.
He and three co-defendants who entered guilty pleas earlier are scheduled to be sentenced on July 14 . They’ll get credit for time served.
If Martinez-Grandas receives at least a one-year prison term in federal court, Lane County District Attorney’s office will recommend a concurrent sentence of 10 months for separate burglary charges pending in state court.
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