On May 25, the night of the jewelry store heist in Simi Valley, the four-person crew was serious, sophisticated and professional.
They didn’t break directly into 5 Star Jewelry and Watch Repair on Cochran Street. Instead, they cut a hole in the roof of the candy shop next door, dropped in, spray painted over the security cameras and cut through the connecting wall. Once they were in the jewelry shop, they drilled into the safe and took about $3.5 million in cash and jewelry, including designer watches.
But they hadn’t been as careful five days earlier, when they were casing their target, according to a felony complaint filed in Ventura County Superior Court on June 12 against four people prosecutors say pulled off the heist.
On May 20, security cameras captured two of the suspects standing in front of 5 Star Jewelry and peering into the windows, the criminal complaint states.
The two men, joined by a third person police have yet to identify, then went into Dr. Conkey’s Candy & Coffee, the shop next door.
One of them started checking out the security cameras. Then one acted as a lookout while another used a cell phone flashlight to inspect the wall the shop shares with the jewelry store. They sat at a table against that wall and talked, and during their conversation one of them raised a hand and gestured as if using a can of spray paint.
At a news conference on June 13, held in front of the jewelry store, Simi Valley police and Ventura County prosecutors said that video footage started them on a trail that led to the four people arrested June 10: Manuel David Ibarra, 37; Sergio Andres Meji-Machuca, 27; Camilo Antonio Aguilar Lara, 31; and Heidy Nickolt Trujillo, 25.
These four people have been arrested and charged with felonies related to a $3.5 million jewelry store burglary in Simi Valley on May 25, 2025.
All four were arrested June 10 and each one faces four felony charges, plus a potential sentencing enhancement because the value of the goods they allegedly stole was more than $3.2 million. They all pleaded not guilty on June 12, and were being held in Ventura County Jail on $100,000 bail each.
If convicted of all charges and the enhancement, they could face six to nine years in state prison, Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said at the news conference.
“These were not teenagers burglarizing a local business to score quick cash,” Nasarenko said. “Rather, they were sophisticated and skilled professionals who used counter-surveillance measures, a collapsible ladder, rope and power tools to cut through a roof and tunnel into a wall, breach a safe, and take millions in watches, jewelry, cash and other merchandise.”
All four suspects are Chilean nationals and had been living in the San Fernando Valley, Nasarenko said.
Simi Valley Police Chief Steven Shorts said investigators weren’t sure yet how long they had been in the United States. Meji-Machuca had a felony warrant for a burglary-related crime in New Jersey, Shorts said.
On the day they were arrested, some of them were wearing or carrying jewelry that was reported missing from 5 Star, Shorts said. Their car had a ladder and a rope that the criminal complaint says was stolen from a Home Depot the week before the Simi Valley heist.
Simi Valley police also served a search warrant at an address in Canoga Park that day, where they found cash and some of the jewelry reported stolen from 5 Star. About $600,000 of the $3.5 million in goods and cash reported stolen from the shop was recovered during the arrests and the search, Shorts said.
Watches and cash taken from the suspects in the May 25 burglary of 5 Star Jewelry & Watch Repair in Simi Valley.
The Canoga Park location had a full kit of burglary tools, Shorts said: gloves, collapsible ladders, lock picking equipment, practice locks, diamond testers. Police also found a firearm that had recently been reported stolen from a pawn shop in Los Angeles.
Between the modus operandi of the burglary and the extent of the tools and goods seized, Nasarenko said it appears the suspects are part of a transnational theft ring, like the one that was run from a car rental shop in the San Fernando Valley and busted last year by federal and local authorities.
In that case, prosecutors tied the suspects to dozens of burglaries and other thefts all over the country, including in Ventura County. Just as in the 5 Star heist, the alleged thieves were from Chile, which is the only country in Latin America whose citizens can automatically get 90-day tourist visas to visit the United States.
In another recent case, thieves from outside the United States were sentenced to 14 years in state prison for crimes including home break-ins in Simi Valley, Nasarenko said.
The 5 Star crew may be connected to additional burglaries, and there could be more charges against them, or more people arrested, Shorts said.
Police believe the crew attempted to rob a different store in Simi Valley the night before they hit 5 Star Jewelry. On May 24, Shorts said, there was a break-in at Simi Jewelers & Pawnbrokers, a store on Tapo Street, two miles east of 5 Star.
As in the 5 Star burglary, the suspects entered through a business next door and cut a hole in the connecting wall. They disabled the alarm and security cameras, but a backup camera caught someone wearing clothing that matched that of one of the 5 Star crew, Shorts said.
At Simi Jewelers & Pawnbrokers, whoever broke in left without stealing anything.
“We don’t want to speculate why no property was taken,” Shorts said. “We have some idea, but we don’t want to disclose that.”
Ted Mackel, the owner of Dr. Conkey’s, said he thinks the burglars meant to steal his store’s security footage, which would have erased the video evidence of their earlier visit. But instead of ripping out the security system, they took the stereo, he said.
Mackel said it cost him about $4,000 to repair the damage to his store’s roof and wall. It wasn’t enough to make an insurance claim worth it, he said, so he had to cover it himself.
On May 25, thieves broke into Dr. Conkey’s Candy & Coffee through the roof and cut a hole in the wall to reach the jewelry shop next door. The businesses are on Cochran Street in Simi Valley.
Jacob Youssef, the owner of 5 Star Jewelry, said there is no insurance to cover his losses. About $300,000 in stolen goods belonged to customers who were having watches or jewelry cleaned, repaired or worked on, while the rest of the $3.5 million was the property of Youssef’s store.
Youssef said police have told him they’ve recovered about $600,000 worth of goods, or a little more than one-sixth of his losses. Still, he’s happy to see an arrest and some level of closure.
“We’re just happy that it won’t happen to somebody else,” he said.
Tony Biasotti is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at [email protected]. This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation’s Fund to Support Local Journalism.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Four suspects arrested, charged in Simi Valley jewelry store heist
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