Charges Dismissed Against Gold Jewelry Suspects

Suspects accused of targeting gold jewelry held by South Asian families

Charges against three suspects that were being held in connection with a series of burglaries that seemed to target South Asian families in Fairfax County were dismissed Thursday. 

Francisco Gray, 39, Dagoberto Soto-Ramirez, 27, and his wife, Melinda Soto, 33, were arrested in November after being linked to more than 25 burglaries that involved a string of gold, jewelry and documents.

The burglaries occured in four police districts in at least two states. The three were suspected of targeting homes that "had religious ornaments displayed outside or around their homes" and detectives said the decorations may have been "a contributing factor" in the choice of homes to burglarize, according to police.

On November 10, U.S. Marshals working with a police burglary task force spotted a sport utility vehicle with two men and a woman inside who fit the description of suspects in the burglaries. They stopped the vehicle at Moore Road and Clifton Road at about 1:30 p.m.

Fairfax County police executed a search warrant and searched the sport utility vehicle, where they found a lap top computer, a GPS unit, and a police scanner tuned to Fairfax County police radio channels.

Gray, Soto-Ramirez and Soto were being held without bond in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.

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