‘They hit the jackpot’: How so-called ‘burglary tourists’ use visa waivers to target luxury US homes

Carol and Jeff Starr celebrated their daughter’s wedding last month with a bit of irony: neither was wearing their own wedding rings at the ceremony. Thieves had broken into their Southern California home last spring and cleaned out a safe full of jewelry.

Carol and Jeff Starr celebrated their daughter’s wedding last month with a bit of irony: neither was wearing their own wedding rings at the ceremony. Thieves had broken into their Southern California home last spring and cleaned out a safe full of jewelry. “They hit the jackpot,” Carol Starr told CNN. The couple had locked their own rings in a 6-foot-tall safe, where they also secured heirloom jewelry passed down from Carol’s late mother. “My mother loved beautiful things and she wanted to leave a legacy through jewelry,” Carol Starr said. “She bought some beautiful antique jewelry, museum-quality jewelry.” Orange County, California, prosecutors allege a group of thieves hid in the hillside adjoining the Starr’s home, watched them leave with visiting relatives, and made their move. “They came over our fence, they broke through a window in the upper bedroom and came through that window,” Jeff Starr told CNN. “And then immediately started working … on the safe.”