HSI helps dismantle multiple state violent crime conspiracy
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — An individual who orchestrated a dozen armed robberies, targeting small businesses in Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina, was found guilty by a federal jury in Kentucky on Monday of several charges, including murder.
The announcement was made by the acting U.S. attorney for the western district of Kentucky.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) assisted the FBI, Bowling Green (Kentucky) Police Department (BGPD) and numerous other local, state, and federal agencies in this investigation.
“This case is an excellent example of how HSI agents work with their local, state and federal law enforcement partners to ensure violent offenders are removed from our communities and brought to justice,” said Jerry C. Templet, Jr, special agent in charge, HSI Nashville.
After a five-day jury trial in federal court, Jorge Santos Caballero Melgar, 36, formerly of Nashville, Tennessee, was convicted of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery; conspiracy to use and carry firearms during and in relation to crimes of violence; interference with commerce by robbery in a March 2017 robbery in Bowling Green, Kentucky; murder through the use of a firearm during and in relation to the commission of a crime of violence; and illegal reentry into the United States after a previous deportation.
Caballero Melgar was the final defendant in a case that originally charged a dozen individuals with perpetrating violent robberies in which store employees were bound with duct tape and threatened at gunpoint while the store premises were searched for cash. The robbery of La Placita, a business in Bowling Green, resulted in the shooting death of a victim who had arrived outside the store to pick up his young son who was inside while the robbery was in progress.
A feature of the charged robberies was that Caballero Melgar identified the locations to be robbed, drove co-conspirators to robbery sites and then stayed outside the store while in nearly constant cell phone contact with those inside during the robberies. Trial evidence established that in one instance, a bound store employee, unable to understand the Spanish speaking defendants, had a cell phone held to her ear over which Caballero Melgar demanded that she tell the robbers the location of the store’s money.
Five co-conspirators, who had all previously pleaded guilty in the case, testified at Caballero Melgar’s trial. Their testimony was corroborated by cell phone location evidence offered through an FBI expert witness. Finally, evidence at trial established that Caballero Melgar was a citizen of Honduras and had been deported from the United States in early 2015. He was back in the United States unlawfully by no later than December 2016, leading a group that committed these multi-state robberies.
“These violent defendants are off the street because of the outstanding work of the FBI, the Bowling Green Police Department, and our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners across six states,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett. “This case is an extraordinary example of the dedication and teamwork our law enforcement partners bring to the table every day in the fight against violent crime. I commend them for their work and thank them for making our communities safer.”
“Today brings to a close the spree of armed robberies that resulted in the death of an innocent bystander,” said FBI Louisville Special Agent in Charge Robert Brown. “Melgar and his previously convicted co-defendants demonstrated a penchant for violence and would have no doubt continued their path of carnage. FBI Louisville is proud of the role its agents and our law enforcement partners played in bringing these individuals to justice.”
Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 2, 2021.
The murder charge, using a firearm during a crime of violence, carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. There is no parole in the federal system.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Marisa Ford and Alicia Gomez.
Agencies involved in this investigation include HSI Bowling Green; FBI Louisville; FBI Bowling Green; BGPD; FBI Charlotte; FBI Memphis; Lexington (Kentucky) Police Department; Cary (North Carolina); Clayton (North Carolina) Police Department; Snow Hill (North Carolina) Police Department; Greene County (North Carolina) Sheriff’s Department; Rocky Mount (North Carolina) Police Department; Henderson (North Carolina) Police Department; Gallatin (Tennessee) Police Department; Morristown (Tennessee) Police Department; McMinnville (Tennessee) Police Department; Metro Nashville Police Department; Clarksville (Indiana) Police Department; Northampton County (Virginia) Sheriff’s Department; and the Kansas Highway Patrol.
HSI is a directorate of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move. HSI’s workforce of over 10,400 employees consists of more than 7,100 special agents assigned to 220 cities throughout the United States, and 80 overseas locations in 53 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.
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