b'V olent crime sprees carried out by organized bands of mur- money for Mexican drug cartels. For the broader community, some comfort might be derous felons is not uncommon in major urban centers found in the fact that the vast majority of home invasions and murders are not ran-and the kind of dealer-on-dealer robberies and assaults likedom acts. Most are inside jobs that target victims who cannot go to the police, and those on Coleman Ave. and Balchuk Lane, tend to be thewhose losses cannot be reported and are not covered by insurance, to say the leastmost brazen and cruel. Armed resistance is the expectationthese are dealer-on-dealer crimes that many recognize as part of the game. The as is a potential big payoff of illicit narcotics, stolen fire- stark, new reality for residents of affluent neighborhoods like London Club Estates, arms and untraceable cashall of which are illegal contra- is that big-time criminal activity and the potential for murderous violence involving band that cant be reported to police as stolen property. Thisfirearms can operate unabridged, right under their noses.is gangland street crime turned very personal, and in the case of Ausencio Acosta, Jr., it was his family connectionL a Palmera mall is considered one of the truly safe places in the to the Lopez that provided him the information and motivation he needed to plot aCoastal Bend for shoppers, teens socializing, and employees. Oth-violent home invasion that ended in double murder. er than your occasional shoplifting case or a random simple as-It has not been reported if 25-year-old Robert Angel Lopez, Jr., is related to Ar- sault or public intoxication incident, our regional shopping mall turo and Miriam Lopez, but he was arrested on April 19 in connection with the crime,is typically drama-free. That peace was shattered, and employees accused of driving a third vehicle in which he picked up the four gunmen, Olivares,at dozens of retailers and restaurants were rattled upon learning Wheeler, Gosson and Castillo, after they ditched their getaway car nearby the crimethat one of La Palmeras most established tenants, Amans Jewel-scene. Adrian Olivares, the 46-year-old lifelong criminal and registered sex offenderers, was robbed in a coordinated heist a half an hour before clos-who plotted the heist with Acosta, had been booked into the Nueces County Jail Apriling on the slow, spring evening of Tuesday, March 27. Located a 10 on possession of controlled substance charges, before all the others, but was notfew feet from the McArdle Rd. entrance near J. C. Penney, Amans charged in the Lopez murders until April 16. was the closest high-value target to an outside entryway.The April 18 arrest of Ismael Castillo in San Antonio was actually the third inFour masked men, two with long rifles and two equipped with hammers or other the Coleman Ave. casethe first being that of Ariana Carbajal, age 26, just eight daystools, burst into the store that was staffed by two female employees with no custom-after the murder. She is accused of driving the stolen 2001 Buick used in the crime.ers present. While the armed men kept the women at bay, pointing their rifles at them The second arrest was that of 36-year-old Ricardo Jose Acuna, who was being sur- and shouting verbal threats, the other two went directly to the glass cases that housed veilled by Jim Wells Countysolid gold chains, smashing them and stuffing the chains into a bag. At one point in Sheriffsinvestigatorsatansurveillance video, the bandits could be seen grabbing a box of gold chains that was apartmentcomplexintheso heavy it took both men to lift it. We learned from veterans of the jewelry business northern part of the county.thatthieves Acuna and his girlfriend werewouldratherAmans Jewelers surveillance videofollowed by police after theysteal solid gold departedtheapartmentinthatcanbe awhiteSUV,thefemaleinmelteddown the drivers seat. The coupleandreformed, led state troopers on a chaseremovingany into Nueces County after DPSidentifying Ariana Carbajal Ricardo Acuna attemptedatrafficstoponengravingsor County Road 624 in Bluntzer.etchings,than The SUV eventually came to a stop near the River Hills Country Club, where Acunadiamondsor fled on foot but was quickly apprehended. otherprecious While it was certainly clear to investigators that criminal activity was afootstones that re-inside the Coleman Ave. house, it was less clear concerning the Lopez home in thequiregrading affluent London ISD subdivision. It is never reported by police if any of these homeandauthenti-invasions result in what the assailants are looking fordrugs and casha factor thatcation in order would verify if the victims were, in fact, distributing narcotics. to be soldand In 2011 Arturo Lopez was arrested and charged with two counts of possessionluxury watches and manufacturing with the intent to deliver a controlled substance between fourcarry hidden, identifying markings inside their casings. Gold is also simple currency and 200 grams, one count of simple possession of the same volume of a controlledthat can be easily authenticated and for which the daily value is a matter controlled substance (like methamphetamines, cocaine or heroin), and money laundering. Lo- by world markets. Gangsters also seem to really like gold, so it can be easily traded pez was represented by one of the citys most expensive criminal defense attorneys,for drugs and guns.John Gilmore, and was sentenced to probation, which he completed successfully. Although the exact take in the Amans robbery has not been disclosed, we have While no direct connection between the murders on Coleman Ave. and in Lon- been told off-the-record that the loss was well into hundreds of thousands of dollars. don Club Estates has been established other than a common suspect, Ismael Castillo,Police managed to reassemble the gang of five who pulled off the La Palmera heistcircumstances beg some very obvious questions about potential common threads.two gunmen, two smashandgrabbers, and one getaway driver, but not for nearly a For example, were the Lopez upstream suppliers of narcotics to Mathis or others inmonth after it took place. Wheeler, Castillo, Gosson, Acosta and Lopez were charged the Coleman Ave. house? Had Castillo or any other of the assailants acted as middlein the robbery, all of whom were already in custody on charges related to the London men between the narcotics distributor and the street-level dealer? Club Estates home invasion and killings. As police searched in vain for the Amans Of greatest worry to residents in London ISD is the mystery surrounding oth- heist gang in March, the ragtag band of outlaws were undoubtedly emboldened by erwise normal-acting, family-oriented neighbors who fit into the community, buttheir success and set their next target much higherthe very private, but likely well whose high-paying profession is the distribution of narcotics and laundering ofarmed, Lopez home, less than two weeks later.TheC talBend.comom THE COASTAL BEND MATHE CGAOZINEASTAL BEND MAFEATURED: The StGAZINEories that MattLate Summer 2018ered 105TheCooasastalBend.c 31'