Home invader leader sentenced to 40 years

A Texas man was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his leadership role in an armed home invasion robbery crew that traveled the United States targeting South Asian and East Asian families.

Juan Olaya, 41, of Houston, Texas, was convicted by a federal jury of one count of racketeering conspiracy, four counts of assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering, and four counts of brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence on March 9, 2020. 

According to evidence presented during the trial, Olaya acted as the road boss for an enterprise that committed a string of armed home invasions in Michigan, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, and Texas from August through December of 2014. 

Olaya recruited other crew members and assigned roles to those members. Olaya and crew members then traveled to specific locations, conducted surveillance, and executed the robberies.

Olaya and three other members of his crew were arrested in December of 2014 after a series of home invasions in North Texas.

They knocked on the door of an Indian American family in Carrolton, Texas. Theiy  rushed in catching the family off-guard but before they could round up all six members of the family of six, one of the family members was able to call 911.

“Juan Olaya and his robbery crews committed a host of violent crimes that terrorized innocent victims across the United States,” said Special Agent in Charge Timothy Waters of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office. 

“His crimes are made more disturbing because the victims were chosen based on their ethnicity or race. The FBI will continue to work with our federal, state, and local partners to investigate and hold accountable predators like Olaya who threaten the safety of our communities.”

The organizer of the crew, Chaka Castro, ran the enterprise from 2011 through 2014. Castro was convicted by a federal jury on June 4, 2019, and was sentenced to 37 years in prison on Oct. 28, 2019. Castro generated lists of robbery targets in various states around the county, specifically families whose last names were common to certain ethnicities and assigned crews to carry out armed robberies inside the families’ homes.

The crew utilized a particular modus operandi in each of the robberies. Members preferred to rob homes while the families were present so they could use their victims to point out valuable items. 

Members disguised their appearance with clothing and bandanas so that victims would have difficulty identifying them. They openly carried and brandished firearms to gain control of the victims and then immediately corralled the victims, including children, into one location in the home. 

At least one crew member then restrained the victims using duct tape and threats of violence, as one or more others ransacked the home in search of cash, jewelry, and electronics. The crew organized their trips to involve multiple home invasion robberies over a series of days.

The FBI’s Ann Arbor Office investigated the case with the assistance of federal agencies including U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Secret Service, and local law enforcement agencies.