The Rancagua Guarantee Court placed three defendants charged with criminal association, money laundering, burglary in an uninhabited place, theft of national public-use property, and receiving stolen goods under the precautionary measure of preventive detention, considering that their release would pose a danger to the security of society.
The crimes were committed on the premises of Codelco's El Teniente Division and on transmission lines located in various communes of the O'Higgins Region, between 2024 and the present.
In addition, during the formalization hearing, which lasted three days, Judge Tatiana Díaz Coloma ordered preventive detention due to flight risk for five other co-defendants. In this case, she set the investigation period at seven months.
Other precautionary measures
In the case, Judge Díaz Coloma ordered total house arrest, national travel restrictions, and a prohibition on communicating with the other defendants for nine other defendants.
Meanwhile, one of them was placed under the precautionary measures of partial nighttime house arrest, national travel restrictions, and prohibitions on communicating and approaching the El Teniente Division.
On the other hand, and at the request of the prosecution, the court also ruled on partial nighttime house arrest for another 26 defendants in the case, and 17 were required to sign in monthly at Carabineros units, in addition to national travel restrictions and prohibitions on communicating with each other and approaching the El Ten…
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The Rancagua Guarantee Court placed three defendants charged with criminal association, money laundering, theft in an uninhabited place, theft of public-use national property, and receiving stolen goods under the precautionary measure of preventive detention, considering that their release would pose a danger to the safety of society. The crimes were committed on the premises of Codelco's El Teniente Division and on transmission lines located in various communes of the O'Higgins Region, between 2024 and the present. In addition, during the formalization hearing, which lasted three days, Judge Tatiana Díaz Coloma ordered preventive detention due to flight risk for five other co-defendants. In this case, she set the investigation period at seven months.
Rancagua Guarantee Court orders preventive detention of seven defendants for theft of transmission lines in O'Higgins
JAVIER TORRES/ATON CHILE
Other precautionary measures
In the case, Judge Díaz Coloma decreed total house arrest, national travel restrictions, and a prohibition on communicating with the other defendants for nine other defendants. Meanwhile, one of them was placed under the precautionary measures of partial nighttime house arrest, national travel restrictions, and prohibitions on communication and on approaching the El Teniente Division. On the other hand, and at the request of the prosecution, the court also ruled on partial nighttime house arrest for another 26 defendants in the case, and 17 were required to sign in monthly at Carabineros units, in addition to national travel restrictions and prohibitions on communicating with each other and on approaching the El Teniente Division.
Rancagua Guarantee Court orders preventive detention of seven defendants for theft of transmission lines in O'Higgins
JONNATHAN OYARZUN/ATON CHILE
Criminal association and copper thefts
According to the prosecuting body, the criminal organization, led by Freddy Parra San Martín, between 2024 and 2026, was dedicated to stealing copper from the El Teniente mine and cables of the same metal from the electrical grid in various areas of the region. The thefts were carried out by dividing tasks among its 60 members, including gathering and providing information about the places where they would commit the thefts, surveillance, transportation, stockpiling, as well as the use of front men, the acquisition of machinery, and the creation of front companies and corporations to hide the illicit origin of the funds obtained from the illicit commercialization of the metal. According to estimates, the activity generated losses for the affected companies exceeding $650,000,000. Among the charges detailed by the Public Prosecutor's Office are crimes of receiving stolen goods, criminal association, money laundering, theft in an uninhabited place, and theft of public-use national property, in addition to charges of micro-trafficking and illegal possession of weapons or ammunition in some of the cases.