Retail theft ring tied to Mexican cartel ends in 8 arrests
By Mariana La Roche, Hannah Hilyard
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KENOSHA COUNTY, Wis. (WISN) — The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office said investigators arrested eight people connected to a Mexican cartel following a months-long investigation into an organized retail theft ring operating across multiple states.
The investigation led to the execution of search warrants at an apartment on 28th Avenue in Kenosha and a storage unit on May 6.
“I want to say it was 5 or 6 a.m. I had heard like a loud boom,” one neighbor who did not want to be identified told WISN 12 News Wednesday about the apartment raid. “They were all suited up. They had AR-15s. I mean, you could just tell. They had shields. I honestly heard them throw, I believe, it was a flash bang.”
According to the sheriff’s office, the investigation began in March 2025 when Kenosha Drug Operations Group detectives were contacted by Oak Brook, Illinois, police regarding an investigation involving Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A criminal complaint said Illinois investigators “obtained a warrant to put a tracker” on a suspect vehicle and traced it to that apartment in Kenosha.
Investigators arrested the eight suspects and conducted the search warrants at the apartment and storage unit, finding thousands of dollars worth of clothing from stores like Lululemon, Nike, American Eagle and Victoria’s Secret. The total value of the stolen items was around $120,000.
Court documents said the thieves would “work in pairs” and conceal items underneath loose clothing before walking out of stores “without paying for any of the merchandise.” And they covered a lot of ground. Prosecutors said they hit places like the Pleasant Prairie Premium Outlets, Johnson Creek and Mayfair Mall.
The group has direct ties to Cartel La Familia Michoacana in Mexico. The sheriff’s office said four suspects, Fausto Gonzalez-Medrano, Manuel Perez-Sanchez, Yareli Salas-Ramirez, and Danna Paola Gomez, posted bonds up to $25,000 but were detained by ICE and deported to Mexico. They now have fully extraditable warrants.
The remaining suspects, Jose Antonio Baez-Fuerte, Jorge Alberto Villeda-Sevilla, Sharon Jazmin Villeda-Sevilla, and Ana Paola Villeda-Sevilla, remain in custody at the Kenosha County Jail.
“It’s kind of scary just knowing that they were affiliated with the cartel,” the neighbor said.
The operation involved collaboration between multiple agencies, including HSI offices in Houston and Milwaukee, Oak Brook police, and Katy, Texas, police.
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