Members of a ruthless organised crime gang who robbed people by squirting them with bottled sauces have been jailed.
The five gang members employed distraction techniques such as squirting mustard and ketchup onto their elderly victims’ coats, who had recently withdrawn cash from the bank, while another gang member committed the theft.
From October 2024 to February 2025, the five offenders targeted individuals withdrawing substantial amounts of money from branches in Kent, which included Chatham, Dartford, Gravesend, and Sevenoaks.
They tailed their victims, aged in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, to the locations where their cars were parked. The criminals initiated conversations with the victims while accomplices stole the money.
Additional distraction methods involved placing nails and pins on the ground to either puncture a tire or prompt the victim to exit their car to remove the potential hazard.
They also squirted sauce or mustard from a bottle onto the victim’s coat and then pointed out the stain to cause a distraction.
In each incident, the victims, who were in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, were engaged in conversation long enough for an accomplice to discreetly gain access to the cash inside a car or bag and steal it without being detected.
A police investigation led to the tracking of a vehicle involved in the thefts back to Hemel Hempstead, where the gang members were later arrested.
The gang members were seen on CCTV following a victim as they walked down an alley in Sevenoaks
They were seen crowding a victim near to their car before attempting to steal cash from them
The five gang members were arrested by Kent Police after tracking of a vehicle involved in the thefts back to Hemel Hempstead
The five gang members employed distraction techniques such as squirting mustard and ketchup onto their elderly victims’ coats, who had recently withdrawn cash from the bank, while another gang member committed the theft.
Jhon Ruiz, Maria Carmen, Solomon Rondon, Miguel Perez and Matias Vega, all of no fixed address, were later charged with conspiracy to steal.
Further investigations following their arrest found the thieves had also targeted victims in Berkshire and Essex. In total, the gang stole £20,720 and attempted to steal a further £10,085.
All five pleaded guilty to the indictment and were sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday 7 August.
Perez, 31, was imprisoned for three years and nine months and Carmen, 48, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison.
Ruiz, 40, Rondon, 49 and Vega, 32, were all jailed for two years and seven months.
Investigating officer, Detective Constable Emma Laimbeer, said: ‘These heartless criminals targeted victims who could not afford to lose the large amounts of cash that were stolen.
‘Their targets were people whose first instinct was to trust strangers who engaged them in conversation. The victims’ good natures were then exploited by an organised gang who used a variety of distraction techniques to get access to their money.
‘Our detectives were absolutely determined to track down these offenders and successfully identified their car through painstaking examination of CCTV.
‘Once identified, investigators worked out the most likely location to intercept the thieves and travelled out of Kent to effect the arrests.’
