Burglaries targeting Asian Americans are statewide problem, crowd told

This story has been updated to reflect types of officials attending the forum.

A string of residential burglaries targeting Asian Americans in Eugene brought out some 150 people Thursday, Oct. 23, to a forum about the crimes and prevention efforts.

“This isn’t just an issue affecting Lane County,” said Gavin Bruce, a state Department of Justice bias crime prosecutor.

He said there are communities “in Beaverton, in Albany, in Deschutes County, and all over the state, that are being affected in very similar ways.”

Bruce and Lane County District Attorney Christopher Parosa discussed difficulties in prosecuting such crimes even after arrests are made, while Eugene Police Chief Chris Skinner shared details about the most recent burglaries.

“It’s important for everybody to understand that when any one group in our community is being targeted for victimization, we are all under threat, and that is absolutely the case here in Lane County right now,” Parosa said.

The Asian American Council of Oregon organized the public safety forum held at Korean Presbyterian Church of Eugene. Board members who moderated the discussion said the organization will support community members seeking help in reporting crimes.

Why do police think the burglaries are targeting Asians?

Law enforcement officials Thursday talked about why such homes might be perceived as targets.

“We have, since July of 2024, to my knowledge, had a group of individuals that have been specifically targeting our local Asian population for burglaries, primarily,” said Parosa, the county’s district attorney.

Bruce, with the state Department of Justice, agreed.

“These burglaries are targeting the AAPI community,” he said, using the acronym for Asian American and Pacific Islander. “Yeah, they are. I mean that it’s not just the lived experiences of the victims that we see who have been targeted. It’s the data. … The data is showing that these are the communities that are being targeted.”

As to why, Bruce said that, generally, crimes targeting a specific group involve stereotypes of victims staying silent or communities having a deep distrust of law enforcement. 

Skinner told the audience that “one of the stereotypes is that all business owners are wealthy.” Within this group, some seem to be viewed as “a wealthy target to take advantage of,” he said.

Eugene police in a statement last week said there have been more than 22 burglaries with similar characteristics dating back to late 2023.

But Skinner, speaking with Lookout Eugene-Springfield after the forum, pointed to July 2024 as when the targeted burglaries began. He said the “lion’s share” of targeted burglaries have been in the Eugene city limits.

What else do the burglaries have in common?

Skinner gave details about some recent burglaries.

“Part of the strategy is that before they commit burglaries, they have a jamming device that jams Wi-Fi, which then oftentimes shuts down surveillance video that’s happening in your house,” he said.

Skinner also said police believe burglars are watching home residents, with most of the crimes happening when people are away from home. He said that so far, there has not been any “significant altercation” involving victims and those committing the burglaries.

“We have not seen a level of violence or of carrying of weapons or those types of things,” Skinner said.

He spoke about a recent burglary in the Bethel neighborhood and the arrest of seven suspects after police executed a search warrant Oct. 9 on Skyline Boulevard.

“In this particular case, it was pizza delivery routes to do the surveillance. It’s not always a pizza delivery, but it’s oftentimes delivery of something,” Skinner said.

Skinner said the most recent targeted burglary took place in daylight.

A witness “watched four individuals walk away from our most recent burglary with a Sawzall in their hand” and a stepladder, Skinner said. He said it “was a second-story entry, and they ended up cutting out parts of the walls, looking for where cash might have been stored.”

Police on Oct. 21 announced a burglary in southwest Eugene as fitting the pattern of targeted theft.

Skinner, referring to the previous arrests, said, “What was so disheartening is, as we now know, it’s just one wave of many, and unfortunately, maybe future waves that we have to try and pay attention to.”

What can be done to prevent the burglaries?

Several questions from the crowd centered on ways to prevent further burglaries, with police leaders offering various tips.

Springfield Police Chief Jami Resch said, “A lot of people post, ‘I’m on vacation in Hawaii next week. Going to have a great time.’ I wouldn’t suggest doing that, especially when people have the ability to so easily look, and a lot of people don’t keep their social media private.”

Resch also suggested that people with security cameras check to see if they capture useful images. Cameras placed at elevation often only capture “the top of people’s heads,” Resch said.

Resch and others on the panel spoke about the importance of reporting crime and sharing information with police.

Lane County Sheriff Carl Wilkerson said it’s important for residents to have a connection to their neighborhood. “Probably the best thing that we can do is be really good neighbors,” Wilkerson said.

Who is doing the burglaries?

Court records for the seven recently arrested burglary suspects show five of them have addresses in Southern California. But they may be from outside the country.

Skinner told Lookout that when police executed a search warrant leading to the arrest of the suspects, “we seized out of country passports.”

In Oregon, state law generally prohibits both state and local police from assisting with immigration enforcement, and Skinner said police don’t ask about how suspects arrive into the country.

“If that’s an indicator of them being from a different country, then I could say if those are legitimate passports, then, yeah. But as far as their status, of what country specifically, all we know right now, based on at least the passport information, is it’s South America,” Skinner told Lookout. In an interview, Parosa, the district attorney, declined to say if the burglary suspects are foreign nationals.

During the forum, Parosa did, however, describe the burglaries as being done by outsiders to the area.

“They come into our community for a short period of time, and then they vanish,” Parosa said.

Skinner said he suspects the burglaries in Eugene are connected to a “well-financed” and “very organized ring of individuals.”

He called it a “national issue” and said he believes “there’s a chance that this is a separate business model for a cartel-type of organization,” with perhaps those committing the burglaries in fact “being sent out into our communities all over the country to perpetrate these crimes.”

Why don’t the arrests solve the problem?

Wilkerson, in an interview with Lookout after the forum, shared more information about an Oct. 15 “lobby Incident” involving federal officers handcuffing recently released jail detainees. The sheriff’s office operates the Lane County Jail.

“We reached out to Federal Protective Service, and they confirmed to us that ICE did take enforcement action in the lobby,” Wilkerson told Lookout Eugene-Springfield on Thursday, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

On Wednesday, Sgt. Tim Wallace, a sheriff’s office spokesperson, said it was his understanding that two people detained in public areas of the jail property were recently released suspects in a burglary targeting an Asian American-owned home. Wilkerson said that was also his understanding.

Such an action by ICE would affect the burglary prosecutions of those defendants, Parosa said in an interview with Lookout.

“Once they land in federal custody, the federal government has supremacy over the state,” Parosa said. That means a federal court must authorize the defendants to be tried in state court, he said.

During the forum, Parosa discussed how the state’s bail reform limits what can be done to try and keep these burglary suspects in jail pending their prosecution.

“The frustration, from my perspective, as we saw in cases involving prior AAPI burglary individuals, was that they immediately flee our state, once released, and often will make their way back to wherever they’re from,” Parosa said, going on to describe past difficulties with extraditing burglary defendants back to Oregon.

Jensina Hawkins, an Asian American Council of Oregon board member who helped moderate the forum, asked why the burglaries aren’t considered hate crimes.

Bruce, with the state Department of Justice, said part of the issue involves the wording of the state’s bias crime law relating to property, which applies to a category of crime involving “tampering or interfering with property” rather than theft.

“We’ve been in discussions with the Legislature, with some of the senators here tonight about how we can make those changes,” Bruce said, though he noted that bias crimes relating to property generally have a maximum sentence of one year in jail.

Parosa said that in looking at the prosecution of the burglary cases, with many of the defendants not having known criminal records, a sentence upon any conviction could be probation rather than prison.

Parosa said he would like to see a change in state law.

“What we’re hoping to see is the potential for maybe aggravating, some kind of an allegation of aggravating factor that we can file with these charges that would automatically qualify these people for a potential prison sentence as opposed to probation,” Parosa said.

Skinner said that after the seven recent arrests, Eugene police spoke on a phone conference call with “about 30 different detectives” as well as an FBI representative and an assistant U.S. attorney.

“We’re starting to see more involvement, more interest from our federal investigative and law enforcement partners that have the ability to reach across state lines,” Skinner said at the forum.

What did the crowd say?

Several elected officials attended the forum. They included Eugene Mayor Kaarin Knudson, State Sen. Floyd Prozanski, State Sen. James I. Manning Jr. and State Rep. Lisa Fragala.

The crowd was more than triple the size of the previous public safety forum held in January, also organized by the Asian American Council of Oregon, said board member Hawkins.

Cecilia Head, who said she also attended the safety forum in January, after the forum said she attended on Thursday because of “being an Asian.”

“I want to learn how to prevent and help others,” Head said, adding “I’m so glad they caught” the seven suspects referred to by police as the Skyline Seven.

Other AAPI members who attended the forum described their motivation for going to the event coming from a need to advocate for their demographic, and dispelling the “quiet and obedient” Asian stereotypes.

Some who spoke declined to be identified by name, and mentioned that while they were pleased with law enforcement officials describing some strategies to help prevent burglaries, others still wished for even more police outreach in the community. Members described specifics, such as receiving a police response after reporting crimes or creating a thorough “checklist” of preventative measures, as some of the further steps that could be taken.

Correspondent Michael Zhang contributed to this article.