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TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced a member of a residential theft ring operating in South Florida was sentenced to five years in prison. Jose Lorenzo will also serve five years of probation upon release and pay more than $10,000 in investigative costs. Lorenzo has returned numerous pieces of jewelry to his victims and has cooperated with investigators and the prosecutor against other members of the ring. He was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution.

A joint task force investigation by the Attorney General’s Office, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, Palm Beach Gardens Police Department, Jupiter Police Department, North Miami Beach Police Department, Miami-Dade Police Department, Boca Raton Police Department, and the Miami-Dade State Attorney Office uncovered the ring’s activities and made the arrests in June. In each incident, the suspects would enter a home, typically through a rear sliding glass door, and steal expensive jewelry including watches, rings, necklaces, gold bracelets, and other high-value items.

The following co-defendants were also charged and are awaiting sentencing: Kane Lopez, 31, of Hallandale; Emery Lorenzo, 33, of Miami Lakes; Michael Chala, 24, of Miami Lakes; and Lazaro Tenreiro, 39 of Roswell, Georgia. Silvia Ordonez, 40, of Miami was sentenced in August to nine months in prison followed by five years probation.