Three men from Florida have been accused of transporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen property out of the St. Louis area.
Benjamin Andres Ovalle-Taibo, now 31, Jonathan Vejar-Caro, 31, and Henry Jose Ferreira-Perez, 20, were each indicted in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on Nov. 1, 2023, on one count of transportation of stolen goods.
Ferreira-Perez appeared in court Thursday and pleaded not guilty. The other two are in custody in Florida.
The indictment accuses the three men of transporting more than $5,000 in stolen goods. A motion seeking to have Ferreira-Perez detained until trial states he and his associates traveled from Florida to St. Louis County on June 9, 2023, where they allegedly stole hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of items. A detention motion for Vejar-Caro reveals he arrived in the United States from Chile in February 2023. In court Thursday, Ferreira-Perez stated he is from Venezuela.
Charges outlined in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the Ladue Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Cort VanOstran is prosecuting the case.
