Luis Armando Estupinan Cayolam
Three men, including two with a Colombian passport and one with Puerto Rican ID, were arrested for a burglary at a Chattanooga home last Wednesday.
Those charged on aggravated burglary and other counts were Luis Armando Estupinan Cayolam, 34, Lenis Cristian David and Ambioris Abreu Santos.
Police responded to a burglary at a residence on Chase Meadows Circle at 7:46 p.m. The property owner, who had also been burglarized last November, said she saw two men on her security camera walking around in her back yard.
Police were notified that the suspect’s vehicle was possibly behind the victim’s house on Grubb Road.
Police observed a vehicle near the burglary location, moving slowly northbound on Grubb Road with its lights off. It bore a temporary tag. A stop was initiated and police followed the vehicle approximately two blocks where it pulled into the parking lot of Hixson Baptist Church. Police approached the vehicle and spoke with the driver, Estupinan Cayola, front passenger Santos and back seat passenger David. All three men were sweating profusely and appeared nervous, it was stated.
Since the vehicle was driving at night without any lights, police asked Estupinan Cayola for his license and proof of insurance. He provided police a Columbian passport. Santos provided a Puerto Rican ID and David provided a Columbian ID. The three were asked to exit the vehicle and were asked if there was anything illegal in the vehicle, as there was an odor of marijuana. Estupinan Cayola said there may be a little marijuana found.
When searching the vehicle, officers found a dark purple hoodie in the front passenger’s floorboard, a black jacket in the back passenger’s floorboard, a pair of gloves stuffed between the door and the back passenger seat, two empty black backpacks in the area of the back driver’s side seat, a crowbar in the area of the back driver’s side floorboard, two black masks and about five grams of marijuana stuffed in the front passenger’s side seat pouch.
Police informed the three there was footage of them walking in the back yard of a residence on Chase Meadow’s Circle. They all denied being there. The three were separated and each gave a different explanation for why the car was stopped in the road with no lights on; one said there was a problem with a window, one said he had dropped his cell phone and the other said one had needed to urinate.
Police noticed mud and grass on the shoes of each of them. The video showed the men in the yard were wearing ski masks and one had on black gloves. Due to this evidence, they were arrested.
All three were transported to jail without incident.