On Monday, 3 June 2024, four men showed up at the Luperon small branch of the Banco Popular at a gas station on Av. Luperon and carried out a bank robbery. Three of the men wore black ski masks, one wore a hungover mustache and beard mask. Unfortunately for 36-year old Jorge Miguel Estrella Arias, the mask moved and revealed sufficient details on him for the Police to promptly act and charge him in the robbery. The Police also used the surveillance cameras to follow the trail of the assailants.
By Friday, 7 June, Jorge Miguel Estrella Arias would turn himself into the Police at a plaza in Punta Cana. He contacted news commentator Roberto Cavada as witness of his turning himself in.
The surprising details of the identity and background of confessed bank robber Jorge Luis Estrella Arias would soon be covered in the media. It was then known that Jorge Luis Estrella Arias is a well-known model and actor. He appeared in the Cheddy Garcia reality show, “Buscando un Novio para Mama” in 2023. He also appears in a video on an Anthony Santos bachata track. Garcia and several others spoke of their surprise at hearing the news and had good things to say about Estrella. Jorge Estrella was also a shooting specialist and professor at the Procamp Academy.
In their pursuit of the bank robbers, the Police would shoot 25-year old Richard Estrella, brother of Estrella when ambushing him at the Costa Azul cabaña on the Autopista 30 de Mayo in a supposed clash between the agents at dawn of Friday, 7 June. Richard Estrella is mentioned as being the co-organizer of the robbery.
A cousin, 26-year old Eddy Enmanuel Segura Arias, had turned himself in on Thursday, 6 June 2024. The relatives say the brothers and cousin did not need to turn to robbery to make a living.
Jorge Luis Estrella Arias, signaled out as the leader of the operation, has given different versions. He first asked for pardon, and then said he committed the robbery because the family had financial problems. “We all want to help the family because we are going through an economic situation,” he said.
The Police also killed 24-year old Johan Eduardo Belliard Aybar in El Hoyo sector, in Santo Domingo Oeste, in a reported another exchange of shots. The family has protested that the accused was killed and not arrested. The Police argues the accused confronted them.
The Police, in its detailing of the case, has not reported the whereabouts of the cash removed from the bank, around RD$1.6 million. The Police has yet to recover the Kia Sorento, the camouflaged mid-sized SUV used for the robbery. The Police will be presenting four illegally possessed firearms, a vehicle and a motorcycle reportedly used in the robbery as evidence.
Diario Libre reports the lax security at the commercial banks as one of the reasons for the recent robberies. Banks have committed to step up preventive security measures.
On Sunday, two of those who died in clashes with the Police were buried. 25-year old Richard Estrella Arias was buried at the Cristo Salvador in East Santo Domingo and 24-year old Johan Eduardo Belliard Aybar was buried at Cristo Redentor cemetery in northern Santo Domingo.
Read more in Spanish:
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Listin Diario
Somos Pueblo
El Dia
Noticias SIN
Noticias SIN
Noticias SIN
Noticias SIN
Anthony Santos bachata with Jorge Miguel Estrella
El Caribe
Hoy
10 June 2024