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A Chilean national arrested in Southern California this week has been linked to a bank and ATM robbery crew that hit locations up and down the Pacific states during the past year, including the bombing of a cash machine inside a Target store in San Ramon two weeks ago, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
Diego Ananias Arellano Diaz — also known as Fabio Cristian Hernandez — faces charges in multiple jurisdictions at the state and federal levels, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California.
Arellano, as the last name he’s been most commonly charged under, was allegedly involved with a crew that stole more than $4 million in cash from ATMs between May and October 2024 that was indicted by a federal grand jury last Halloween but he remained at large.
Federal prosecutors said the San Ramon Police Department identified Arellano as one of the suspects who used an improvised explosive device to break into an ATM inside the Target store in The Shops at Bishop Ranch at around 2:20 a.m. July 20. He has not yet been charged by the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office.
He was arrested in Newport Beach on Tuesday (July 29) on charges related to the brazen robbery operation that targeted financial institutions in California, Oregon and Washington, according to federal prosecutors.
It was not immediately clear whether Arellano is represented by an attorney yet. He faces up to 25 years in prison in the federal case, for which he would make a first appearance in court after proceedings in his state-level cases.
The Chilean robbery crew took exhaustive steps to avoid detection, according to federal prosecutors, who alleged the suspects rented short-term vacation properties near their targets and rented cars on the black market.
“Conspirators identified ATMs in vulnerable locations and then, using construction-crew disguises, blowtorches, cellphone jammers and other sophisticated tactics, broke into the ATMs and stole their cash,” authorities said. “More than 29 banks and credit unions were targeted during the period of the conspiracy, with more than $4 million in cash taken.”
A federal grand jury indicted 11 people on charges of conspiracy to commit bank robbery and bank robbery on Oct. 31. Arellano was charged by complaint separately 10 days earlier under “John Doe 2”, and the charging document was amended May 14 when his true name was learned, prosecutors said.
San Ramon police later identified Arellano as a suspect in this summer’s bombing and burglary at the Target in San Ramon, federal prosecutors said. The San Ramon investigation is ongoing, with the FBI also involved.
Arellano has also been charged – under his alias Fabio Hernandez – with assault with a deadly weapon in Los Angeles County, federal authorities said. He is currently in state custody.
Federal prosecutors noted that the investigation involved the FBI, police departments in Burbank, Citrus Heights, Clovis, Elk Grove, Fresno, Garden Grove, Modesto, Newport Beach, Rocklin, Roseville, Sacramento, and San Ramon, and the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, with support from the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office, the Seattle Police Department and four U.S. Attorney’s Offices.
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