Area law-enforcement officers busted open a burglary ring
Wednesday and found dozens of stolen items, mostly power tools, in
a locked storage building in a Gilroy labor camp. Sheriff
’s detectives have linked the recovered items to at least six
reported thefts outside city limits and at least two in the city of
Gilroy. Detectives think at least 15 cases will be solved as a
result of the bust.
Area law-enforcement officers busted open a burglary ring Wednesday and found dozens of stolen items, mostly power tools, in a locked storage building in a Gilroy labor camp.
Sheriff’s detectives have linked the recovered items to at least six reported thefts outside city limits and at least two in the city of Gilroy. Detectives think at least 15 cases will be solved as a result of the bust.
Most of the burglars are still at large, although the Sheriff’s Department has some suspects.
On Wednesday, deputies arrested the janitor at the Rodriguez labor camp, Mario Martinez Medina, 44, who claimed he was storing the items for a friend and did not know they were stolen. During a consensual search of Medina’s room, police found between 1.5 and 2 ounces of methamphetamine, a digital scale, a loaded shotgun, an unloaded .22-caliber rifle and $1,652 in cash.
While the burglars appeared to have struck homes and businesses, their specialty seems to have been stealing power tools from construction-site storage buildings. Sheriff’s Detective Julian Quiñonez said he has evidence the thieves often took day-labor jobs at various construction projects around town to find out where the equipment was stored.
“For the contractors, be very careful on who you hire,” Quiñonez advised.
The recovered items included compressors, generators, pressure washers, power saws, various other power and hand tools, two computers, two digital cameras, a surround-sound stereo system and a bicycle. Found with these were an array of bolt cutters, the largest being more than 3 feet long. Bolt cutters are suspected in most of the construction-site burglaries.
Detectives gained information that the stolen items would soon be shipped to Mexico to be exchanged for money and/or drugs.
