[StBernard] Construction burglary ring broken up by Sheriff's Office

[Westley Annis]

Burglaries solved

By Erik Sanzenbach
St. Tammany News

Construction burglary ring broken up by Sheriff's Office

The amount and variety of stolen items was enough to take one's breath away.

Spread out were piles of electric drills, nail guns, power saws and hand
tools. Boxes filled with hundreds of tool belts were next to the piles of
tools. Several lawn mowers, air compressors and four electric generators sat
among the loot recovered this week by the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's
office. Inside a mini-storage locker were table saws, various ladders,
pressure washers, hoses, scaffolding and equipment for hanging Sheetrock.
There were several buckets of copper wire and folding doors.

There was so much equipment, the deputies had to rent out a mini-storage
garage on Brownswitch Road near Slidell, because there was no more room at
the substation on Production Road.

Spread out in front of the mini-storage was close to $100,000 in stolen
construction equipment.

And that was only the tip of the iceberg, according to detectives with the
Sheriff's Office.

They estimate the seven-man burglary crew has stolen close to $500,000 in
construction equipment over the past two years. Detectives believe the
thieves started looting construction sites shortly after Hurricane Katrina.

"This is only one-fifth of what was actually stolen," Sgt. Bobby Juges said.

"This was a very organized operation," St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack
Strain said as he wandered through the piles of stolen items.

Seven men, five of them illegal aliens, were arrested Jan. 9 after the St.
Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office arrested one of the men who was attempting
to burglarize a St. Bernard construction site.

The suspect told the St. Bernard deputies about the thefts in St. Tammany.
After St. Bernard informed the deputies here, a search warrant was issued
for a house at 59217 Caroll Road, just outside Slidell city limits.

St. Tammany deputies found seven men along with a lot of stolen items in the
house. Juges said there may be more people involved in the burglary ring,
because there were 18 beds in the house. He said the Sheriff's Office is
trying to get the house condemned because the sewage lines had backed up in
the house and made the residence almost uninhabitable.

Detective Melissa Sperling said the suspects have told deputies that as many
as 15 other individuals were involved.

Arrested were Juventino Trejo, 43, Gustavo Lucio, 37, Albert Lopez, 19, Juan
M. Lopez, 17, Juan A. Lopez, 23, Isidro Mendoza, 32, and Jose Lopez, 21. All
the men lived at the Caroll Road house. Each was charged with possession of
stolen property. George Bonnett, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, said
the counts against each man is "expected to number in the hundreds."

Of the seven, Trejo and Lucio were the only two in the country legally.
Bonnett said the other five have immigration holds on them pending the
outcome of the trials.

Juges said the gang operated on the eastern end of St. Tammany Parish,
hitting construction sites in Slidell and Lacombe. They had recently started
working in St. Bernard Parish.

Since Trejo and Lucio were in the U.S. legally, they would drive the
equipment down to Texas and Mexico and sell the equipment to the highest
bidder. The other five members of the gang would scour the parish's many
construction sites looking for things to steal.

Juges said Trejo and Lucio would drive to Mexico twice a week to deliver the
contraband.

The gang branched out from construction equipment and also started stealing
appliances. A truckload of stoves, dishwashers, dryers and washers was
brought to the mini-storage lot Tuesday.

Strain said the gang would find out who ordered appliances, then go to the
stores, claiming they were picking it up for friends and drive off with the
stolen goods.

So far, the Sheriff's Office has located 20 victims and is in the process of
returning the items to the rightful owners.

"We want to find more owners," Strain said. "There are people who did not
report the robberies, because it was one or two tools."

Others like Habitat for Humanity had whole trailers of equipment disappear.
Juges said the crew could empty a trailer in two minutes.

One contractor showed up at the mini-storage to see if his missing equipment
was there.

Roy Webster, owner of ADR Flooring, had been told by a deputy about the
burglaries.

Webster was extremely lucky. After a half an hour, he found his routers,
grinders, compressor and circular saw. He also found his wet saw, a tool
used to cut ceramic tile and granite flooring. The wet saw alone cost $900.
He said he had only used the wet saw twice before it was stolen last month.
Webster said all together, $4,000 worth of equipment was stolen from the
construction site.

"I never thought I would see this stuff again," Webster said. "I am very
happy. This will save me a lot of time and money."

Webster said he was able to find his tools quickly because he kept a
detailed record and description of each tool.

Strain said theft from constructions sites has been a big problem in the
parish, but the arrest of the seven-man gang has put a dent in the number of
such burglaries being reported.

"We haven't had any thefts of construction sites since the arrest," Strain
said.

He said he is working with contractors and the St. Tammany Homebuilder's
Association to educate contractors about keeping their equipment out of
burglars' hands. He said the homebuilder's association is also informing the
Sheriff's Office of where houses and buildings are being built, so deputies
can keep an eye on the sites.

"The arrests have slowed it down, but it won't stop it," Strain warned.

Anyone who believes their equipment was stolen and wants to recover it can
contact Detective Stan Smith at 645-2466 or Detective Melissa Sperling at
646-4163.