Alert Neighbors Help Catch Burglars in Morgan Hill

Three Merced County men were arrested in Morgan Hill Monday for an alleged string of burglaries that occurred in the residential neighborhood surrounding the Morgan Hill Library, police said.

Steven Gifford, 26, of Los Banos was arrested and faces charges of possession of methamphetamine and for being under the influence of a controlled substance, according to police.

Thomas Sanfilippo, 22, of Gustine, and Jacob Kaiser, 27, of Santa Nella, were arrested on charges of possession of methamphetamine and burglary tools.

All three suspects were arrested on suspicion of possession of stolen property.

Alert neighbors are being praised for reporting their suspicions to police, which led to an investigation into the whereabouts of the stolen property.

Police reported that over the course of the past three weeks there has been a rash of home burglaries, prompting them to patrol the area more aggressively.

Police said that an officer saw the three suspects acting suspicious and detained them at the Morgan Hill Police Department while the department continued its investigation.

According to police, further investigation turned up numerous pieces of jewelry, methamphetamine, a burglary tool and a handgun that was reported lost out of Los Banos. Police said that many of the jewelry items were identified as stolen from previously reported burglaries in the area.

Search warrants were then written to search the suspects' homes as well as a home on West Main Avenue in Morgan Hill, which the suspects were known to frequent, according to police.

Additional stolen property was located at the Morgan Hill and Santa Nella homes, police said.

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