Suspects accused of pilfering paint, from left: Jose Zepeda, Nicole Gallardo and Rogelio Zepeda. (Maricopa County)
PHOENIX - Three Valley painters were arrested after police busted what they call a highly organized, multi-county commercial burglary ring that swiped an estimated $40,000 in paint from local construction sites to resell for quick cash.
What we know:
Goodyear police arrested Jose Zepeda, Rogelio Zepeda and Nicole Yamileth Gallardo during a Phoenix traffic stop on Wednesday. Investigators, working alongside multiple West Valley agencies, cracked the complex case using a combination of high-tech tracking, license plate readers and a victim’s hidden Apple AirTag. Police say the suspects — all former employees of one of the targeted businesses — used inside knowledge of delivery schedules to repeatedly target secure construction containers.
Timeline:
The break in the case came on July 3, when an operator for a victimized painting subcontractor reported a burglary in San Tan Valley. Having previously suffered losses, the company had hidden an Apple AirTag inside a five-gallon paint bucket, which allowed them to track the stolen goods in real-time to an Avondale apartment complex. When police arrived, they found a white Toyota 4-Runner containing several of the stolen paint buckets clearly visible inside.
Detectives then utilized the Flock license plate reader camera network to blow the investigation wide open. Camera logs revealed the 4-Runner was traveling in tandem with a black Toyota Tundra registered to Gallardo. Time and again, the cameras reportedly captured the Tundra’s truck bed completely empty before a reported burglary and overflowing with five-gallon paint buckets immediately afterward. Police later tied a third vehicle, a gray Jeep Grand Cherokee registered to Jose Zepeda, to the heist locations.
Police intercepted the suspects' 4-Runner near 91st and Campbell avenues in Phoenix. Following their arrest, all three suspects reportedly confessed to a string of burglaries spanning Goodyear, Surprise, Buckeye and Pinal County over the past two months. Police say they admitted to using saws and bolt cutters to slice through locks on secure storage boxes. The suspects told investigators they sold the stolen paint — which retails for up to $100 a bucket — for just $25 to $40 each to help pay their bills because they were not making enough money at their current painting jobs, according to a police report.
Dig deeper:
According to court documents, the targeted burglaries were no coincidence. Investigators discovered that Jose, Rogelio and Gallardo were all experienced painters who had previously worked for Roadrunner Drywall and Paint, one of the primary victims of the thefts. This employment history gave them direct knowledge of when bulk paint deliveries were made to Valley construction sites and exactly where the supplies were being locked up.
Search warrants executed at Gallardo’s Phoenix home and the Zepeda brothers’ Avondale apartment yielded a massive haul of evidence. Officers say they recovered about 270 stolen five-gallon paint buckets, blue bolt cutters, multiple cut locks and the specific clothing and shoes worn by a suspect caught on construction site surveillance footage.
In the courtroom:
The three suspects have each been booked into jail on six counts of burglary and one count of trafficking stolen property. While prosecutors requested a $50,000 bond for each suspect due to the scale of the thefts and their ties to Mexico, a judge set their bonds at $20,000.
What's next:
Authorities expect more charges to be filed soon in Pinal County as the investigation continues.
Map of the arrest location:
The Source: Information in this report was gathered from the Phoenix Police Department and Maricopa County Superior Court.