MCALLEN, Texas — Two underage illegal aliens are in custody accused of breaking into ranch homes to steal firearms.
The arrest came after deputies with the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office, who were working a separate case, ended up finding a cache of weapons and stolen high dollar items and electronics that ended up leading them to 17-year-old Julio Zapien and a 14-year-old teenager, said sheriff’s spokesman JP Rodriguez.
In Texas 17-year-old’s are considered adults, so Zapien went before a justice of the peace who charged him with nine counts of burglary and set his bond at $450,000. The 14-year-old was sent to a juvenile detention center where he was charged accordingly.
The teens are believed to be behind close to a dozen burglaries that targeted mobile homes and ranch homes in the rural area of the county near the towns of McCook and Linn, Rodriguez said. When they were getting processed following their arrest, both teens said they were from Mexico and had entered the country illegally.
While most of the stolen property has been recovered, there are various items that remain missing which are a concern to authorities, Rodriguez said.
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