GILROY
– Two men suspected of stealing a collection of eight guns from
the home of a U.S. Marshal living in Gilroy – including an illegal
uzi – were arrested by Santa Clara County Sheriff’s deputies on
Monday, but two of the guns are still on the street.
GILROY – Two men suspected of stealing a collection of eight guns from the home of a U.S. Marshal living in Gilroy – including an illegal uzi – were arrested by Santa Clara County Sheriff’s deputies on Monday, but two of the guns are still on the street.
Matthew Phillip Marra of Morgan Hill, 24, was arrested on Monday during a traffic stop for possessing stolen property from homes in San Jose and Santa Clara along with two police badges that were in the gun case stolen from the U.S. Marshal’s home.
Phillip Matthews, a 28-year-old transient and acquaintance of Marra’s, was arrested later that day at a home on Watsonville Road where the uzi was recovered. Both Marra and Matthews are currently in county jail with multiple felony charges of illegal weapons, narcotics and grand theft.
Since Monday, six of the eight weapons have been recovered by the Sheriff’s Department and the Bureau of Alcohol of Tobacco and Firearms, who are working jointly to recover the remainder of the firearms.
“We have good leads on the two guns still out there, but until we have them back in our hands we are concerned they might be on the street,” said Marti McKee, spokeswoman for the ATF. “Stolen guns are always a concern because of their risk to the community.”
McKee declined to comment on whether the ATF was looking for the remaining two guns in the Gilroy area.
During interrogation, Marra told police he had traded at least one of the guns for methamphetamines. A Glock 9 millimeter model – one of the guns stolen – can go for $250 on the street, according to local law enforcement agents.
Sheriff’s deputies pulled Marra over on U.S. 101 near Cochrane Road Monday when they noticed his late-model Chevy Blazer had an old California license plate – a dark blue plate with gold figures. The deputies then noticed the stolen material in the Blazer and learned through questioning that Marra had stolen the guns missing from the Gilroy home.
Law enforcement officials then began tracking down the eight firearms.
The guns were first reported stolen Nov. 14, when the suspects broke into the home of the former San Jose Police officer and current U.S. Marshal’s home and wheeled the large gun safe out of the house on a small dolly, according to Sheriff’s spokesman Terrance Helm.
The ATF is asking anyone with information on the stolen guns to call the ATF’s San Jose office at 535-5015.
