University Police announced the arrest of Gary Moreno, 27, on Oct. 25. Moreno is accused of stealing more than $13,000 worth of computers, electronics, books and master building keys from Sacramento State and students.

A search of Moreno’s car resulted in the recovery of a substantial amount of stolen property from Sequoia Hall, along with numerous textbooks and other items, which officers believe may have been stolen in recent auto burglaries in the area, according to a University Police press release.

“We recovered stolen property that we feel is from some auto burglaries that occurred in months past, so its going to clear quite a few cases, we’re hoptestinging,” said Sgt. Kelly Clark.

Moreno remains in custody at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center as of Nov 12 and could not be reached for comment. His bail is set at $10,000, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff Department’s website.

Moreno has a history of arrests relating to thefts and burglaries on the Sac State campus.

He was arrested for trying to break into Calaveras Hall in August of 2006 and charged with being in possession of state keys and for trespassing, said Detective Greg Revelez of University Police.

He is scheduled to go to court in January for unrelated charges of burglary and grand theft of a computer lab in Mariposa Hall last May, charges that have since been reduced to misdemeanors, said Revelez.

Moreno was not a student at Sac State, but was a regular on campus, said Clark.

“People can come and go on campus,” said Revelez. “We don’t have a fence around here, and it is public property.”

Moreno became a suspect after Revelez started looking around trying to locate the stolen property.

Revelez said that the first places he looked were eBay, an online auction website, and Craigslist, a website for free classified ads, but was unable to locate the stolen items.

He then started calling bookstores on other college campuses.

“I started calling all the area bookstores and gave them lists of all the books that were stolen,” Revelez said. “I just happened to get lucky that one of the bookstore managers called me back and said ‘Hey, there’s been some of these books and we bought some of them back,’ and he told me the name of the person, which I immediately recognized from that previous case.”

“That’s probably our guy because that’s his MO, to steal keys and burglarize buildings,” Revelez said. “We didn’t have enough on him in 06.”

Moreno identified himself as a transient living out of his car, said Clark, so tracking him down to make the arrest was a challenge.

Revelez said he then found that Moreno was scheduled to make a court appearance relating to previous charges on Oct. 25.

“So our detectives went downtown and contacted him at his court appearance, thats where he was arrested,” Revelez said.

It could be a while before the stolen property is returned to its rightful owners.

“In almost all cases, evidence has to be held until the case is (settled),” Clark said.

Victims could eventually receive payment for the stolen items.

“It doesn’t usually happen if the person is destitute and doesn’t have a job,” Clark said. “In some of the previous cases that this gentlemen was involved with, destitution was ordered.”

Moreno is being charged with nine felonies and three misdemeanors, including three counts of burglary, four counts of possession of stolen property, three counts of theft, and two health and safety violations for possession of drugs, said Revelez.

Avi Ehrlich can be reached at [email protected].