2 Plead Guilty To Burglaries In Tewksbury, 6 Other Towns

TEWKSBURY, MA — Two men who were charged last spring in connection to a multistate burglary spree pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison Tuesday, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said.

Gabriel Estuardo Rojas, 28 of Methuen, and Manuel Jose Lopez, 24 of Lawrence, were arrested last April after an investigation involving police from across Massachusetts and New Hampshire, according to a news release from the district attorney's office. They were charged in burglaries in seven communities, Natick, Waltham, Wilmington, Westford, Methuen, Tewksbury and Andover.

They were also charged with receiving stolen property from break-ins in Concord, Dracut, and Pelham, New Hampshire, officials said.

According to the release, Rojas pleaded guilty to four counts of unarmed burglary, three counts of breaking and entering a building in the daytime, breaking and entering a motor vehicle in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony, two counts of receiving stolen goods over $1,200, receiving stolen property, possession of burglary tools and conspiracy.

Lopez pleaded guilty to three counts of unarmed burglary, breaking and entering a building in the daytime, two counts of receiving stolen goods over $1,200, receiving stolen property, possession of burglary tools and conspiracy.

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Lopez was sentenced to up to four years in prison and two years of probation. Rojas was sentenced to up to seven years in prison and two years of probation.

Investigators used surveillance images to identify the burglars, and later found evidence on their cell phones about the burglary conspiracy, Ryan said in a news release. Rojas was arrested in May 2020 in New Hampshire with a stolen motorcycle in New Hampshire. Police later found a storage unit he rented in Tyngsborough filled will stolen goods.

Over 20 police departments from Wellesley to Windham, NH, participated in the investigation, according to Ryan.