Police: Centreville Man Involved With Multiple Burglaries in West Virginia

The following arrest information was supplied by the Martinsburg Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction. 

A Centreville man and an accomplice were arrested Sunday on burglary charges in Martinsburg, W.Va., and officers are looking into additional charges in another jurisdiction, according to the Martinsburg Police Department. 

Jose Antonio Cruz, of Hancock Court in Centreville, was charged with two counts of burglary, two counts of conspiracy to commit burglary, and felony destruction of property.

A second man, Kevin Lee Gorbey, of Horseshoe Road in Culpepper, was charged with two counts of burglary, two counts of conspiracy to commit burglary, felony destruction of property, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and carrying a concealed deadly weapon. 

A report of burglary, alleging stolen copper piping, had already been filed at 903 Thompson Street in Martinsburg, police said, when an hour-and-a-half later, around 10:10 a.m., another call came in for a burglary in progress. 

Witnesses said that they saw a Hispanic male wearing a blue shirt enter the home, then leave a few minutes later carrying a stereo system. The man—later identified as Cruz, according to the police department—stepped into the passenger's seat of an orange late-model Chevy. A white male was driving the car. The driver was later identified as Gorbey. 

Officers conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle, and found that the two men matched the description from the burglary, police said. Officers found a Bose stereo system in the bed of the truck. The men gave statements about being involved in the robbery, were placed under arrest and taken back to the station. 

Police said the truck was also improperly registered, and had to be towed. During a pre-tow inventory, officers found a "large amount of suspected stolen property throughout the truck, as well as a loaded 22-caliber revolver under the driver's seat," according to a police news release. 

After being taken to the station Cruz admitted his involvement in the burglaries at the house on Thompson Street. He also said that he and Gorbey were involved in three burglaries in Berkeley Springs, W. Va., and broke into another place on Winchester Avenue in Martinsburg. 

Gorbey, the driver, admitted that he was involved in the burglaries on Thompson Street and possessed the firearm, but denied any other wrongdoing. 

Officials will be following up with the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office regarding the burglaries in that jurisdiction, Martinsburg police said.