SAN JOSE — Three San Jose men have been arrested in connection with at least a dozen commercial burglaries reported between March and October of this year, according to police.

During the alleged crime spree, they were reportedly seen using a telltale white Honda Odyssey minivan, which police said the suspects torched and abandoned after seeing security images of the vehicle shown in a local TV news report.

According to investigators, the three men were connected to a multitude of burglaries targeting businesses throughout the city during overnight hours. They broke in through means that were relatively small, like using crowbars and other blunt objects, and also more aggressive, like using a stolen vehicle to crash through storefronts, police said.

Between March and July, burglaries linked to the trio involved the use of the white minivan as a getaway vehicle; after they destroyed it, the group got another minivan of the same model to carry on their activity through October, police said.

The investigation led to San Jose police securing arrest and search warrants for the the three men. On Nov. 9, police arrested two 25-year-old men in San Jose; the third, a 23-year-old man, was arrested Nov. 22 also in San Jose.

Police said that when the arrest and search warrants were served, they “located evidence of the crimes,” but did not specify what was recovered. Prosecutors have filed 15 counts of second-degree burglary in connection with the string of crimes, police spokesman Officer Steven Aponte said. All three are being held without bail in the Santa Clara County jails.

Anyone with information about these burglaries can contact the SJPD financial crimes unit at 408-277-4521.

Source: www.mercurynews.com