Father's Day will have a different meaning this year to one Valley father and his sons.
Court records show that a Phoenix man and his two sons have been charged with 32 thefts of over a dozen Home Depot and Lowe's stores throughout Maricopa County.
Police said the trio would take items, such as cordless drill kits, chainsaws, weed trimmers, paint sprayers and Dyson vacuums from the stores and get away in a gray Jeep Cherokee.
On March 15, witnesses were able to get a license plate number on the vehicle. Police traced the car to 46-year-old Manuel Gallardo. Social media and DMV photos of Manuel and his 19-year-old son, Christian Gallardo, showed a distinctive arm tattoo that was visible in surveillance photos of the crimes.
Another son, who is a 17-year-old, was also identified as an accomplice to the crimes, police said.
A pawn shop search revealed that many of items were pawned off within an hour of the thefts.
Police said that on June 7 they saw the Cherokee in the parking lot of a Lowe's store near 30th Avenue and Thunderbird Road. They said they witnessed Christian Gallardo running out of the store with a Dyson vacuum cleaner worth about $500. Police followed the car to a pawn shop near 9th and Southern avenues, where the trio was arrested as they left the pawn shop.
Here are some of the numbers related to the Gallardo crime spree:
In 13 days from March until June, they committed 32 thefts of 12 different Homes Depot stores, plus various Lowe's stores. The value of the items stolen was nearly $8,000, from which they got about $6,000 by selling or pawning the stolen items.
Manuel and Christian are facing 32 counts of theft and 15 counts of trafficking in stolen property. Manuel's other son is in the juvenile court process at this time.
