Man with antique guns arrested

Albuquerque police arrested a man they say stole 15 antique firearms, precious stones, jewelry, and gold and silver bars worth a combined $42,000 from a jewelry store and home over a three-week period.

Brandon Giron, 30, is charged with residential burglary, larceny over $20,000 and other crimes. He was booked into the county jail.

When police searched his home, they found 41 firearms (22 of which had been reported stolen), rare coins, stolen art and other items, said Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department.

“The APD Bomb Unit assisted with rendering safe two grenades and another device which was suspected of being an IED (improvised explosive device),” Gallegos wrote in an email.

He said the investigation is ongoing as detectives work to tie the recovered items to several other burglaries around the city.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, on July 2, police were called to a jewelry store attached to a home in the 1700 block of Mountain NW near Tiguex Park in response to a tripped alarm. They found the home had been rifled through.

Over the next couple of weeks, police were called to the same home twice more for burglaries.

The break in the case came in late July when an employee at Ron Peterson Firearms and Antiques reported they discovered Giron had been tied to the sale of several stolen guns, at least one of which appeared to match an antique gun stolen from the jewelry store, according to the complaint.

A judge ordered him released on his own recognizance, according to court documents.