Teens charged in Telshor crime spree now charged in home burglary

Las Cruces police said Monday the two teenagers suspected of breaking into and burglarizing several Telshor area businesses in February have now been charged in a residential burglary in which a handgun was fired.

15-year-old Matthew Guzman and 14-year-old Romero Serena are now charged with one count each of Residential Burglary, Conspiracy and Larceny over $500, police said. Guzman was also charged with one count of “Negligent Use of a Deadly Weapon.”

Police said the most recent charges were filed Friday, March 17 and stem from the March 8 burglary of a home on the 2000 block of Bugatti Drive.

The homeowner arrived at about noon and found two juvenile boys in her home, police said. The woman yelled and the boys allegedly ran away out the back door carrying backpacks.

As the woman and a neighbor chased one of the boys on Bugatti Drive, one of the suspects took out a handgun and fired a round into the air, police said, adding that boy was later identified as Guzman.

Officers responded to the call, but were unable to locate the suspects.

Investigators learned the two boys were seen later that day in an orange Plymouth Neon, allegedly retrieving backpacks from behind bushes near a restaurant a short distance away from the burglarized home.

A witness positively identified Serena from a photo posted to Facebook which identified him as a suspect in a spree of burglaries committed on Feb. 12.

Investigators believe Guzman and Serena were aided by a male relative driving the Neon. The investigation continues and additional charges are possible.

In the Feb. 12 incident, Guzman and Romero Serena were each charged with six counts of Non-Residential Burglary, two counts of “Criminal Damage to Property over $1,000,” three counts of “Criminal Damage to Property under $1,000,” and three counts of Larceny. Police said the charges are related to the burglaries of five adjoining businesses at 755 S. Telshor: Mother Earth, Tiffany’s Pizza, Elle Gem, Oriental Medicine and Salon No. 3.

Both juveniles were arrested March 13 on the charges related to the Telshor burglaries and remain incarcerated at the Dona Ana County Detention Center.