Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin has announced that charges have been filed against two men who allegedly were involved in multiple burglaries and thefts in a seven-county area from May through August 2019.

Joshua Torres-Ruiz, 20, of Allentown, is charged with 26 counts each of burglary and criminal conspiracy to commit burglary; seven counts of criminal attempt to commit burglary; and six additional counts of criminal conspiracy, all felonies.

Torres-Ruiz is also charged with four counts of both theft by unlawful taking or disposition and criminal conspiracy to commit theft by unlawful taking or disposition, also felonies. Additionally, he is charged with four counts of both theft from a motor vehicle and conspiracy to commit theft from a motor vehicle, which are misdemeanors.

Efrain Santiago-Colon, 24, of Allentown, is charged with 19 counts each of burglary and criminal conspiracy to commit burglary; five counts each of criminal attempt to commit burglary and criminal conspiracy; two counts each of theft by unlawful taking and criminal conspiracy to commit theft by unlawful taking; and three counts each of theft from a motor vehicle and criminal conspiracy to commit theft from a motor vehicle.

As a result of an investigation undertaken by the Pennsylvania State Police, local police agencies, and the Lehigh County Auto Theft Task Force, it is alleged that an organized gang of individuals committed multiple nighttime burglaries/attempted burglaries, motor vehicle thefts, and thefts from motor vehicles in Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, Berks, Carbon and Schuylkill counties from May through August. District Attorneys of those counties have agreed to consolidate the charges and prosecution in Lehigh County. The investigation is ongoing.

“I want to commend trooper Michael Everk of the Pennsylvania State Police — Troop M and Detective Chad Wasserman of the Lehigh County Auto Theft Task Force for their extensive work involving this complex, multi-jurisdictional investigation,” Martin said. “In addition, I thank the analysts at both the Lehigh County Regional Intelligence and Investigation Center and the officer David M. Petzold Digital Forensics Laboratory located on the campus of DeSales University for providing the technical expertise critical to the investigation into the extraordinary number of crimes allegedly perpetrated by these individuals.”