FROM STAFF REPORTS

HOOVER – Two brothers are in police custody after being charged with breaking into several vehicles parked outside businesses off Riverchase Parkway.

Hoover police responded to three separate businesses off Riverchase Parkway East on Jan. 16 after employees discovered several work vehicles were burglarized overnight, according to information released by the Hoover Police Department.

The suspects allegedly forced entry into the vehicles and stole tools and other equipment.

Detectives obtained surveillance footage of the suspects, and they were identified by other officers who recognized them from past encounters, HPD said.

Further investigation revealed the suspects sold several of the tools and other items to a pawn shop and a scrap metal dealer.

Thomas Lewis Sanford Jr., 58, and Michael Shawn Sanford, 44, both of Birmingham, are each charged with six counts of unlawful breaking and entering of a motor vehicle.

Their bond has been set at $60,000 each.

The suspects were arrested by Hoover police on Thursday, Jan. 30, in the 5000 Block of Kiska Avenue in Birmingham and transported to the Hoover City Jail, to be transferred to the Shelby County Jail later on Jan. 30.