Two friends were charged Thursday with break-ins of vehicles and sheds at Cal State Fullerton.
Cal State Fullerton police officers on patrol spotted a truck full of equipment in a parking facility on campus at 3:48 a.m. Wednesday and were suspicious, said Cal State Fullerton police Capt. Scot Willey.
When Ryan Chase Bumgarner and John Michael Nicely saw campus police they “took off,” but with help from Fullerton police the two were quickly rounded up, Willey said.
The duo are “friends who grew up with each other and decided to go smoke meth and go to Cal State Fullerton to steal things,” Willey alleged.
Bumgarner and Nicely are accused of breaking into vehicles, sheds and stealing the equipment of plumbers and electricians worth about $5,000, Willey said.
Police also recovered stolen personal paperwork investigators suspect was being used for identity theft as well as insurance and unemployment fraud, Willey said.
Bumgarner, 34, pleaded not guilty Thursday to three counts of burglary, and single counts each of grand theft, receiving stolen property, vandalism and bringing dangerous and deadly weapons on campus, all felonies, as well as single misdemeanor counts each of possession of burglary tools and a controlled substance.
Bumgarner was ordered to return to court March 18 in the North Justice Center in Fullerton.
Nicely, 39, faces the same charges, but his arraignment in the jail courtroom in Santa Ana was rescheduled for June 1 in the North Justice Center in Fullerton.