BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Two men were taken into custody last weekend over their role in a past theft and burglary.

Bellingham Police Department Lt. Claudia Murphys says 33-year-old Austin Grimme and 27-year-old Richard Garza were accused of stealing alcohol using a stolen gun earlier this year in January.

Neither man was allowed to have the firearm because they were previously convicted felons.

BPD officers impounded their car and sent DNA tests to a lab to confirm their involvement in the theft.

The next morning, Grimme and Garza broke into the fenced lot of the police department in an attempt to retrieve the gun from their car.

Officers watched surveillance footage from that morning and conducted interviews with both men that solidified their roles in the burglary.

Then, after seven months, officers received DNA evidence last week that proved Grimme and Garza’s possession of the stolen gun and developed probable cause to charge them.

Both men were taken into custody over the weekend and remain at Whatcom County Jail on $75,000 bail.