St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office investigators and the Pasadena Police Department in Texas have made an arrest and recovered some merchandise in connection with what is considered to be the largest burglary to ever take place in St. Tammany Parish.

In the Aug. 16 burglary of the J. C. Penney department store on Louisiana Highway 21 in Covington, between $1-2 million worth of merchandise was stolen in the burglary. The burglars managed to defeat the store’s security system after they got into the store through the rooftop.

Hector Castillo of 1174 Fosteria Lane, Houston, was arrested Tuesday and booked in Pasadena in connection with the burglary. It was discovered that Castillo has 27 known aliases and has used at least 16 Social Security numbers.

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Investigators have said Castillo is cooperating with authorities, but his identity still may be in question. His arrest was made without incident in Texas.

Castillo is alleged the mastermind behind a string of burglaries of five J. C. Penney stores in Covington, Lafayette, Pasadena and Rosenburg Texas and Indianapolis, Ind.

Authorities are trying to identify the accomplices in the burglaries.

Two vehicles of interest in both the Covington and Lafayette burglaries were found at Castillo’s residence and were seized in connection with the case.

The vehicles were allegedly on the scene in Covington.

A search warrant executed at the property and two other storage locations secured a large amount of merchandise estimated to be worth about $3.5 million. St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain said the search warrants were obtained in order to secure as much merchandise as possible.

Although corporate estimates are still not available, the merchandise recovered is believed by law enforcement officials to be about 70 percent of the total merchandise stolen from the five stores.

Strain said that eventually Castillo would be returned to St. Tammany to face charges. Other jurisdictions will also be pressing charges in their cases. Strain stressed the cooperation and partnership between the various agencies was vital in the successful arrest and recovery of merchandise.

The investigation is still ongoing to arrest more suspects and possibly recover more merchandise.

Strain said that although the rooftop entry is rare in this area, it is apparently common in other parts of the country.

“They had a lot of luck on their side,” he said.

Strain said a lot of information has been obtained that will be shared across the country to make businesses more secure.

Strain said, “This was not an easy operation, and it took a lot of hard work by dedicated detectives.”

J.C. Penney was the target of the burglaries because they had a lot of jewelry and a variety of merchandise that could easily be sold quickly. Although nothing indicates merchandise was sold here, it was sold elsewhere, said Strain.

Evidence also points to a continuation of the burglaries. A store in Lafayette was targeted after Covington.

“We know it would have continued,” Strain said.