Two Allenstown men accused in a string of burglaries through six towns were arraigned yesterday after $10,000 worth of stolen merchandise, including an assault rifle and two pistols, were found in their homes Saturday night, according to the police.

Daniel LeBlanc, 28, of Swiftwater Drive, is being held on $45,000 cash bail, Allenstown police Chief Shaun Mulholland said. LeBlanc is charged with four counts of receiving stolen property and one charge of possession of marijuana. The Hillsboro police added one count of burglary.

William Ellis, 30, of Albin Avenue, is being held on $30,000 cash bail and is charged with three counts of receiving stolen property and one count of possession of a controlled drug. He was also charged with one count of burglary by the Hillsboro police.

Both men were arraigned in Hooksett District Court. Receiving stolen property is a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Possession of the weapons could bring enhanced penalties, Mulholland said.

An additional $10,000 was added to each bail amount by the Hillsboro police, Mulholland said, because of burglaries allegedly committed in that town. Other towns involved were Henniker, Washington, Lyndeborough, Mason and Meredith, Mulholland said.

The police from Allenstown, Hillsboro and Lyndeborough executed search warrants at the suspects' homes Saturday and found chain saws, electric guitars, flat-screen televisions, laptop computers and jewelry, Mulholland said.

The police also found marijuana at both locations, as well as three weapons. An AK-47 assault rifle, stolen from a home in Henniker, and a pistol were discovered at the residence of LeBlanc, Mulholland said. Another pistol was found at Ellis's home.

The owners of the rifle and pistols were identified through the serial numbers on the weapons.

The owners of some of the televisions and at least one of the laptops have also been located, Mulholland said.

"A lot of the stuff hasn't been claimed yet," Mulholland said. "We're already working with other police departments through the state for unsolved burglaries, and at some time we will have items on display for people to come and look to see if they can claim their property."

Mulholland said tips from residents helped the police identify the suspects.

He added that LeBlanc and Ellis have police records for what he said were similar crimes to the ones they've been charged with.

"They're both well-known to the police; they've been known and arrested," Mulholland said. "We had leads developed in several communities. They were not strangers to us, and we were able to bring enough information forward to get search warrants."

Mulholland said he didn't know when the burglaries began, but he speculated that the crimes might have taken place over a six-month period, perhaps longer.

"They dumped some stuff as soon as they could get rid of it," Mulholland said. "This is what they had left in their possession at the time."

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