A 36-year-old man was caught hiding in nearby bushes with stolen merchandise after police say he broke into a Citrus Heights hardware store through the roof early Tuesday, capping a burglary spree investigators now link to roughly $500,000 in stolen goods dating back to 2024. Officers responded to the 8000 block of Madison Avenue around 3:07 a.m. after a report of someone inside a commercial business, and within hours they had a suspect in custody and nearly all the stolen property back on store shelves.
The suspect, identified as Gregory Billman, fled the store with approximately $8,000 worth of power tools and other merchandise before officers arrived, according to Fox40. Investigators determined Billman had entered the business through the roof, and officers deployed an aerial drone to help locate him, per the Sacramento Bee. The Citrus Heights Sentinel reported the break-in happened in the early hours of Oct. 27 and was captured on the store's own security cameras.
Suspect Found Hiding With Stolen Goods
Officers found some of the stolen items hidden in nearby bushes before locating Billman himself hiding nearby with additional stolen property still in hand, Fox40 reported. All of the merchandise taken in the Tuesday burglary was ultimately recovered and returned to the store. Billman was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Sacramento County Jail, according to the same report.
The Sacramento Bee identified the business as Miller's Ace Hardware, located at 8077 Madison Avenue just west of Fair Oaks Boulevard, though the Citrus Heights Police Department's own news release did not name the store. The Sentinel's initial report on the burglary noted that police had not released the suspect's identity at that time, while Fox40 later named Billman as the suspect arrested in the case — a discrepancy in timing that remains unclear.
Four Older Burglaries Add Up to $500,000
Beyond Tuesday's break-in, Billman was booked on additional charges connected to an ongoing investigation into four other Citrus Heights commercial burglaries dating back to 2024, police said. Officials estimated the combined value of merchandise stolen in those four earlier incidents at around $500,000, according to Fox40's reporting. The Sacramento Bee reported Billman remained in custody Wednesday afternoon and was scheduled to appear for arraignment Thursday afternoon.
The case lands amid a broader pattern of commercial break-ins in Citrus Heights this fall. Just days earlier, burglars smashed through the front glass window of the KAY Jewelers storefront at Sunrise Mall and made off with an estimated $25,000 in jewelry sometime Sunday night or early Monday morning, Fox40 reported. Police said at the time that no information about potential suspects in that theft had been released publicly.
Property Crime Trending Down Citywide
The burglary spree comes even as overall property crime in Citrus Heights has been falling. The city's police department reported 2,782 crimes against property in 2025, down 8.18% from 3,030 the year before, according to the Citrus Heights Police Department's 2025 Annual Report. The department's IMPACT Unit, which targets property and retail crime, participated in more than 1,500 incidents, made 97 arrests and ran four targeted retail-theft operations last year, the report shows.
Investigators are asking anyone with information relevant to the case to call 916-727-5500.
