Man Stops Christmas Day Home Invasion

Stacy Roberts said he had just sat down for Christmas dinner when he heard a knock on the door at his trailer on Western Drive.

“I went to open the screen door and the guy reached in,” said Roberts.

He said there were two men outside, and one of them shoved him and tried to come in. Roberts said he pushed the man over his porch railing and called for help.

“Called to the neighbors (next door), and one kid jumped out of his window and came out,” Roberts recalled Monday. “They chased them off.”

Roberts said he saw two other people in the car the men got into. He got the license plate number and called police.

KRDO Newschannel 13 cameras caught what happened soon after. Police stopped the car on Interstate 25 near South Academy Boulevard and cuffed the four people inside. Officers called Roberts to come identify the suspects.

That’s when he found out the worst part of the ordeal– one of the men in the car, 38-year-old Thomas Galliher, was a friend.

“For about 20 years I’ve known him,” said Roberts. “I’ve known his sister for about 30, so, a little disappointing.”

He said he didn’t know the other two arrested, Matthew Tafoya, 33, and Kayleigh Martindale, 24. Roberts said he thinks Galliher brought them to his trailer to find things to sell.

“Obviously, he’s been here before, he knew what he was looking for,” Roberts said.

An El Paso County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said he didn’t have information on why the fourth person in the car was not arrested.

The three suspects were booked into the El Paso County jail for robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery. The sheriff’s office said that all three had prior arrest warrants for unrelated cases.