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Police have arrested and charged three individuals suspected of being involved in more than 25 burglaries that mostly targeted Indian families in Fairfax County.

On Thursday, Fairfax County Police charged the suspects, all from New York, with nine felonies each in connection with the string of gold, jewelry and document burglaries.

Francisco Gray, 39, of Nassau County, N.Y.; and Dagoberto Soto-Ramirez, 27, and his wife, Melinda Soto, 33, both of Queens, N.Y., are currently in custody. Each is charged with four counts of burglary; four counts of grand larceny; and one count of conspiracy to commit burglary.

They are being held without bail in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. Calls made to attorneys for Gray and Melinda Soto were not immediately returned. Soto-Ramirez is scheduled for an attorney review on Friday.

Police said that on Nov. 10, U.S. marshals working with the police burglary task force spotted a sport utility vehicle with two men and a woman inside who fit the description of suspects in the burglaries. They stopped the vehicle at Moore Road and Clifton Road in Clifton about 1:30 p.m.

The task force, comprised of U.S. marshals and Fairfax County police officers from the Sully, West Springfield, Franconia and Fair Oaks district stations, has been patrolling targeted areas across the county for several weeks, according to police spokesman Bud Walker.

Overall, the task force consisted of more than 30 law enforcement officers, according to Walker. "It's been an extensive operation. In this case, U.S. marshals literally just saw them drive by and saw that they fit the description," he said.

Fairfax County police executed a search warrant on Thursday and searched the blue Ford Escape the three suspects were in when they were stopped. Investigators say they found a laptop computer, a GPS unit, and a police scanner tuned to Fairfax County police radio channels.

According to the search warrant affidavit filed in Fairfax County Circuit Court, neighbors of prior burglary victims had described a Hispanic female suspect with pink or red hair and a Hispanic male in a blue jump suit "appearing like a maintenance/service repair worker."

Also according to the affidavit, when Deputy U.S. Marshal Edgar Cline initiated a stop of the blue Ford Escape, he saw a clipboard in the vehicle with a contractor's invoice describing plumbing work. A "backpack with tools," maps of the area, a blue New York Yankees hat and binoculars were also listed as property seized by police. Police did not recover any stolen property or documents in the arrests.

The home of Raman Kumar, of Centreville, was burglarized in February. He has since rallied the Indian-American community and organized communication efforts among other victims. Kumar said Thursday that he feels relieved that there are suspects in custody.

"I feel excited and I have spoken with some fellow victims and they feel both excited and a sense of relief as well," he said. "The task force did help, and news from the media also helped, as did the town meetings that were held to let people know about these burglaries."

According to Walker, the arrests mark the beginning of a new phase of the investigation that is expected to include multiple jurisdictions in at least two states. "We anticipate many more charges," he said.

Commonwealth's Attorney Raymond F. Morrogh said Monday that he would need to know more about the case to make a determination on whether the crimes could be considered hate crimes.

"I don't have a lot of information about the case yet," he said Monday.