NEWARK, NJ — Acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert D. Laurino announced Jan. 30 that four men have entered guilty pleas, admitting their roles in a West Orange home invasion in June in which a husband, wife and young child were terrorized.
The defendants Edward Bentura, 33, Yodelin Diaz, 25, Lidio Martinez Miese, 30, and Jesus Quinones, 38, all of Jersey City, pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge Martin Cronin to conspiracy to commit robbery, armed robbery, burglary, and unlawful possession of a weapon. Under the terms of the plea agreement they are expected to be sentenced to 15 years in New Jersey State Prison with an 85 percent period of parole ineligibility. They are scheduled to be sentenced on April 6.
Three of the four defendants are not U.S. citizens and will be deported back to the Dominican Republic after they serve their prison term. One defendant, Quinones, is an American citizen. Only Bentura had a prior conviction for burglary. This is a first offense for the others.
“This just result would not be possible if not for the bravery and vigilance of the victims in the face of danger, as well as the prompt and thorough efforts of the West Orange Police Department,” Assistant Prosecutor Jason Goldberg, who handled the case, said in a press release.
According to Goldberg, on June 8, 2017, the four armed men broke into the family home as the husband was returning from IKEA and unloading the car. They tied the husband up with zip ties and assaulted him demanding cash. The wife, who was holding an infant, was threatened at gunpoint. They began heating a knife on the stove and threatened the husband that they would kill his wife and child if he didn’t open a safe, where they believed there was cash.
During the course of the incident, the wife bravely alerted family and the police via text with a hidden cell phone, according to Goldberg. Realizing there was a surveillance system, the intruders demanded the equipment before fleeing, tripping an alarm.
The four were captured on Route 280 by West Orange police with the video equipment, cash, guns, zip ties and masks. Although they took part of the surveillance equipment, the entire incident was captured on cameras that were still intact.
In 2017, an Essex County grand jury indicted the defendants on 17 counts of conspiracy, robbery, burglary, criminal restraint, terroristic threats, unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and tampering with evidence.
Laurino commended the West Orange Police Department’s officers for their exceptional work in this case.
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