JACKSON – After breaking-and-entering into a home in an attempt to illegally evict residents, five men have been arrested for burglary and more, police said.
The Jackson Township Police department responded to a home on Olena Drive around 6 p.m. yesterday evening regarding a forced entry with multiple suspects who assaulted a family.
Upon arrival, the female victim and five men were standing inside the house, shouting to the officers that they had broken into the house and assaulted the family.
The five men were detained and taken into custody as the officers continued the investigation.
According to police, the suspects had forced entry to the front door of the house, causing damage to it in the process. They reportedly held down a male and female resident and took their phones from them to prevent them from calling the police. Afterwards, they began changing the deadbolt and locks on the front door.
Luckily, the male resident was able to retrieve his phone from the suspects and then call for help.
Further investigation revealed that the home was owned by a man who had leased it to a second man who then subsequently sub-leased to the residents who were currently living there. The man who owns the property reportedly hired a security company which is based in Brooklyn, NY to evict the people who were living there without going through the eviction process, police said.
The five employees arrived at the location and forcibly made entry to the home and detained the occupants while they began changing the locks on the doors, police said.
Several hours before to incident, officers received a report of a suspicious car in the area. When they approached the car, the suspects identified themselves as employees of a security company waiting to meet a client for a job in the area. At that time, officers had no legal reason to detain them further as they were not engaged in any illegal activity.
The suspects were identified as: Christopher Landau, age 26 of Brooklyn, NY; Robert Drozd, age 38 of Brooklyn, NY; Marco Balanzar-Hernandez, age 45 of Lakewood; Joseph Castano, age 22 of Brooklyn, NY; and Cesar Saavedra-Luna, age 24 of Brooklyn, NY.
All five were placed under arrest and transported to police headquarters. The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office approved the second degree and other charges against all the arrestees who were charged with: robbery, burglary, criminal restraint, theft, criminal mischief, criminal trespassing and simple assault. All were then lodged in the Ocean County Jail.
The arrestee’s cars were seized pending the investigation which is still ongoing.
The media and the public are reminded that any persons arrested or charged with any offenses or crimes are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
