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Carlos Beccera (STORY / PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia)
In exchange for his guilty plea to two counts of third-degree burglary, Carlos Beccera, 43, of Queens is facing less than a year in jail (not prison). Superior Court Judge James J. Guida said he’ll be deported after that.
Beccera told the judge through an interpreter that his girlfriend and co-defendant, 37-year-old Carolina Gomez, had no idea what he was up to after he told her that he was a door-do-door salesman.
Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor David Malfitano told CLIFFVIEW PILOT that Gomez pretty much said the same thing when she was arrested with Beccera about a month after the Cottage Place burglary partially captured on surveillance video last July 18.
Gomez had been parked in a white 2012 Chevy Equinox SUV near the two burglaries.
Beccera was also accused of an attempted break-in on Van Orden Avenue a week and a half later.
He pleaded guilty to the Cottage Place burglary and another the same day on Hillside Avenue.
CLIFFVIEW PILOT published the video after it was provided by borough police. Telemundo picked it up and a viewer who recognized Beccera called police.
Beccera was arrested in early August in Gomez’s Queens apartment by Leonia Detective Sgt. Chris Garris and Detective Michael Jennings, along with members of the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force.
They recovered the grey suit, gloves and sunglasses, as well as a pry tool used in the break-ins and some of the proceeds, Police Chief Thomas Rowe said at the time.
“We were very fortunate to have excellent video, which had audio,” Rowe said. “We had some hard, solid work by members of the department.
“And there was the assistance of the media in getting the video out.”
Beccera will be sentenced to 364 days in the Bergen County Jail April 24. He then will be turned over to the INS, which issued a detainer for him.
At that time, the judge said, the charges will be dismissed against Gomez, who attended today’s court proceeding but quickly left after a couple of minutes.
PHOTO TOP: Defense attorney Mario Blanch, Carlos Beccera (STORY / PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia)
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