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Defense attorney Ian Silvera entered a not-guilty plea for Jorge Valencia, a 46-year-old Colombian national arrested in the Boston area nearly three weeks ago.
Developer Fred Daibes at court appearance for other defendants last year
(STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
Presiding Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi continued bail for Valencia at $1 million. He was returned to the Bergen County Jail after the brief court appearance.
Federal authorities also have slapped a detainer on Valencia, who sources said had been working as a building superintendent at the St. Moritz, where Daibes and two of the other three defendants live.
Bergen County prosecutors added five counts of conspiracy to a host of charges against him: kidnapping, robbery, hindering arrest, obstruction of justice, theft, burglary with a weapon and an additional weapons offense.
Authorities began searching for Valencia almost immediately after the Nov. 26 overnight robbery at the luxury high-rise that Daibes built just off Gorge Road in Edgewater.
After learning of his whereabouts, detectives from Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli’s office alerted the Boston Police Fugitive Unit and U.S. Marshal’s Office, who took him into custody Jan. 9.
Jorge Valencia (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
Valencia joins defendants 20-year-old Anthony Suarez of the Bronx, who was arrested Dec. 11, as well as Adonis Sepulveda, 31, and 26-year-old Ramona Mercado Vasquez, who both live at the St. Moritz and were taken into custody a day after the crime.
All were being held on $1 million bail each at the county lockup.
Molinelli said the bandits broke Daibes’ ribs while taking $2 million in cash, gold and jewelry — all of which was recovered — during what became a nearly three-hour ordeal.
Defense attorneys insist that Sepulveda and Vasquez were set up by building employees, and that there is a fifth, unidentified suspect that authorities were searching for. They haven’t identified anyone, however.
RELATED:
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A 46-year-old Colombian national charged in the home invasion robbery of developer Fred Daibes at his St. Moritz high-rise apartment is behind bars in Bergen County. READ MORE ….
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A picture has finally begun emerging of a 20-year-old Edgewater man quietly arrested and charged in the luxury high-rise home invasion robbery of developer Fred Dabies. READ MORE ….
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A six-week manhunt ended yesterday with the arrest of a fourth suspect in the luxury high-rise home-invasion robbery of developer Fred Daibes in Edgewater, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said this morning. READ MORE ….
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A judge this afternoon ordered that an Edgewater couple charged with breaking developer Fred Daibes’s ribs while taking $2 million in cash, gold and jewelry during a luxury high-rise home invasion remain held on $1 million each — with no 10% option. READ MORE ….
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: The victim of a luxury high-rise home invasion in Edgewater was pulled from his bed by four gunmen who broke his ribs while beating him, then tied him up and spent three hours stealing $2 million in cash, gold and jewelry, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said this afternoon, in formally announcing the arrests of two neighbors. READ MORE ….
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli confirmed a CLIFFVIEW PILOT report yesterday that a couple charged in a gunpoint home invasion at a luxury Edgewater high-rise were arrested by his detectives and ordered held on $1 million bail each. READ MORE ….
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: The victim of a luxury high-rise home invasion in Edgewater was pulled from his bed by four gunmen who broke his ribs while beating him, then tied him up and spent three hours stealing $2 million in cash, gold and jewelry, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said this afternoon, in formally announcing the arrests of two suspects who live in the same building. READ MORE ….
- Sepulveda, Mercado with their attorneys at Dec. 6, 2013 court appearance in Hackensack
(PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
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