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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: As the last of four defendants in the home invasion robbery and beating of developer Fred Daibes at his Edgewater high-rise was arraigned today, a judge in Hackensack said all of them should be prepared to discuss plea bargains.
Superior Court Judge Edward A. Jerejian set an April 27 court date for prosecutors and defense lawyers to report back to him on their progress.
The window for plea negotiations will close “as soon as everyone has had a chance to review all the evidence,” he added.
Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor David Calviello said he was still negotiating with the attorneys for all four.
Ramona P. Mercado-Vasquez (STORY / PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia)
“I am trying to resolve one or more of these cases in advance of trial,” he told Jerejian. “There’s a possibility of cooperating, and those who speak first often get the best result.”
As it stands, the charges are in “the higher first-degree range,” carrying prison terms of 15 to 30 years for a conviction on aggravated kidnapping alone.
Ramona P. Mercado-Vasquez was arraigned late this afternoon on charges of kidnapping Daibes and his doorman while using force, threatening to kill, and threatening bodily injury with a deadly weapon, among others contained in a 19-count indictment.
Appearing with her was co-defendant Jorge Valencia, the superintendent of Dabies’s St. Moritz building where the Nov. 26, 2013 robbery occurred.
Valencia was arraigned with the other two earlier this month, as was Mercado-Vasquez’s boyfriend, Adonis Sepulveda, who was brought before the judge this morning, as well.
Fred Daibes in court earlier this month (STORY / PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia)
Defendant Alexander Suarez wasn’t brought to court today because of what was described a calendar conflict for his lawyer.
All have pleaded not guilty.
The defense attorneys who were in court today complained of the difficulty in reviewing evidence at the Bergen County Jail, where they said library time is strictly limited and jail computers don’t open audio or video discs.
This angered the judge.
“I don’t understand your point. What do you want me to do about that?” Jerejian asked. “If the discs are in Spanish, get someone who speaks Spanish to help you.”
Jerejian said he wouldn’t agree to having all four defendants in the library at the same time for security reasons. However, he said he “can see the need for extended hours.”
Jerejian also denied a request by Mercado-Vasquez’s lawyer, Ron Bar-Nadav, to re-examine the crime scene, saying there was little point to trying to find DNA evidence after Daibes has continued living in the unit more than a year.
Mercado-Vasquez has insisted she was never in the apartment.
All four defendants remained held on $1 million bail each in the Bergen County Jail. Federal authorities also have slapped a detainer on Valencia.
Daibes was tied up with a bag over his head so he couldn’t see what they were doing, prosecutors said. His ribs were broken and $2 million in cash, gold and jewelry was taken during what became a nearly three-hour ordeal.
Adonis Sepulveda, Alexander Suarez, Jorge Valencia and their attorneys in court earlier this month (STORY / PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia)
At one point, the thieves lured the doorman upstairs during the robbery, then tied him up, as well, prosecutors said. Then they took the surveillance video from the doorman’s station, they said.
All of the stolen merchandise was found in the apartment at the St. Moritz building where Vasquez lived with Sepulveda, Calviello said earlier this year.
Authorities began searching for Valencia almost immediately after busting Mercado Vasquez and Sepulveda the day after the robbery. They later arrested Suarez, of the Bronx, on Dec. 11, 2013.
After learning of Valencia’s 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 in Massachusetts on Jan. 9 of last year.
A defense attorney last year claimed that Valencia fled to the Boston area after being threatened by Daibes’s family. Valencia was willing to work with police but didn’t trust that he’d be protected, she said.
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St. Moritz
THE INDICTMENT charges the quartet with:
• confining Daibes “for a substantial period to facilitate the commission of a crime or flight thereafter,” as well as inflicting “bodily injury to terrorize him,” before failing to release the well-known developer to a safe place;
• using force to injury Daibes and an employee of his, Marino Castillo, threatening to harm them while pointing a gun at them “under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life”;
• conspiring to commit kidnapping, armed robbery, or armed burglary;
• stealing $75,000 from him;
• hindering their apprehensions, prosecutions and convictions by concealing or destroying surveillance equipment, along with “data, clothing, burglary tools including booties, masks and gloves, and lying to law enforcement.
The indictment says the group “met, planned, discussed and agreed to participate in kidnapping, armed robbery or armed burglary.”
It also says that they allegedly “on more than one occasion attempted to carry out the offenses.”
The indictment says they “assisted one another in kidnapping both victims and taking property from Daibes’ apartment, and assisted each other in removing or concealing surveillance equipment and burglary implements from the crime scene.”
The crew entered Daibes’s’ apartment “armed with or displaying what appeared to be a handgun, and purposely inflicted bodily injury on [him],” it adds.
Sepulveda is charged separately with threatening to kill Daiies or putting him “in imminent fear of death.”
He and Mercado-Vasquez also face separate counts of handgun possession without a permit.
Suarez, meawhile, is charged separately wth hindering, by attempting “to remove proceeds from the burglary” that were in an apartment in the building shared by Mercado-Vasquez and Sepulveda and by lying to law enforcement.
He was also charged as convicted felon with illegal weapons possession, having previously been convicted of drug possession in a school zone.
Valencia is charged with eluding for fleeing to the Boston area as detectives closed in.
STORY / PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia
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