HOWELL – Three men were arrested in connection with an attempted burglary after an off-duty police officer observed actions he believed were out of the ordinary on a Howell street and pursued the incident to a resolution.
According to police, at 11 a.m. June 16, Howell Patrolman Nicholas Bondarew was off duty in his personal vehicle traveling on Hulses Corner Road near the Freewood Acres section of Howell. Bondarew saw a man wearing a backpack hastily exiting the yard of a home. The man walked down Hulses Corner Road and turned onto Freewood Street.
Bondarew turned into Freewood Acres at the next street where he could still see the man walking. The man entered the passenger side of a waiting Ford Escape. Bondarew followed the vehicle and watched it stop near a convenience store. At that time the passenger waved a third man over to the vehicle. The third man climbed into the back seat and the vehicle headed south on Route 9, according to police.
Bondarew relayed his observations to police dispatchers as he followed the vehicle on Route 9. Patrolmen Omri Spiegel and Scott Brooks and Cpl. Riaz Motani stopped the vehicle near Estelle Lane, according to police.
The driver was identified as Freddy Valera-Palomino, 44, of Jamesburg. The front seat passenger was identified as Miguel Paredes-Aquino, 39, of Jamesburg. The rear seat passenger was identified as Rolando Lopez, 27, of Freehold.
Police said the men had conflicting stories which included being in the area to do landscaping work. A backpack was observed in the back seat. Paredes-Aquino, the man Bondarew initially saw walking out of the yard wearing a backpack, identified the backpack as his.
Police said Paredes-Aquino provided consent to search the backpack which yielded a crowbar and large flat-head screwdriver. Police said those tools are commonly used in forced-entry burglaries.
While Bondarew was following the vehicle on Route 9, a homeowner on Hulses Corner Road called police to report that someone had just attempted to break into his home. Detective Cpl. Nancy Carroll and Patrolman John Lopez responded to the man’s home.
The resident told the officers one Hispanic man rang his doorbell while a second Hispanic man attempted to pry open a window. The homeowner said he confronted the men and called 911. The resident told police that as Paredes-Aquino began walking away he told him that he would “do work” on his driveway. The homeowner’s description of the men who were on his property matched Lopez and Paredes-Aquino, according to police.
At the motor vehicle stop near Estelle Lane, all three men were arrested and transported to police headquarters. Each man was charged with criminal attempt to commit burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary and possession of burglary tools.
Police said bail was set at $75,000 for Paredes-Aquino and $50,000 for Lopez and Valera-Palomino, all with a 10 percent option. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers were issued for Valera-Palomino and Paredes-Aquino, who is also a deported felon. All three men were initially placed in the Monmouth County jail, Freehold Township, in lieu of bail.
According to the website immigrationpolicy.org, an immigration detainer is a tool used by ICE and other Department of Homeland Security officials to identify potentially deportable individuals who are housed in jails or prisons nationwide. An immigration detainer is an official request from ICE to another law enforcement agency – such as a jail – that the law enforcement agency notify ICE prior to releasing an individual from local custody so ICE can arrange to take over custody of the individual.