Arrests made in Garden City, Muttontown and Old Westbury home break-ins, police say

Nassau police this week announced the arrests of seven men in connection with home break-ins in Muttontown, Old Westbury and Garden City.

In a release issued late Thursday night, police said three New Jersey men had been charged in a string of burglaries in which more than $250,000 in cash and other valuable items were stolen.

Four Muttontown and Old Westbury homes were entered on the evenings of Nov. 29, Dec. 13 and Dec. 21 by breaking rear windows and sliding glass doors, according to authorities.

Police said the homes were unoccupied at the time of the burglaries. Multiple bedrooms were ransacked inside each house and diamonds, gold, designer handbags, safes, family heirlooms and more than $250,000 were stolen.

After a 2½-month investigation using extensive surveillance in the tri-state area, police located three men in New Jersey who allegedly were involved in the break-ins, according to authorities.

The men facing charges are from Colombia and are living in the United States without legal status, according to Nassau police, who said federal immigration authorities were part of the investigation.

Around 6 a.m. on Feb. 14, police found David Fernando Moreno Hernandez, 26, and Ivan Stewar Ramirez-Villalobos, 25, in Newark and took them into custody, according to law enforcement officials.

They said on the same day, U.S. marshals from the New York-New Jersey Fugitive Task Force located Juan Pablo Orjuela-Saavedra, 23, while he was driving a car in East Orange.

On Thursday, Nassau police took Hernandez and Orjuela-Saavedra from the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark to Nassau for arrest processing, according to authorities.

Police said they were unable to take Ramirez-Villalobos to Nassau because of a pending charge for an alleged burglary in Livingston, New Jersey, in 2023.

Hernandez and Ramirez-Villalobos, both of Newark, were charged with four counts of second-degree burglary.

Orjuela-Saavedra, of East Orange, was charged with one count of second-degree burglary.

Garden City break-ins

In a separate release issued Friday, Nassau police said four men had been charged in connection with three burglaries in Garden City in December.

The break-ins allegedly occurred on Dec. 10, 18 and 20. The suspects in those cases entered, or attempted to enter, the homes through rear sliding doors or a rear window, police said.

In all cases, no one was home at the time of the burglaries, police said. The suspects stole items in only one break-in, during which $1,000 and jewelry was taken, police said.

The four men were stopped by NYPD officers on Thursday for an alleged Vehicle and Traffic law violation, police said. They were placed into custody and taken to Garden City for arrest processing.

Sergio Rodriguez-Lopez, 36, of Flushing, Queens, was charged with three counts of seccond-degree burglary. Adolfo Montes-Gomez, 40, of Garden City, was charged with two counts of second-degree burglary. Brandon Montano, 29, of Flushing, and Stephen Montenegro, 42, of upstate Jamestown, were each charged with one count of second-degree burglary.

Police said the men are alleged to be part of a "theft group." There are "ongoing investigations" being conducted with police in Suffolk County and Danbury, Connecticut, police said.

With Maureen Mullarkey