Four men arrested in connection to a targeted string of 43 burglaries and break-ins of homes belonging to people of South Asian descent were arraigned in a Woburn court on Monday.
Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said Monday that her office is considering pursing hate crime charges. On Friday, the day of the men’s arrests, Ryan and Massachusetts State Police Colonel John Mawn Jr. said that the residents of the majority of homes were persons of Indian or South Asian heritage. Investigators believe they were targeted based on the belief that their homes were more likely to contain precious metals, jewelry or valuable heirlooms.
“We are looking at that and looking at all of the evidence that we found in the searches on Friday,” Ryan said in an interview on Monday. “There’s a large quantity of evidence, some of that is a factor in this decision. And we are reviewing the law, looking at that and making an assessment of that.”
Ryan said that some of the evidence appears to include lists of people who attend South Asian–related associations and houses of worship.
“We found what would appear to be membership lists or attendance lists or something from some temples,” she said.
Paul Miller of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and his sons Jovan Lemon of Providence, Rhode Island and Paul Lemon of Warwick, Rhode Island were arrested Friday, along with Steven Berdugo of Providence, Rhode Island, in connection to 43 burglaries and break-ins in 25 well-off Massachusetts towns, allegedly committed between 2018 and 2024. Only Jovan Lemon had a listed attorney as of Monday afternoon, who didn’t reply to requests for comment. All four were held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing.
They were indicted by a Middlesex Grand Jury in mid-April for a total of 95 counts of unarmed burglary and breaking and entering a dwelling in the daytime with intent to commit a felony.
An estimated $4 million work of jewelry and cash were…
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