Three Queens men caught after breaking into an Ossining home have been indicted, including one charged with a hate crime for allegedly targeting the Asian homeowner because of cultural stereotypes regarding their wealth.
The three were arrested shortly after noon on Sept. 29 as they left the home of a local Asian business owner on Susquehanna Road with more than $1,000 worth of designer handbags, according to court documents. Police from Ossining and neighboring departments had been alerted to their presence in the village after information was developed about a suspect vehicle during a joint investigation of similar burglaries.
No one was at home at the time of the burglary. Police were able to respond to the house before the suspected burglars left.
Juan Carlos Sierra Gonzalez, 48, and Jaime Bryan Chang-Fuentes and Job Vera Zambrano, both 25, are charged with first- and second-degree burglary, fourth-degree grand larceny and possession of burglar’s tools. Gonzalez also faces charges of first- and second-degree burglary as hate crimes.
According to court documents, the men had a pry bar with them and Chang-Fuentes told police he had entered the home through a window.
Although police initially also charged Chang-Fuentes with burglary as a hate crime, only Gonzalez was indicted on those charges. According to court documents, he acknowledged to police that afternoon that he was the owner of the car they had been tracking and that he and two others targeted the resident after seeing them leave a Croton Avenue business and following them home the week before.
When asked why they targeted an Asian, Gonzalez allegedly told them because Asians were wealthy.
“Dangerous generalizations based on a person’s national origin are precisely what New York’s hate crime statutes are designed to address,” Westchester District Attorney Mimi Rocah said in announcing the indictment.
The top burglary charge, which carries a prison sentence of between five and 25 years, is a result of a…
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