Police: Man charged in break-in part of international burglary ring
GREENWICH — After allegedly burglarizing a home in the Glenville section of Greenwich in January of last year, making off with $45,000 in wristwatches and jewelry, Bryan Herrera-Maldonado wasn’t done for the day, according to court papers filed in Superior Court in Stamford.
On his way back to his apartment in Queens, N.Y., the 25-year-old made a stop in Bronxville, N.Y., allegedly breaking into a home and making off with a safe containing items valued at $150,000, according to the arrest warrant application.
Herrera-Maldonado, a native of Chile who moved to this country in 2019 after overstaying a tourist visa, is at the center of a major burglary ring responsible for at least 20 residential breakins in Nassau County on Long Island, N.Y., and a number of other locations, according to law enforcement authorities on Long Island and in Greenwich.
Burglars had been hitting homes in pricey neighborhoods between 4 and 9 p.m., the court papers state, “often gaining access to a second floor, to avoid being detected by a first floor monitor, and by shattering a window or sliding door to gain entry.”
Herrera-Maldonado was booked Monday in Greenwich on charges of burglary, larceny and conspiracy, after he was extradited from jail in northern New Jersey, where he was arrested late last year. He is currently held on $250,000 bail in Connecticut and is also facing charges on Long Island.
Authorities said Herrera-Maldonado was adept at his illicit trade — at least for a time.
He used rental cars acquired with false identities to drive to the homes that he and his accomplices targeted, according to the affidavit, and he used “burner phones” to communicate with associates. And his criminal associates came and went from Chile, a police official explained last year.
“That crew would flip teams. They would come here, be arrested, get out and then go back to Chile. We went after them and we went after them hard,” Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said at a media briefing in November when a number of Herrera-Maldonado’s alleged associates were arrested.
According to police investigators, Herrera-Maldonado and an associate went to Greenwich in the early evening on Jan. 17, 2020, in a rented 2020 white Kia with Pennsylvania plates. It was rented in Jersey City, N.J., under the name Bryan Herrera, according to the affidavit.
The perpetrators smashed a patio glass door at the residence and ransacked a master bedroom, police said. A white sedan was captured on surveillance video, along with a man in a blue track suit carrying a backpack and flashlight.
It appeared to fit a familiar pattern.
Burglars had been hitting homes in pricey neighborhoods between 4 and 9 p.m., the court papers state, “often gaining access to a second floor, to avoid being detected by a first floor monitor, and by shattering a window or sliding door to gain entry.”
Greenwich investigators have been working with other police agencies in the region on the break-in investigation. “These meetings have led investigators to the conclusion that recent residential burglaries are being committed by an organized group of Chilean nationals residing in the tri-state area,” the affidavit stated.
Investigators with the Nassau County Police Department took the lead in the operation and were monitoring Herrera-Maldonado and his associates, posting surveillance at his residence in the College Point neighborhood, where he paid his monthly $3,000 rent in cash, court papers state.
The Nassau County police raided the apartment on Jan. 21, 2020, and arrested three people on felony charges, including HerreraMaldonado’s girlfriend, but he got away. A large amount of jewelry and watches were found in the apartment, and the affidavit stated that two Baume and Mercier and Raymond Weil watches stolen in Greenwich were recovered. A blue track suit of the kind seen at the Glenville residence also appeared to be a match, the affidavit stated.
In November 2020, HerreraMaldonado was located and arrested at a hotel in Jersey City, N.J. He was wanted in connection in a burglary in Saddle River, N.J., and was later put into custody in the Bergen County lock-up, from which he was extradited this week.
Herrera-Maldonado pleaded not guilty to the three felony charges from Greenwich filed against him in court this week, and he was appointed a lawyer.
His profession is listed as a barber, according to court papers.
According to the most recent statistics compiled for the FBI with data from Greenwich, there were 48 reported break-ins documented in 2018, and 65 in 2019.