Home invasion in Middletown captured on video causes ‘social media frenzy’ for victim

— Arianah Acevedo may be a social media influencer, but she has gotten more online exposure than she can deal with since she went public with her account of the invasion of her Middletown apartment by five men on Dec. 30.

“Those interviews caused a lot of chaos,” she told a reporter who arrived at her door Friday morning to ask her to tell her story again.

She said the news stories had caused a “big social media frenzy.”

Acevedo has shared surveillance video of the home invasion with some media outlets but declined to do so again.

“I just don’t want to see myself on platforms anymore as my bedroom is being robbed,” she explained.

Acevedo has been quoted as saying that she has a substantial following on social media and believes the invaders had been tracking her there, although she said she did not know them personally.

Five suspects in the home invasion were arrested shortly after the crime.

Police said they found one suspect near the scene. They say other four fled in a Cadillac sedan that crashed in North Haven as police pursued them. The four fled on foot but were arrested, police said.

Authorities identified the suspects as: Mykev Speights, 22, of no known address in New York state; Jordan McNeill, 19, of Binghamton, N.Y.; Angel Fragoso, 22, of Jersey City, N.J.; Dietrich Williams, now 21, of New York City; and Angel Martinez, 25 of New York City.

Online state Department of Correction records show that all five remained in jail Friday, held in lieu of bail ranging from $255,000 to $975,000.

All five face numerous charges, the most serious of which is home invasion, carrying a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 10 years and a maximum of 25 years.

The five men also face a charge of first-degree kidnapping with a firearm, which carries 10 to 25 years in prison.

Speights had an open murder case when the home invasion occurred, according to a police report. Acevado had called police earlier that day at about 4:40 a.m. about a similar delivery scam, the report said.

But she couldn’t describe the potential suspect who knocked on her door claiming to be delivering a package and officers didn’t find anything amiss, the report said.

Police received a report of a home invasion at her address about six hours later, according to the report. Video within her apartment shows Acevado answering the door with a gun in her hand, the report said. She initially tried to get the man in the FedEx vest just to leave the package, but he said he needed a signature, so she opened the door, she told police, according to the report.

She was quickly overpowered by several men who were asking where her money and jewelry was kept, she said, according to the report. She told them she didn’t keep the items at the apartment since she had been robbed in September, the report said. The men made off with about $32,000 in designer clothing including a $4,000 Gucci coat and two Birkin bags worth $10,000, police said. The men also took the key to her 2022 Mercedes-Benz worth about $90,000 and the Glock handgun she was carrying, which had slipped out of her pocket, police said.