WESTFIELD – A Connecticut man has been brought to the bar of justice to answer 24 charges stemming from four burglaries of two Russell Road convenience stores.
Alberto M. Amezquita, 35, of 60 Sycamore St., Bristol, Conn., has been charged in four cases arising from crimes on two dates – Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016 and Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017 – on which he is alleged to have burglarized both the Four Mile Country Store and the Circle K Gas Station and Convenience Store with at least two confederates.
Westfield Police Det. Sgt. Stephen Dickinson reports in a court document that the same three suspects are seen on the security video from each store – which are separated by only about one tenth of a mile – and in each case their methods are the same.
These were not unsophisticated ‘smash and grab’ robberies, Dickinson’s report shows, but were obviously carefully planned. The thieves used brute force but brought their own tools – multiple pry bars and corded electrical hand grinders – to pry open both exterior and interior doors and cut their way into the safes and ATMs in the two stores.
In each of the four burglaries, cable and phone wires were cut in an apparently successful attempt to neutralize the stores’ alarms.
The intruders were not hurried. On the first occasion, the video evidence shows the suspects moved back and forth between the two stores.
In the second incident, the suspects wait more than an hour after breaking into the Circle K store before they return to ransack it.
The video on Oct. 8, 2016, shows that two suspects first broke into the Circle K Gas Station at 1:24 a.m. but left in less than five minutes.
Minutes later, video at the Four Mile Country Store shows the suspects breaking into that store at 1:33 a.m. before leaving (laden with cartons of cigarettes) less then three minutes later.
At 1:55 a.m. the three suspects reenter the Circle K, leaving at 2:08 a.m. and appearing again on the Four Mile Country Store video at 2:10 a.m. where they stay until 2:31 a.m.
Back at the Circle K by 3:36 a.m., the suspects continue their efforts to break into the safe and the ATM and are successful, leaving that store for the night with their swag shortly before 4 a.m.
On Feb. 25, 2017, the video shows two suspects forcing their way inside the Circle K store, triggering an audible alarm and staying inside less than two minutes.
About an hour later, the three suspects are seen on video returning to the store where they stayed inside for about 40 minutes, stealing merchandise and again using corded electric grinders to force their way into the safe and ATM.
Less than 15 minutes after the suspects are seen leaving the Circle K store, video at the Four Mile Country Store shows them prying open the front door.
There, the thieves spent only 19 minutes inside ands were unsuccessful in their attempts to break into the ATM, leaving with cash from the register as well as liquor and other merchandise.
According to the victims’ accounts of their losses, Amezquita and his gang realized more than $15,000 in cash from the four burglaries. They also made off with cigarettes and tobacco valued at more than $10,000, liquor (much of it ‘top shelf’) worth about $500 and more than $2,500 worth of miscellaneous other merchandise.
Dickinson’s report shows that the break in the case came on July 17, 2017, when Southampton police interrupted a similar burglary in their town and the suspects fled.
A car chase resulted and ended when the fleeing vehicle crashed on Clay Hill in Westfield.
The suspects fled on foot and eluded capture but evidence found in the car – including three cellphones and power tools matching those used in the Westfield burglaries – led Dickinson to the identification of Amezquita and his two confederates.
One of them, a 16-year-old juvenile, has been charged in juvenile court where no information will be available.
Warrants have been issued for the other adult suspect but he is not yet in custody.
In his report, Dickinson reports Amezquita “has a criminal record in Connecticut for the same type of crime and was labeled as the ring leader.” He also wrote that Amezquita has “confessed to several ATM heists all around the State of Connecticut.”
In addition, he reports that in one of the Connecticut burglaries Amezquita used a minor as an accomplice.
Amezquita was arraigned in Westfield District Court on 24 charges distributed over four cases.
He faces eight charges of breaking and entering a building in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony; six charges of breaking into a depository; four charges of larceny from a building; four charges of vandalizing property and single charges of contributing to the delinquency of a child and attempting to break into a depository.
In each of the four cases he was held in lieu of $50,000 cash bail pending a July 19 hearing.
