Defendants allegedly threatened victim, an ex-girlfriend of the male defendant, with a ghost gun
On July 11, Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah announced that a Bronx couple was arraigned on an indictment charging them with a violent armed home invasion and robbery during which they repeatedly assaulted a woman, an ex-girlfriend of the male defendant, in a Yorktown house during the middle of the night.
DA Rocah said: “This alleged violent home invasion by a former intimate partner and his accomplice is a stark reminder that domestic violence knows no boundaries and can take many different forms. Our Domestic Violence Bureau is dedicated to vigorously prosecuting the most violent cases in any form while ensuring survivors receive full support and assistance.”
The defendants, Darling Read, 35, and Jovanda Paredes, 29, were arraigned before Judge Susan Cacace on July 5 in Westchester County Court, and remain in custody at Westchester County Jail. A Westchester County Grand Jury indicted the defendants of acting in concert on the following charges:
· Four counts of Burglary in the First Degree, felonies
· Three counts of Robbery in the First Degree, felonies
· Two counts of Criminal Use of a Firearm in the First Degree, felonies
· Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, a felony
· Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the Fourth Degree, a felony
· Two counts of Assault in the Second Degree, felonies
· Unlawful Imprisonment in the Second Degree, a misdemeanor
Read was indicted on an additional charge of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree, a felony.
As alleged in the indictment: on March 17, 2023, at approximately 2:42 a.m., the defendants unlawfully entered a Yorktown home where the victim, Read’s ex-girlfriend, was staying. The defendants woke the victim and chased her into a bathroom where they repeatedly kicked and punched her in the head and body and prevented her from leaving. The defendants also hit the victim in the head with a hard object, and were armed with an un-serialized semi-automatic pistol, known as a ghost gun, that they used to threaten the victim. They are also charged with stealing two iPhones.
The Yorktown Police Department arrested the defendants in the Bronx within hours of the incident, following an investigation with the Westchester County Department of Public Safety, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the FBI’s Westchester Safe Streets Task Force.
With assistance from the NYPD, Yorktown police executed a search warrant on a storage unit in the Bronx rented by Paredes, where police recovered the gun used during the alleged incident. Police also obtained surveillance video of the defendants entering and leaving the residence and storage facility the night of the alleged incident.
The case is before Judge Susan Capeci in Westchester County Court, and is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Paige Pirtle, under the supervision of Domestic Violence Bureau Chief Joyce Miller, both of the Special Prosecutions Division.
The charges against the defendants are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
