Cops say a party the weekend prior likely is to blame for the breach in security leading to the break-in, robbery and sexual assault of two residents at 543 Madison last Monday.
According to police, the crime took place in a building on Madison and Lewis Avenues in Bedford-Stuyvesant that housed tenants new to the neighborhood.
The new-fangled security system requires a punch code for entry, while guests must be buzzed in only after showing their face on the video camera. Apparently, the residence where the crime took place held a party the weekend prior and, according to neighbors, they were giving out the code to the building to facilitate entry.
“These were responsible, working people,” said police of the building’s tenants. “But most of them are from out of the borough and apparently think it’s okay to just leave their doors unlocked inside of the building because of the security system outside.”
The perpetrators—Dezhuan Samuels, 18, Derrin Dyson, 17, Christopher Scott, 17, and a 13-year-old, whose name is not being released due to his age—knew the security code, and used it to gain entry. Cops are not saying yet whether or not one or more of the suspects either attended the party or knew someone who attended the party.
But they knew the code and also had enough information about the tenants’ lifestyles to know that they sometimes left their doors inside of the building unlocked.
The four teens broke into the apartment at about 12:45 p.m. on January 30, while two residents were still inside, a 24-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman. Wearing ski masks and carrying a gun, the suspects tied up both victims and three of the boys—including the 13-year-old—sodomized the woman.
The teens then took three laptop computers, a cell phone, jewelry, credit cards and cash.
All four suspects later were arrested. Dyson faces burglary charges along with criminal possession of stolen property. The other three suspects face charges including robbery, criminal sex acts, criminal possession of a weapon, forcible touching and sex abuse, according to the Daily News.
Police are not saying yet whether or not the suspects’ capture was a result of a positive identification by one or both victims. The suspects were awaiting arraignment Saturday, and the investigation continues.
