Crime & Safety

Two Gang Members Arrested in Home Robbery

Three of the four men involved in a home invasion turned robbery on Monday were arrested.

 

Two men arrested in Monday’s are reported gang members, according to the West Orange Police Department. 

Known gang members Andrew Benjamin, 20, of Newark, and Michael Owens, 19, of Plainfield, were arrested on Monday morning after fleeing from a home they were burglarizing on Nestro Road. 

Find out what's happening in West Orangewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Al-Tariq Burrows, 36, of Newark, was also arrested in connection with the robbery. Police are still looking for one more unidentified man. 

The four men were in the act of burglarizing the house when a homeowner walked in on them at about 10 a.m. The four men assaulted the resident before they fled the home in a Chrysler Condorde stolen earlier that day from East Orange.   

Find out what's happening in West Orangewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Information released to Patch Monday incorrectly indicated there were five men arrested in the robbery. 

Nearby police agencies were involved in searching for the vehicle after it sped away from Nestro Road, including the state police. West Orange police detectives spotted the suspect’s car on I-280 and pursued it into Newark.  

While fleeing from police, the suspects rammed an ambulance which was waiting at a red-light on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The men then bailed out of the car and ran. 

Three of the four men were found and arrested by the WOPD, with help from the Essex County Sherriffs Department and state police. 

The fouth suspect is still at-large. Authorities desribed him as a black male wearing khaki-colored shorts, and is known under the alias "14." 

The suspects were originally thought to be armed but no weapons were found.

The three men are currently being held in the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark. Their bail is set a $100,000 each.

The men are being charged with burglary/robbery, theft, eluding and other related offenses as well as recieving stolen property, according to police. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.