Four men arrested in connection to a targeted string of 43 burglaries and break-ins of homes belonging to people of South Asian descent were arraigned in a Woburn court on Monday.
Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said Monday that her office is considering pursing hate crime charges. On Friday, the day of the men’s arrests, Ryan and Massachusetts State Police Colonel John Mawn Jr. said that the residents of the majority of homes were persons of Indian or South Asian heritage. Investigators believe they were targeted based on the belief that their homes were more likely to contain precious metals, jewelry or valuable heirlooms.
“We are looking at that and looking at all of the evidence that we found in the searches on Friday,” Ryan said in an interview on Monday. “There’s a large quantity of evidence, some of that is a factor in this decision. And we are reviewing the law, looking at that and making an assessment of that.”
Ryan said that some of the evidence appears to include lists of people who attend South Asian–related associations and houses of worship.
“We found what would appear to be membership lists or attendance lists or something from some temples,” she said.
Paul Miller of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and his sons Jovan Lemon of Providence, Rhode Island and Paul Lemon of Warwick, Rhode Island were arrested Friday, along with Steven Berdugo of Providence, Rhode Island, in connection to 43 burglaries and break-ins in 25 well-off Massachusetts towns, allegedly committed between 2018 and 2024. Only Jovan Lemon had a listed attorney as of Monday afternoon, who didn’t reply to requests for comment. All four were held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing.
They were indicted by a Middlesex Grand Jury in mid-April for a total of 95 counts of unarmed burglary and breaking and entering a dwelling in the daytime with intent to commit a felony.
An estimated $4 million work of jewelry and cash were stolen, often from locked safes weighing up to 400 pounds that the men removed from residences.
Ryan said the group used “sophisticated” methods, like using WiFi jammers that block connections, not using cellphones during committing crimes, and avoiding cameras and Ring doorbells.
The district attorney’s office and state police claim the defendants are part of an organized burglary ring with ties to a violent Providence-based gang known to law enforcement agencies in Rhode Island.
The nine-month investigation included the state police’s detective unit and division of homeland security as well as Rhode Island police departments.
“The theft crew we arrested [Friday] stole countless items of great monetary, emotional, and cultural value from families in multiple states, and did so by violating the sanctity of their homes,” Lieutenant Colonel Mark Cyr, commander of the Massachusetts State Police Division of Homeland Security. The state police declined to comment on Monday.
Ryan said that burglaries are bad enough, but the alleged targeting takes things to another level.
“Layered on top of that, the idea that maybe this wasn't just a pattern — they didn't go down the street and break into every house. That you or your family were somehow targeted for some particular reason. It is just so personal, so invasive,” said Ryan.
Rumana Kahn said her neighbors, who are also South Asian, had their home broken into through a second floor window last summer.
“It has been extremely unsettling that it happened in our neighborhood — being of the same background, you know, it just very, very unsettling,” Kahn told GBH News.
Kahn said she would support Ryan pursuing hate crime charges.
“I personally think that would be very, very appropriate to do that because clearly they were targeting a specific group based on their cultural and ethnic backgrounds,” she said.
Detective Chad Crogan of the Hudson Police Department worked on the investigation and said the focus on a particular group of people was unusual.
“I believe not since I've been on — I’ve been on 20 years. This is a rather large, investigation involving many towns and jurisdictions,” he said. “So this is something we usually don’t see.”
There were two burglaries and an attempted break-in last summer in Crogan’s Hudson, all targeting South Asian families.
The incidents occurred in Billerica, Boxborough, Carlisle, Easton, Hopkinton, Lincoln, Weston, Sudbury, Andover, Bellingham, Boxford, Franklin, Hudson, Littleton, Medway, Middleton, Millis, North Attleboro, Norwell, Pembroke, Seekonk, Sharon, Southborough, Wenham and Westwood.
