3 charged after posing with stolen items, cash in frightening Chester County home invasion, kidnapping

CHESTER COUNTY, Pa. - The Chester County District Attorney says three Philadelphia men are now in custody and facing numerous charges after entering a couple’s Berwyn home, threatening, kidnapping, and burglarizing them, and then posing for pictures with the items they stole.

The arrests come after a months-long investigation involving a number of departments and the FBI.

"These defendants were flagrant," says District Attorney Christopher de Barenna-Sarobe.

Investigators say back on January 8th, Julio Mendoza, Louis Armstrong, and Axel Reyes, armed, wearing all black and masks, entered the couple’s home on South Leopard Road around 2 a.m.

De Barenna-Sarobe says the group threatened the couple, kidnapped them to take the couple to their business so they could steal more, and then drove the couple back to their home where they left them tied up in an attic using cords from drapes. They left in the couple’s Mercedes, investigators say.

"They even used a photo of the victim’s daughter to suggest that they had kidnapped her and had her hostage," says De Barenna-Sarobe. "Whenever the victims moved too slowly, or whenever they complained or talked back, the defendants threatened to shoot and kill them."

Physically, the couple was unharmed and able to break free to contact police.

De Barenna-Sarobe says the men got away with about $27,000, high-end jewelry and clothing, and a pistol and two muskets from the 1860’s.

Shortly after the crime, he says a tip led investigators to the couple’s car in Northeast Philadelphia. Through video, DNA and fingerprint evidence, investigators identified a house a few blocks away. A search warrant executed by the FBI in the home led to a number of the stolen items and cell phones, with pictures, showing the three men posing with some of the items stolen.

In one picture, De Barenna-Sarobe says the defendant is lying on the couple’s car holding up cash.

"For those criminals who look outside of Philadelphia and look at the suburbs as a place where they could actually steal things or gain things of greater value, don't," he says De Barenna-Sarobe. "This is how we operate. We will go into Philadelphia. We will investigate you. We will arrest you."

Investigators say they are looking into whether or not the group is connected to a burglary of another business in Chester County.