Kiryas Joel, NY – Illegal Immigrant In Jail After Interacting With Females In Four KJ Homes

Kiryas Joel, NY – A 23 year old Honduran man is under arrest after forcing his way into several Kiryas Joel homes on Saturday morning.

Bergin Perez was arrested by the Kiryas Joel Safety Patrol after a 16 year old village resident awoke to find Perez standing in her room just before 6 AM. As the teen began screaming, Perez began to choke her and then fled the residence on Getzel Berger Boulevard. The girl’s parents called Kiryas Joel Safety Patrol who apprehended Perez moments later.

State Police said that Perez had already entered three other homes in the village earlier that same morning.

In the first incident, a Hispanic woman who was working as an independent nurse for Medicaid was listening to a program on her phone when she reported that she felt someone grab her arm at approximately 5:28 AM.

“He startled her,” State Trooper Steven Nevel, public information officer for Troop F told VIN News. “He began backing up towards the door and gesturing for her to come out. She thought that maybe the man needed medical attention. As she removed her headphones, the man gestured aggressively for her to come out and when she got to the door she saw that his pants were unzipped. He said to her in Spanish, ‘I need to have sex with someone.’”

The nurse told Perez to leave and when her co-worker, who had been sleeping at the time, woke up approximately twenty minutes later she related what had just happened. The co-worker noticed members of Kiryas Joel Public Safety standing outside talking to a male subject and the nurse identified the man as the one who had entered the apartment.

Perez, who lives on Bakertown Road in Monroe, was also identified as the man who entered two other residences. In both cases, girls woke up to find Perez in their rooms. The suspect fled when the girls alerted their parents to the intruder’s presence.

Police said that Perez has no prior criminal record but that he was deported back to his native Honduras in 2009. He told officials that he worked for the village school, a claim that seems unsubstantiated according to Moses Vitriol, the village’s public safety director.

“No one in the school knows him,” said Vitriol. “I am in the school every day and I have never seen him there.”

Vitriol said that nothing was taken from any of the four apartments and there was no sign of forcible entry, although in all four cases residents said they had locked just the bottom lock on their front door.

Kiryas Joel Public Safety turned Perez over to State Police. He was arraigned in front of Judge Steven Milligan and charged with four counts of Burglary in the 2nd Degree, one count of Acting in Manner Injurious to a Child Under 17 and Criminal Obstruction of Breathing. Perez is being held at the Orange County jail in lieu $25,000 bail.