A New York man will spend a few years behind bars for a series of burglaries in Newton and elsewhere that had a racial bias element.
Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan announced on Friday that Juan Castano, 32, of New York, had pleaded guilty to a slew of home break-ins across multiple communities—10 homes in total, including four in Newton—and that he targeted homes belonging to Asian or South Asian families.
In June and July 2021, Castano allegedly broke into four homes in Newton, four homes in Quincy, one home in Wellesley and another in Andover, making off with a combined $200,000 worth of property that included cash, jewelry and even a handgun.
Prosecutors say Castano had scouted homes by carrying a clipboard to the front door and then broke windows and glass doors to get inside.
According to Ryan’s office, at one of the homes in Quincy, the family—including a child—was at home. Fortunately, no one was injured.
“Juan Castano chose homes to break into based specifically on the ethnicity of the residents. He specifically came to Massachusetts from the New York area to commit these crimes. His plan not only violated the victims’ sense of safety, but, in one instance, he created a physical threat for the family, including children, who were at home during the break,” District Attorney Ryan said.
Geolocation and cell tower data showed Castrano at all of the break-in locations, Ryan’s office reports, and that Castano was making trips to Massachusetts with the help of Wendy Reyes, his alleged accomplice.
“This case is an example of a frightening trend of targeted breaks,” Ryan said. “However, it also illustrates that we are committed to working collaboratively across agencies and multiple counties, if necessary, to hold those accountable who are organizing these complex criminal schemes.”
Castano’s co-defendant, Reyes, is set to go on trial in April.
Castano pleaded guilty to 21 charges, and Middlesex Superior Court Justice Patrick Haggan sentenced him to 4 to 6 years in prison.
Castano is already serving a 5.5-to-11-year prison sentence in New York for similar crimes, and this new sentence will run after that one is served.