NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Police arrested several alleged migrant squatters last week who were found in a Bronx basement with loaded guns and drugs.
The arrests were made after police received a report of a man with a gun near Hull Avenue on March 27, according to NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell.
Police allegedly chased 24-year-old Hector Desousa Villata, believed to be from Venezuela, into a home at 3259 Hull Ave., where they found seven people, and a 7-year-old child, living in the basement, though the child's parents were not immediately identified.
Officers arrested Villata along with seven other suspected migrants in the home. Additionally, 22-year-old Javier Alborno allegedly tried to flee with a gun but was quickly arrested.
The suspects claimed that they were residing in the apartment but Chell was skeptical, suspecting they were squatting.
"The landlord, who does not live there, is in civil court trying to get them out of the house," Chell said. "He does not know anybody who lives there."
After getting a search warrant, police found two more guns, three big magazines with extra bullets, a box of bullets, and bags of drugs including ketamine and cocaine mixed together in the apartment, according to Chell.
He mentions that many of the migrants have previously been incarcerated and quickly returned to the streets.
"Migrants, guns, open cases … We shouldn't be confronting these people a second time," Chell said. "It's very dangerous for our cops."
Villalta was previously charged with attempted murder for shooting someone in the leg during an argument in Yonkers last year. However, the attempted murder charge was dropped when the victim refused to cooperate, Chell stated.
"Why is someone who was arrested for possessing a firearm out on supervised release? Why are we dealing with this a second time?" Chell said.
Alborno was also previously arrested in the Bronx last September and indicted for possessing a loaded firearm, police said.
He and the others faced charges of criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a controlled substance, and acting in a manner injurious to a child.
Police said that all of the men, except for two, were released without bail.
