http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2...0412870168.txt
Defendants plead guilty in home invasion
Published: Tuesday, July 7, 2009
By MARLENE DiGIACOMO
mdigiacomo@delcotimes.com
MEDIA COURTHOUSE — A defendant, while pleading guilty Monday in a Collingdale home invasion,
said he didn’t see anything wrong with what he did, because he thought the people in the home were dealing drugs.
“I didn’t see it as I was doing something wrong in my eyes,” said Ariel Caraballo, 25, of Philadelphia. “I was thinking so they sell drugs, so nobody would care.”
Assistant District Attorney Michael Mattson said there was no evidence the people who were robbed and terrorized were dealing drugs. And Judge Chad Kenney, who formally accepted the pleas, said it didn’t matter since what Caraballo did was a “heinous crime.”
The judge said the “terror and trauma” Caraballo inflicted on the victims, who were in the house with an 8-month-old child, is something they will never forget.
Caraballo entered pleas to robbery and conspiracy charges in the home invasion, along with Moises Torres, 26, also of Philadelphia.
Police said the two forced their way into a North Street residence and terrorized the occupants.
Both were scheduled to stand trial Monday. A jury had been selected, but when the plea agreements were worked out, the jury was dismissed.
Kenney accepted the pleas and formally sentenced the pair in line with the negotiations.
Caraballo, who has a prior record of violent crimes, received a 10- to 20-year jail term. He was identified as the gun-wielding assailant, according to Matson.
One of the victims told Caraballo in court that he “ruined my life” when he violated the safety of her home that day.
Torres, apologized for his actions, and was sentenced to five to 10 years in jail.
Police said at the time that a victim grabbed Torres, who was not armed, and a struggle ensued. One of the victims ran to the basement and grabbed a gun, which apparently scared off both intruders.
They were arrested within a half-hour of the crime, after they crashed their car into a retaining wall in the 900 block of Walnut Street, Collingdale and tried to escape on foot, police said.