One of three accused burglars from Queens who targeted the Ossining home of an Asian business owner and absconded while their criminal cases were pending was sentenced in absentia to five years in prison.
Job Zambrano got a stiffer punishment Wednesday, July 30, than the sentence he was promised when he pleaded guilty in April. State Supreme Court Justice James McCarty allowed the sentencing to go forward after he was satisfied that Zambrano had “willfully absented himself from the proceedings” when he failed to show up on court dates in May and June.
Zambrano, Juan Carlos Sierra Gonzalez and Jaime Bryan Chang-Fuentas were arrested Sept. 29, 2023, and accused of stealing more than $1,000 worth of designer handbags that day from a home on Susquehanna Road. They had targeted the homeowner after following them home from a business on Croton Avenue. A police task force investigating similar thefts in Westchester had been following Sierra Gonzalez’s car.
All were charged with first- and second-degree burglary and were released on $20,000 bail. Sierra Gonzalez additionally faced a burglary charge as a hate crime after admitting to detectives that he targeted the owner thinking they were wealthy because they were Asian.
Chang-Fuentas was the first to abscond, failing to show up for a court appearance last year. Sierra Gonzalez was a no-show at two court appearances earlier this year.
Zambrano made all of his court appearances through April 24. That was the day he pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary after being promised the minimum 3 1/2-year prison term. He was told that he could face an enhanced prison term and still be sentenced if he subsequently failed to show up in court.
He was allowed to remain out on bail pending sentencing and was ordered to return to court May 12 to start his prison term. But he was a no-show that day, as well as on a date in June, at which point an arrest warrant was issued.
Westchester police have tried to find Job Zambrano
On Wednesday, Westchester County police Sgt. Mike Ritell, head of the county warrant squad, detailed for McCarty the squad’s efforts to track down Zambrano. He said a nationwide alert was sent regarding the warrant, 18 hospitals in the New York metro area were contacted, and two Queens addresses where Zambrano had lived in Elmhurst and Fresh Meadows were checked, with current residents and neighbors interviewed.
He also arranged for an NYPD burglary task force to periodically surveil the Fresh Meadows address in case Zambrano showed up, which he said they did up until this week. Authorities suspect Zambrano, like the other two defendants, has fled the country.
Assistant District Attorney Celia Curtis asked for the 5-year prison term for Zambrano, saying he shouldn’t benefit from the original promise after making a “voluntary and deliberate” choice not to appear in court.
Defense lawyer Joseph Schioppi consented to the absentia sentencing but urged McCarty to stick to the original sentence. He said prosecutors could always bring a bail jumping charge that could lead to additional prison time for Zambrano.
But McCarty credited the “diligent and sufficient” effort by the warrant squad and said Zambrano deserved the more severe sentence for his decision to avoid the inevitable incarceration.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Bail skipper from Queens sentenced in absentia for Ossining burglary
Reporting by Jonathan Bandler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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