WHITE PLAINS – A Bronx couple has been arraigned in Westchester following an indictment charging them with a violent armed home invasion and robbery during which they repeatedly assaulted a woman in a Yorktown house during the middle of the night on March 17, 2023. The victim is the ex-girlfriend of the male suspect who was arraigned on July 5, 2023.
According to Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah, 35-year-old Darling Read and his current girlfriend, Jovanda Paredes, 29, were indicted by a grand jury on several charges after being arrested within hours of the brutal crime.
The indictment says the couple unlawfully entered the Yorktown house where Read’s ex-girlfriend was staying, at 2:42 a.m. on March 17th. The two defendants woke the victim and chased her into the bathroom where they repeatedly kicked and punched her in the head and body while preventing her to leave. They also beat her with an unidentified object and stole two iPhones while threatening her with a ghost gun.
The Yorktown Police, working with the Westchester County Department of Public Safety, the NYPD, and the FBI Westchester Safe Streets Task Force, were able to locate and arrest the two subjects in the Bronx, just hours after the invasion. Working with the NYPD, Yorktown cops executed a search warrant at a Bronx storage unit that was rented by Paredes. The gun believed to be used in the invasion was discovered in the unit. Surveillance footage shows Read and Paredes entering and leaving both the scene of the crime and the storage unit on the night the alleged crimes occurred.
In announcing the indictments, Rocah said “This alleged violent home invasion by a former intimate partner and his accomplice is a stark reminder that domestic violence knows no boundaries and can take many different forms.” The DA also noted that her office has a dedicated Domestic Violence Bureau tasked with handling cases such as this one.
The grand jury indicted both Read and Paredes on the following charges:
- Four felony counts of burglary
- Three felony counts of robbery
- Two felony counts of criminal use of a firearm
- Felony criminal possession of a weapon
- Felony criminal possession of stolen property
- Two felony counts of assault
- Misdemeanor unlawful imprisonment
Read was indicted on a felony charge of criminal possession of a weapon. Both defendants are in the Westchester County Jail.
