Bronx detectives are turning to the public for help in seeing a hulking home invader who targets the elderly finally jailed.
Problem is, despite three recent arrests, judges keep releasing him without bail.
Nestor “Frankie” Marrero, a neighborhood fixture around Morris Park and Throggs Neck, was arrested in June for burglary after a witness recognized him – and he was caught on a security camera entering and leaving the home.
He was arrested again on Monday, July 8 for two home invasions against an elderly man and a blind man, and again released without bail.
Detectives at the 45th Precinct also began posting flyers around the two communities on Monday, July 8, asking other possible victims to come forward to build more cases against Marrero.
They were taken by surprise at Marrero’s arraignment on Tuesday, July 9 for his two latest arrests, when Bronx Criminal Court Judge Harold Adler released Marrero without bail, despite his already being a predicate felon with previous convictions for robbery, burglary and drug sales. The Bronx District Attorney’s office had asked for $75,000 bail.
Marrero’s latest arrest involved to home invasions in Silver Beach and City Island.
Police said Marrero, 39, a hulking 6-foot-5, 350 pound former area window company employe used the repairman ruse to gain entry to the homes of his elderly victims to rip them off while they weren’t looking.
“He had worked at a local window company before being fired two years ago,” said Detective Bobby Rogers of the 45th Precinct detective unit. “It’s possible he either took work slips with the locations of previous window jobs or just remembered them, so he had an excuse to enter the homes, supposedly to check on the windows.”
Marrero was initially arrested in early June by detectives from the 49th Precinct in Morris Park after a witness spotted him breaking in through a screen window at a home on Lurting Avenue on June 3.
The 60-year-old resident was not at home at the time, and Marrero allegedly got away with $2,400 in cash, police said.
The witness told police she recognized Marrero, because she had used the window company in the past.
Police also found a security camera that showed Marrero entering and leaving the home.
The circumstances are unclear, but at his arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court on that arrest, another judge released Marrero without bail.
Cops, calling Marrero “a one man crime wave,” said he went right back to “work.”
Detective Rogers said on Sunday, June 23 an 86-year-old man who later found $100 missing discovered Marrero inside his Silver Beach home.
“Marrero had actually replaced a window there before,” said Rogers, “and he was wearing what looked like some kind of workman’s clothes, so he gave him some story about re-inspecting the job or something.”
Police said Marrero allegedly struck next on June 28, knocking on the door of a 55-year-old blind man on City Island, saying he was there to fix the windows, with the victim assuming his wife had called for the service. Marrero allegedly made off with $150-$200, but not before the victim even gave him $14 for fixing a screen.
Rogers and other squad detectives arrested Marrero on Monday, July 8 outside his apartment on Sampson Avenue in Throggs Neck.
He now stands charged with three felony burglaries – two of them as hate crimes because of the victims’ ages and handicaps – as well as two criminal impersonation misdemeanor charges.
His next court date is Aug. 14 in Part B at Bronx Criminal Court.
Meanwhile, detectives are asking other possible victims who recognize Marrero from the wanted posters to contact them by calling the 45th Precinct detective unit at 718-822-5414.
