Juan Andino-Tirado, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, was sentenced Wednesday after his conviction for robbery and aiding and abetting in the brandishing of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
On Nov. 15, 2015, five men armed with handguns and a knife burst into a home on Littlefield Road in Wells and stole $2,389 and 861 Oxycodone pills from a woman at the residence.
Nobody was hurt during the home invasion and Wells Police said at the time investigators thought the perpetrators and the victim knew each other.
According to court records, Andino-Tirado and four other men drove from Massachusetts to Wells for the purpose of committing a home invasion robbery.
Andino-Tirado and two co-defendants, Carlos Diaz and Javier Pagan Gonzalez, broke into the victim’s home wearing masks, police said. Diaz and Gonzalez brandished firearms, Andino-Tirado brandished a knife while two other co-defendants, Anthony Arrendell Pena and Marcos Hernandez remained outside the residence.
As the home invaders made their getaway, a partial license plate number and description of the vehicle was obtained by witnesses. Wells Police stopped the vehicle as it reached mile 11 of the Maine Turnpike.
Officers from Maine State Police and Ogunquit, York and Kittery Police Departments responded and assisted Wells officers with the traffic stop and apprehension of the five individuals in the vehicle.
Earlier this year, Diaz and Hernandez were sentenced to six years in prison for their roles in the crime. Pena and Gonzalez pleaded guilty to their involvement in the robbery and are currently awaiting sentencing.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and the Wells Police Department, with assistance from the Ogunquit Police Department, the Maine State Police, the Office of the Maine Attorney General, and the York County District Attorney’s Office.
— Executive Editor Ed Pierce can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 326, or by email at editor@journaltribune.com.
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