Some questions about a July 2012 home invasion that rattled a rural Lower Saucon Township neighborhood were finally answered with the filing of charges in the case Thursday–but others remain unanswered.
At a news conference, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli and Assistant District Attorney William Blake announced that charges will be filed following a grand jury investigation that lasted more than a year-and-a-half, according to several published reports.
The Woodland Road invasion at the home of real estate developer Domenic Albanese and his wife Jodi Albanese may have stemmed from a business relationship that went bad according to the timeline presented by investigators, who are still researching the relationship between Domenic Albanese and his business partner Michael Radogna, according to a WFMZ story.
Radogna is not charged in connection with the home invasion, Lehigh Valley Live reported, and Morganelli wouldn’t comment on whether he testified before the grand jury, the Morning Call reported.
The invasion-robbery was allegedly carried out by four men: Juan “Goldo” Fernandez, who authorities said committed suicide last year; David Perez; a man identified only as “Chino”; and David Bermudez, 37, of Bethlehem, who is to be charged with burglary, robbery, aggravated assault and theft by unlawful taking.
Bermudez, of the 1000 block of Center Street, is currently a fugitive with active warrants filed against him, according to a Lehigh Valley Live news story about the case.
An ex-convict, he may have fled to the New York area, the Morning Call reported.
During the actual nighttime home invasion, the four men with covered faces burst into the home by kicking in a back door, hit Domenic Albanese on the head with a gun that discharged into a wall, and held Jodi Albanese at gunpoint before forcing her into a closet and making her open a safe that contained $5,000 in cash and legal documents, the newspapers reported.
All of this allegedly occurred while the couple’s four children were sleeping in upstairs bedrooms.
The men allegedly stole a 2010 minivan, a computer, iPads, jewelry, a camera, and the cash and documents during the invasion, Lehigh Valley Live reported.
The Easton newspaper reported that the case broke open when Bermudez was incarcerated and allegedly told another inmate he had participated in a home invasion in order to get back at someone who owed another man money and who “ripped him off” in a property deal.
According to the Morning Call story–which cited the grand jury’s report–the Albanese and Radogna families had an agreement to buy the Woodland Road property together and then subdivide it, but after their relationship soured Albanese was allegedly harassed and Radogna told others he wanted to get his money back.
The families were involved in a complex legal dispute over ownership of the 44-acre property in the 2600 block of Woodland Road that predated the home invasion.
According to current online Northampton County property tax records, the property is owned by Carin Radogna, who is Michael Radogna’s wife and the widow of slain Easton Police Officer Jesse Sollman.
Radogna received a $5 million settlement from the city of Easton in 2009 following a wrongful death lawsuit filed after her husband was shot and killed.
The district attorney’s office and the Lower Saucon Township Police Department are continuing to investigate the case, WFMZ reported.
The Morning Call said Albanese did not respond to a message seeking comment and calls to Radogna went unanswered Thursday.
