Several weeks ago, Christina DiMarco, 21, was tied up in her Throggs Neck apartment, a gun to her head, as intruders allegedly demanded money.
She is still traumatized, but agrand jury has decided not to indict the two arrested at the scene. They concluded that the melee was the result of a drug deal gone bad.
DiMarco was shocked to hear that the two suspects who had initially been charged by police with robbery, burglary, criminal possession of a weapon, unlawful imprisonment, and a number of other charges walked free on Friday, August 6 after telling the grand jury they had gone to the apartment at 2825 Bruckner Boulevard to purchase marijuana from DiMarco’s boyfriend and roommate, Robert Monaco.
Both men, Esteban Torres, 33, and Luciano Lopez, 39, have criminal records.
A standoff between police and the suspects, who allegedly tied up DiMarco and Monaco with plastic zip ties, ended when all four surrendered to police shortly after midnight on Saturday, July 24.
DiMarco said that Torres and Lopez burst through an outer, wooden door and then an inner metal door by kicking it eight times. She said that she had never seen either of the men before. She testified before the grand jury on Tuesday, August 3.
“The only reason I pressed charges was that the police told me that they wouldn’t see daylight again,” DiMarco said. “I would never have pressed charges if that wasn’t true. I had never seen them before and did not associate with them.”
DiMarco said that the two men turned the story around, claiming they were at the apartment to purchase marijuana, when DiMarco’s boyfriend failed to produce the drugs. They alleged that Robert Monaco, whom DiMarco was living with at the time, held them hostage.
All of this was not part of the original complaint report which had Lopez and Torres bursting into the apartment and DiMarco frantically trying to call both the police and her parents on her house phone and cell phone.
DiMarco’s father, Anthony DiMarco, said that he rushed to the scene from his home in Morris Park, half-dressed, and called the experience of waiting to see if his daughter was going to come out unharmed one the most nerve-wracking of his life.
“When I got there, I had no idea if my daughter was going to be raped or murdered,” Anthony DiMarco said.
“I know my daughter was not involved in selling any drugs. She works six days a week and is a good girl.”
DiMarco said that his daughter is pursuing a career as a hairdresser. He is not pleased with the grand jury’s decision, essentially making her and her boyfriend scapegoats for two career criminals.
“They stole her rent money and her savings,” DiMarco said of the suspects, who were found with $1900 on them.
“They had a 9mm gun to her head. She is still petrified.”
