Jackson, NJ Police arrest five including a Lakewood, NJ man after home burglary and assault on Olena Drive

Five men including one from Lakewood and four from Brooklyn, New York are in the Ocean County Jail following their arrests in Jackson Township for their roles in a home burglary attack on Wednesday evening.

Jackson Police said the men forced their way into the house through the front door causing damage, then held a man and woman down, took their phones so they couldn't call the police, and then started changing the locks and deadbolt on the front door.

Fortunately, the man was able to retrieve his phone from the suspects and call for help.

Police arrived around 6:09 pm and heard from a woman inside that there were five men in the house who broke in and assaulted the family.

All five were arrested and the investigation continued.

It turns out the residence was owned by a man who leased it to another man who sub-leased it to the people currently living there and who were just attacked, according to police.

Furthermore, it was learned by the Jackson Police Special Enforcement Unit that the man who owned the residence hired a security company based in Brooklyn to evict the people living there -- without going through the legal eviction process.

Jackson Police said patrol officers had responded to the area along Olena Drive earlier on Wednesday on a report of a suspicious vehicle and were told by, who would become the suspects, that they were employees of a security company waiting to meet a client for a job.

The men were identified but police said that they "had no legal reason to detain them further as they were not engaged in any illegal activity."

Following their arrests Christopher Landau, 26, of Brooklyn, NY, Robert Drozd, 38, of Brooklyn, NY, Marco Balanzar-Hernandez, 45, of Lakewood, NJ, Joseph Castano, 22, of Brooklyn, NY, and Cesar Saavedra-Luna, 24, of Brooklyn, NY were processed and complaints were prepared with the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office later approving the second degree and other charges of robbery, burglary, criminal restraint, theft, criminal mischief, criminal trespassing and simple assault.

Jackson Police said that the vehicle the men were using was seized, pending the ongoing investigation.