5 charged in robbery of tourist at Ritz-Carlton

The two women and three men were booked on charges of robbery, damages and restriction of liberty. A 17-year-old girl was also in the room at the time of the robbery, but had not been charged by Tuesday morning.

The victim of the robbery has been identified as Robert J. Anello, 54, a lawyer with the New York-based law firm of Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello & Bohrer.

Anello was in Puerto Rico on business and police said he invited the women up to his room at the luxury hotel before dawn Monday.

“It was at his invitation that they gained access to the room,” said Capt. Samuel Luciano, director of the Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Corps in Carolina.

“Then they apparently called the other individuals over to stage the robbery,” Luciano said.

According to published reports, the women tied Anello to a chair with lamp cords and a necktie at knifepoint and then let two male suspects into the room. The men then allegedly broke into the hotel room safe and swiped $800 cash, two cellular phones and four credit cards.

A third man allegedly waited outside the hotel in the getaway car. A hotel employee provided a good description of the vehicle and police nabbed the suspects a short time later.

The suspects charged were identified as Alejandra Alicea Candelario, 18, Emanuel Alicea Candelario, 21, Julio Alicea Candelario, 24, Francheska Agosto Ríos, 21, and Luis Agosto Ríos, 25.

All five were jailed after not posting bail totaling $122,000 set by Judge Wilfred Viera Garcés, who found sufficient cause for their arrests. A preliminary hearing was set for November 30.