A Massachusetts man suspected of planning out a home invasion in Willimantic in 1997 appeared in court on Tuesday and he is being held on $500,000 bond.
Jose Manuel Blanco-Dominquez, 57 of Lawrence, Massachusetts, is accused of orchestrating a home invasion on Chapman Street in Windham on June 25, 1997, in which two men, two women and two children were tied up with telephone cord and held at knifepoint while the intruders stole jewelry and cash, according to the arrest warrant application.
The motive, officials said, was that Blanco-Dominquez claimed the victims owed him $45,000 for drugs.
According to prosecutors, he dropped his alleged accomplices off and told them he would be waiting at a nearby gas station for them, but police were called to the home and arrested the suspects found there.
Blanco-Dominquez was on the run until Saturday, May 14, when Boxborough, Massachusetts police pulled him over after a check of his registration alerted police he had an active warrant against him.
He appeared with a translator in court on Tuesday to answer to charges of first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery and conspiracy and he is due back in court on June 10.
