CLEVELAND — Four men have been accused of robbing or conspiring to rob a high-stakes poker game played in a Solon warehouse in April.

Berlingeri

Dominic Berlingeri, 24, and Jose Arzola-Torres, 20, both of Lorain, pleaded not guilty last week in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court to 26 counts of aggravated robbery and kidnapping, with Berlingeri also being charged with vandalism and disrupting public service. They were being held in a Cleveland jail, Berlingeri on $500,000 bond and Arzola-Torres on $250,000 bond.

J. Arzola-Torres

Police say Berlingeri and Arzola-Torres, along with Arzola-Torres’ 18-year-old brother, Andres Arzola of Lorain, and Randall Barnes, 25, of Euclid, burst into Allied Lighting in Solon around midnight wearing masks and armed with an AK-47, another assault rifle with a bayonet, a shotgun and a pistol, and robbed 12 men who had met to play their regular poker game. About $50,000 in cash and $25,000 in jewelry and other property were taken.

“They knew there was a lot of money played at this poker game,” said Ryan Miday, spokesman for the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office. “They entered when one of the victims was smoking. They made him buzz them in and they came in with guns, ordered everyone face-down on the ground and robbed them.”

About a week later, Sheffield Lake police discovered Berlingeri near a disabled vehicle and learned he had a suspended license. He was found with some of the jewelry and property stolen at the warehouse, along with the car, which it was later learned he paid for in cash.

Solon police learned the identities of the other suspects through their investigation, Miday said, including three people who police say helped plan the robbery. They are William Masters, 37, Lorain and Solomon Berhane, 31 and Wayne Bunkin, 31, both of Cleveland. Bunkin, who was also slapped with vandalism and disrupting public service charges, was arraigned Thursday in Cuyahoga County and is being held on $100,000 bond. The other suspects will be arraigned Sept. 15.

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