{"id":257760,"date":"2026-08-20T14:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T14:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/257760\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T14:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T14:04:14","slug":"4-suspects-held-for-court-in-reading-kidnapping-of-lebanon-man-presumed-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/257760\/","title":{"rendered":"4 suspects held for court in Reading kidnapping of Lebanon man presumed dead"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four suspects in the March abduction<\/a> of Michael Petrino Jr., a Lebanon County man whose body has not been found but is presumed dead by authorities, have been ordered to stand trial in Berks County Court.<\/p>\n

The defendants \u2014 Gerson Caicedo, 21, of Leesport; Khalil Nein, 20, of Reading; Jazmeire Brockington, 18, of Reading; and Amir Frazier, 16, of Muhlenberg Township \u2014 were held for court on all charges following a preliminary hearing Wednesday before District Judge Tonya A. Butler in Reading Central Court.<\/p>\n

Caicedo, Nein and Brockington face second\u2011 and third\u2011degree murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, and related offenses. They remain in Berks County Jail without bail.<\/p>\n

Frazier, who is charged as an adult, faces counts of kidnapping, simple assault and conspiracy. He is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.<\/p>\n

Two additional juveniles are charged with kidnapping and conspiracy. Investigators said the teens, including Frazier, lured Petrino, 23, to a secluded area in northwest Reading, where he was beaten and forced into a vehicle by the adults. Authorities believe Petrino was then taken to an unknown location and killed.<\/p>\n

Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams said investigators are confident Petrino is dead, despite extensive searches that have not located his body.<\/p>\n

Petrino was reported missing to Western Lebanon police on March 27 by his father, who said he last saw his son on March 21.<\/p>\n

According to investigators:<\/p>\n

Authorities in Lebanon County determined Petrino had been frequenting the Reading area before he vanished, and Reading police assumed the lead in the case.<\/p>\n

A few days after his disappearance, Petrino\u2019s rented Jeep Compass was found abandoned in the 1200 block of Muhlenberg Street. The vehicle was towed and processed for evidence.<\/p>\n

During the early morning hours of March 25, Petrino was lured to the area of North Second and Oley streets by the three teens, who were traveling in Petrino\u2019s rented Jeep.<\/p>\n

Information gathered from multiple sources indicated Petrino had ongoing conflicts with several individuals in Berks and that a \u201cbounty\u201d had been placed on him.<\/p>\n

Surveillance footage from the intersection shows Petrino\u2019s Jeep entering an alley and parking. Witness 1 is seen exiting the Jeep while using a cellphone. A review of digital evidence revealed that the three teens were participating in a group chat with three adults: Caicedo, Nein and Brockington.<\/p>\n

Additional footage shows a sedan entering the alley shortly afterward and parking bumper\u2011to\u2011bumper with the Jeep. Evidence indicates Petrino was assaulted, forcibly removed from the Jeep, placed into the sedan and driven away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four suspects in the March abduction of Michael Petrino Jr., a Lebanon County man whose body has not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[32],"tags":[38913,8633,93,674,42,1544,18428,39361],"class_list":["post-257760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lebanon","tag-berks-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-lebanon","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading","tag-top-stories-reg"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117128217297135157","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}