Crime

Emajae Brown allegedly stole millions of dollars in valuables and attacked a housekeeper at a massive mansion in Beverly earlier this year.

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The man accused of breaking into a historic Beverly mansion and stealing nearly $8 million worth of valuables in March was indicted last Friday in Essex Superior Court. 

Emajae Brown, 25, faces 10 charges. They include armed burglary, home invasion, assault with a dangerous weapon, kidnapping, witness intimidation, and larceny, according to court records. 

Brown has been held without bail since his arrest last month. He was previously arraigned in Salem District Court, where prosecutors disclosed some details of the incident and the extensive investigation that followed. 

Brown is the only person who has been charged in this case, but police believe another person helped him break into the massive seaside property on Paine Avenue. 

Authorities say Brown is the ex-boyfriend of a woman who previously worked at the mansion as a housekeeper. She worked there the night before the break-in, according to court records. 

Investigators believe Brown and another person entered the mansion through an unlocked side door just after 2 a.m. on the morning of March 28. They allegedly wore masks and gloves as they forced open locked doors inside the home and collected valuables like gold, silver, watches, collectibles, and cash. The unidentified suspect left the home sometime in the early morning hours, while Brown remained inside the mansion, according to police reports. 

At around 5:30 a.m., Brown allegedly ran into a housekeeper. He allegedly pointed a gun at her head, escorting her around the home and telling her to place valuable items into trash bags and luggage. At one point, he threw her phone into the ocean, according to police. 

Brown allegedly demanded that the housekeeper he interacted with that morning locate bottles of bleach and keys for a blue Porsche Cayenne. She later told police that the intruder struck her over the head with a gun, tied her up, and left her in the garage with a bag over her head. The Porsche was later found abandoned in a cemetery in Lynn, and bleach had been poured all over it. 

Police used Flock license plate readers and Ring doorbell cameras to identify Brown as a suspect. They matched sandals worn by the suspect to those Brown wore when he was booked on assault and battery and drug charges after an incident in the Encore casino last November.

Investigators tracked Brown as he allegedly contacted jewelers and traveled between Massachusetts and New York in the aftermath of the robbery. He was found with more than $300,000 in cash and gold taken from the home when he was arrested, according to prosecutors.  

The Beverly mansion, known as “Rock Edge,” was purchased by Thomas J. Swan III for $18,275,000 in 2023. 

It was commissioned by Marian Sargent, a descendent of Thomas Jefferson, and built in 1904. The deed was later passed to Sargent’s niece, the women’s sports trailblazer Eleonora Sears. The home was sold to the Benevento family in 1970 and went back on the market in 2021.