NEW BRUNSWICK — Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey announced today that four people have been charged in five home invasions that targeted Asian-Indian families.

Chaka Castro, 39, Juan Olaya, 34, Octavius Scott, 22, and Johnisha Williams, 19, are charged in connection with the five incidents, in which families were restrained, robbed at gunpoint and assaulted.

"There are people breathing a sigh of relief," Carey said at a news conference today.

All those charged are from Houston, Texas, the prosecutor's office said. The five were arrested last week in robberies in that state, Carey said. Authorities here are working on extraditing them to New Jersey.

They also committed crimes — targeting Asians — in Texas, Michigan, New York and Georgia, according to the prosecutor.

Carey did not say how police identified the four as suspects.

Castro is charged with five counts of conspiracy to commit robbery for allegedly taking part in orchestrating the robberies. She allegedly picked the victims and then directed the others to commit the crimes, Carey said.

The three others are facing a number of charges, including first-degree robbery and kidnapping, second-degree conspiracy, burglary, assault, terroristic threats and hindering their apprehension.

According to the prosecutor, Scott and Olaya entered the homes at gunpoint while Williams waited outside in a getaway car. Scott and Olaya smashed cellphones and threatened homeowners after duct taping them, punching them and kicking them.

The kidnapping charges carry penalties of up to 30 years. The robbery charges count for 20-year terms.

The victims in Middlesex County spanned the ages of 2 to 75, Carey said. Three of the invasions happened in Old Bridge, one in Edison and one in South Plainfield. The first crime occurred on Oct. 20, and the last on Nov. 29.

According to news reports in Texas, police in Allen used phone pings to track down the four suspects.

Carey declined to say how detectives linked the invasions with these suspects, but said that a sweeping investigation involving electronics, the State Police, the FBI lab and a DNA lab in Union County led authorities to Texas. Detectives are on their way there now, Carey said.

Carey said it was too early to determine whether the office would pursue hate-crimes charges.

"Hate crimes require a specific intent," Carey said. "That is something we will be considering and looking at. But I assure you being charged with first-degree robbery is quite significant at this point."

The crimes put Middlesex County's large Asian-Indian community on edge. Carey said that the group targeted Asian-Indians because they believed the population would have cash and valuables, and victims would be “less likely to use aggressive tactics.”

Mahesh Shah, an official with the Iselin-based Indian Business Association, said the crimes changed the way the community felt about its security. For example, he saw a car idling on a side street one night recently, and decided to call police.

"The community is better prepared and more informed," Shah said. "We never thought that this sort of thing would happened, until it happened."

Brian Amaral may be reached at bamaral@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bamaral44. Find NJ.com on Facebook.