Sixth Defendant In New York-Based Armed Robbery Crew Convicted Of Gruesome North Carolina Murder

Earlier today, Wendell Alomar-Cabrera, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, pled guilty at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, to the October 16, 2006, murder of Luis Sifuentes in Durham, North Carolina.  The proceeding took place before United States District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis.  When sentenced, Alomar-Cabrera faces up to life imprisonment.

The plea was announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney, Bronx County, New York, Brian R. Crowell, Special Agent-in-Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), New York Division, and Raymond W. Kelly, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD).

“Alomar-Cabrera was part of a vicious robbery crew that viewed the East Coast of the United States as their hunting ground.  They traveled the highways impersonating police officers, and showed their victims no mercy.  Today a sixth perpetrator of the murder of Luis Sifuentes has been brought to justice,” stated United States Attorney Lynch.  “We pursued these defendants to North Carolina to show the extent of our commitment to protecting communities, in New York and elsewhere, from the violence posed by violent robbers and drug traffickers.”  Ms. Lynch congratulated the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office and the members of law enforcement who led the investigation, and thanked the New York State Police; the Durham County District Attorney’s Office; and the Durham, North Carolina Police, Special Operations Division, Major Crimes Unit for their assistance in the investigation. 

According to court filings and facts presented in court, Alomar-Cabrera was a member of a violent robbery crew responsible for more than 100 armed robberies of narcotics traffickers along the east coast of the United States that netted more than 750 kilograms of cocaine and $4 million in drug proceeds.  Crew members posed as police officers in order to subdue narcotics traffickers and their families, and then kidnaped, tortured, and robbed their victims.  In 2006, members of the crew traveled to North Carolina from New York to engage in a series of robberies.  On October 16, 2006, near Durham, North Carolina, the defendants kidnaped Luis Sifuentes by executing a police-style car stop of Sifuentes’ pickup truck using lights and sirens.  The robbery crew then drove Sifuentes to a rented house where they beat and tortured him for several hours, demanding that he provide information regarding the location of narcotics and cash.  Crew members then carried Sifuentes outside, placed him in his pickup truck, shot him twice killing him, and set the truck on fire.

Alomar-Cabrera’s guilty plea is the most recent of 51 convictions in a group of interlocking cases brought in the Eastern District of New York against members of violent drug robbery crews who impersonated police officers and frequently committed robberies with real officers.  Of the 51 convictions, nine defendants have been convicted for their roles in murders, including six for the Sifuentes murder. 

The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Justin D. Lerer, Shreve Ariail, Gina M. Parlovecchio, and Douglas M. Pravda and Special Assistant United States Attorney Jeremy Shockett, an Assistant District Attorney from the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office.

The Defendant

WENDELL ALOMAR-CABRERA, aka “gregorio”
Age:  35

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 08 CR 115 (S-4) (NGG)