Member of New York-Based Robbery Crew Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Kidnapping, Torture and Murder of Victim

Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Wendell Alomar-Cabrera, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, was sentenced by United States District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis to 25 years’ imprisonment for his role in the October 16, 2006, murder of Luis Sifuentes in Durham, North Carolina.  In November 2013, Alomar-Cabrera pleaded guilty to the murder of Sifuentes, which was committed during the course of a kidnapping and robbery.

Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announced the sentence.

“Through his involvement in violent armed robberies and a murder, Alomar-Cabrera earned today’s sentence,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue.  “This Office and our law enforcement partners will continue to use every available resource to investigate and prosecute violent criminals like this defendant.”  Mr. Donoghue expressed his grateful appreciation to the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and New York City Police Department for their outstanding role leading 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.

Between May 2003 and August 2008, the robbery crew was responsible for more than 100 violent, armed robberies of narcotics traffickers along the east coast of the United States.  Crew members posed as police officers to subdue narcotics traffickers and their families, and then kidnapped, tortured and robbed the victims.  Alomar-Cabrera participated in approximately 15 of the robberies that netted approximately 80 kilograms of cocaine, a quantity of marijuana and multiple guns.

In 2006, Alomar-Cabrera and other members of the crew traveled from New York to North Carolina for the purpose of robbing drug traffickers.  On October 16, 2006, crew members drove a vehicle equipped with lights and sirens, and executed a police-style stop of Sifuentes’ pickup truck after he left a nightclub.  The crew kidnapped Sifuentes near Durham and drove him to a rented house where, for several hours, Alomar-Cabrera and other crew members beat Sifuentes with their fists and a wooden stick, pushed his head under water in a bathtub and burned him with a hot knife in an effort to learn the location of the victim’s drugs and drug money.  Several hours later, crew members carried Sifuentes outside, put him in his truck and shot him twice, killing him.  Alomar-Cabrera then poured gasoline throughout the truck and set it on fire.

Alomar-Cabrera’s sentence is the most recent of more than 50 convictions and sentencings 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 police officers.  Four other defendants have previously been sentenced for their roles in the murder of Sifuentes.

The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Douglas M. Pravda.

The Defendant:

WENDELL ALOMAR-CABRERA (also known as “Gregorio”)
Age:  40
Dominican Republic

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