Massachusetts man sentenced to serve 15 years in state prison for violent 2013 home invasion
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced that a Massachusetts man was sentenced in Providence County Superior Court to serve 15 years at the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI), stemming from his role in a violent home invasion in Providence in 2013.
Angel Navarro (age 31) of Dorchester, MA, entered a plea of nolo contendere to one count each of first-degree robbery and burglary.
At a hearing on August 25, before Superior Court Justice Maureen B. Keough, the Court sentenced Navarro to 25 years at the ACI with 15 years to serve and the balance of the sentence suspended with probation. The Court also issued a No Contact Order and a No Trespass Order between Navarro and his victim. Additionally, Navarro was ordered to pay $1,500 in restitution to his victim.
“Typically, the odds of solving a case diminish with the passage of time,” said Attorney General Neronha. “That said, modern technology coupled with fine policework has brought justice for the victim of this serious and traumatizing crime. The defendant deserves every day of the lengthy 15-year sentence of imprisonment imposed by the court. I am grateful for the victim’s courage and patience throughout the long investigation and prosecution of this case.”
Had the case proceeded to a trial, the State was prepared to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that on the evening of January 7, 2013, Navarro was one of three individuals who broke into a home on Pembroke Avenue in Providence and tied up a female occupant before making away with electronic devices and cash.
That evening, Navarro and his accomplices forced their way into the home through the back door. Navarro and the other assailants restrained the victim by covering her mouth, zip-tying her hands, and taping a bag over head. One of the assailants pressed their fingers against her head as if to suggest it was a firearm.
Navarro and his two accomplices spent roughly 30 minutes in the home searching for valuables, ultimately taking an iPad, cell phone, and $500 in cash.
When police officers responded to the scene, they found the victim with a bloody lip and zip ties binding her hands together. Investigators were able to recover fingerprints from the scene but were not able to immediately identify suspects.
Several years later, in 2015, investigators matched Navarro’s fingerprints, taken from the clear packaging tape used to bind the victim, with those in a national law enforcement database. Law enforcement arrested Navarro and following a DNA test, matched his DNA with samples taken from the zip ties used to restrain the victim.
To date, Navarro’s accomplices have not been identified nor located.
Special Assistant Attorney General Michael S. McCabe of the Office of the Attorney General and Detective Theodore Michael of the Providence Police Department led the investigation and prosecution of the case.
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