Defendant restrained 82-year-old homeowner, fired gun, which grazed head of homeowner’s 54-year-old daughter, before fleeing to the Bronx
On Feb. 6, Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah announced that a North Carolina man was sentenced on February 3, 2023, to 25 years in state prison for an armed 2018 Yonkers home invasion.
DA Rocah said: “No one should ever feel unsafe in their home, and the victims in this case demonstrated incredible bravery during a terrifying and violent home invasion. We hope that this conviction and sentence helps bring them some closure and justice. We thank our law enforcement partners for working together so effectively and diligently to ensure that this dangerous defendant was apprehended.”
After a three-week trial, a jury on October 19, 2022, found Confessor Soto, 50, guilty of Assault in the Second Degree, two counts of Burglary in the First Degree, Attempted Robbery in the First Degree, and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, all violent felonies. The defendant was acquitted of Attempted Murder in the Second Degree and Attempted Assault in the First Degree. The defendant will also be subject to five years of post-release supervision.
On April 23, 2018, at approximately 7:30 a.m., the defendant entered the backdoor of a residence on Leighton Avenue in Yonkers with zip-ties and armed with a .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun, and restrained the 82-year-old homeowner. The defendant, who was wearing sunglasses and a bandana to cover his face, forced the homeowner into the bedroom of the homeowner’s 54-year-old daughter and demanded money at gunpoint before firing a shot that grazed the top of the daughter’s head. The daughter escaped the home screaming for help and a good Samaritan called the police.
The defendant was captured on video surveillance fleeing the scene of the incident. During the investigation, police recovered the gun used during the incident, along with the defendant’s clothes, bandana and sunglasses, in the vestibule of an apartment building on South Broadway in the Bronx.
The defendant was apprehended in Fayetteville, North Carolina on April 30, 2019, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, following a joint investigation between the Yonkers Police Department, the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, the Westchester County Department of Public Safety, and FBI’s Westchester Safe Streets Task Force. The Westchester County Department of Public Safety assisted Yonkers Police Department with the arrest.
The case was before Judge Robert Prisco in Westchester County Court, and was prosecuted by Bureau Chief James Bavero and Senior Trial Counsel Brian Bendish, both of the Trials and Investigations Division.
