A Hempstead gang member was sentenced last week to 20 years to life in prison for the murder of 18-year-old Westbury resident Yunior Maldonado in November 2010.
Pedro Santos, 23, was convicted on March 9 of second-degree murder and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. The trial lasted approximately two weeks and the jury deliberated for two days. The defendant was sentenced today by Acting Supreme Court Justice William O’Brien to an indeterminate sentence of 20 years to life in prison on the second-degree murder count and one year in prison, to be served concurrently, on the fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
“Pedro Santos and his accomplice, both gang members, chased an innocent victim down the street and then brutally murdered him with a machete and knife,” District Attorney Madeline Singas said. “Victim Yunior Maldonado was senselessly killed just minutes before his 19th birthday and I hope that this sentence will bring his grieving family a small measure of comfort.”
According to Singas, at approximately 11:20 p.m. on November 14, 2010, Santos, known by the street name “Tiro Loco,” and Yan Cifuentes, 16, of Hempstead, approached 18-year-old Maldonado as he walked on Thorne Avenue in Hempstead. Santos, who along with Cifuentes is affiliated with the 18th Street gang, asked Maldonado what gang he was in and started chasing him.
After catching up with Maldonado, Santos began swinging a machete at the victim while Cifuentes stabbed him six times with a knife before fleeing the scene.
Maldonado died at 11:58 p.m. at Winthrop Hospital, two minutes before his 19th birthday. Cifuentes pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in November 2011 and was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison.
Santos was arrested nine days after the incident by members of the Nassau County Police Department.
—Submitted by the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office
