A New York woman was sentenced to eight years in prison on Friday for her role in the crimes against her stepmother, Gerardina Garcia, who was gunned down on April 20, 2006, in front of her 8-year-old son in the driveway of her Egg Harbor Township home, Atlantic County Prosecutor Ted Housel stated.
Yvette Garcia, 37, of Ozone Park, entered a guilty plea in July of 2009 to conspiracy to commit armed robbery. In accordance with the plea agreement the defendant must serve 85 percent of her prison term before being eligible for parole. She also waived her right to appeal the sentence. That sentence will run concurrent to last week’s federal prison sentence of 135 months for money laundering and drug distribution, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Murray Talasnik.
The triggerman, Anthony DiGisosaffatte, also of Ozone Park, entered a guilty plea to one count of murder and was sentenced in October 2009 to 30 years in prison with no parole eligibility for killing Garcia. During his plea hearing he admitted that the victim’s son asked, “Why did he hurt my mommy?”
Yvette Garcia admitted during her July 2009 plea hearing that she agreed with DiGisosaffatte, Ricky Irizarry, of Ithaca, New York and Cristovaho Diaz, also of Ozone Park, to plan a home invasion robbery at her stepmother’s 712 Scarborough Drive home in the Shires housing development. She also indicated at the plea hearing that the plan did not include killing her stepmother. The other co-defendants have since been sentenced.
Superior Court Judge Michael A. Donio said today that despite the plea, evidence showed that Yvette Garcia recruited people to take DiGisosaffatte to New Jersey to commit “an old fashioned hit.”
However, Judge Donio said that as he understood from correspondence with federal authorities, there was substantial cooperation with the federal authorities by Yvette Garcia and despite evidence not being strong against DiGisosaffatte, he agreed to plead guilty to the murder of Gerardina Garcia so long as consideration was given to Yvette Garcia in her plea agreement.
