Providence man gets 28-year sentence in 2013 beating death of 78-year-old veteran

Katie Mulvaney, The Providence Journal
·4 min read

PROVIDENCE – A Superior Court judge this week sentenced a Providence man to 28 years in prison for his role in the beating death of a 78-year-old grandfather during a home invasion in 2013.

Judge Kristin E. Rodgers on Monday sentenced Joel G . Valdez, 34, to 50 years in prison, with 28 to serve, for second-degree murder in the death of Delor M. “Dean” Cabral, a former deputy sheriff and Air Force veteran, according to Valdez’s lawyer, Donna A. Uhlmann.

The sentence is retroactive to 2013, when he and Wilbert Richardson were arrested and charged with Cabral’s murder, Uhlmann said.

In addition, Valdez received a 22-year suspended sentence with 50 years of probation, according to Brian Hodge, spokesman for Attorney General Peter F. Neronha's office.

Original reporting from The Journal archives: Second man wanted in brutal Providence home invasion caught in Cranston

Valdez received a 10-year sentence, to be served concurrently, for conspiracy to commit robbery. He also pled guilty and was sentenced on a number of other cases, in which he pled to multiple counts of breaking and entering, larceny, and conspiracy, Hodge said.

After police arrested Valdez and Richardson, Valdez came forward to say that Richardson was not involved in the attack. Instead, he and another man, Leopoldo Belen, were the ones who plotted to rob Jonathan Angilly of marijuana, money and narcotics.

Richardson was later cleared of wrongdoing after he spent 10 months in prison and another eight months on home confinement.

Valdez says his actions were fueled by addiction

Valdez addressed what drove him to come forward in an emotional letter to the court.

"For the past nine years I have reflected on all my mistakes, reflected on every decision I have taken that affected my family and my freedom. This time has allowed me to clearly realize how much damage I inflicted on the family of Mr. Cabral and the community of Rhode Island. Why? Because I was selfish and self-seeking, immature, and made some horrible decisions," he said.

His criminal ways were fueled, he said, by his addiction to cocaine and stress at being unable to support his young son.

"But not in a million years did I ever think I would be involved in an attempted robbery that would end in a loss of life," Valdez wrote.

More from the archives:

Cabral's last moments and his failure to intervene replay constantly in his mind.

"My family and friends have always wondered why it took me so long to come forward. Truth is I was a young, dumb 25-year-old that was following street politics and a code that does not exist ... But what is right is right," he said.

"I decided to put my pride aside and do the right thing. I told the truth. In doing so, I was able to help exonerate an innocent man, Wilbert Richardson, and more importantly bring closure to the victim's family with the truth," Valdez continued.

Wilbert Richardson: Providence man wrongfully imprisoned in 2013 murder reaches settlement with city

Still, he said, he remains forever burdened by the loss he caused the Cabral family and the fractured sense of security his actions left them with.

"I owe it to Mr. Cabral to be a better man and a better father to my 14-year-old son," he said, in vowing to use his experience to guide young people.

"Mr. Cabral did not deserve what happened to him, and his family do not deserve to feel such pain and for this I am truly deeply sorry. I don't ask you for your forgiveness, because I do not deserve it," Valdez wrote the Cabrals.

What happened to Delor M. 'Dean' Cabral?

Cabral encountered Leopoldo Belen early Oct. 5, 2013, as Belen attempted to rob one of Cabral’s tenants, Angilly, in the third-floor apartment at 122-124 Ontario St. He ran to help Angilly, as he was being pistol-whipped and beaten by Belen and Valdez.

As Angilly played dead, the men turned on Cabral, stomping him and breaking his neck, leaving him paralyzed and unconscious, according to court records.

Valdez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Cabral’s death and was expected to testify at Belen’s trial.

Belen in June pleaded no-contest to second-degree murder a week before he was set to go to trial for Cabral’s murder and a raft of other charges. In exchange for his admission, prosecutors Joseph McBurney and Peter Roklan agreed to dismiss the other charges.

More background on Leopoldo Belen: After another man is exonerated, Woonsocket man pleads not guilty to murder

Rodgers sentenced Belen to life in prison on the second-degree murder count. The life sentence will run concurrent to the life sentence he is already serving for raping and beating his ex-girlfriend after she smoked their last cigarette.

Richardson sued the city in the aftermath, accusing the Providence Police Department and Detective Emilio Matos of failing in their duty to properly investigate the case. The parties reached a $67,500 settlement.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Providence man sentenced to 28 years for 2013 murder of grandfather