- Nov 19, 2001
- 27,727
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And an illegal alien to boot.
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TOMS RIVER ? An illegal immigrant from Mexico was sentenced this morning to two, consecutive life terms in prison for murdering the children of a Stafford Township family that took him into their home.
In addition, Superior Court Judge Barbara Ann Villano sentenced Richard Toledo to 30 years in prison for kidnapping the children's mother, telling her that her boys were fine but threatening their safety if she didn't do what he said while, all along, he knew the boys were dead.
"All of this is so cruel and depraved that it is almost beyond comprehension," Villano said in sentencing the 23-year-old defendant during an emotional, tearful proceeding that spanned about an hour and a half.
Toledo will never be eligible for release on parole for the murder of Zabdiel Gonzalez because the boy was 7 years old when Toledo killed him with a clawhammer in his family's home on Middie Lane in the Manahawkin section of Stafford Township on Jan. 19, 2006.
Toledo pleaded guilty Feb. 8 to the murders of Zabdiel and his brother Karlo, 14, and to kidnapping the mother of the boys, Wanda Gonzalez, after he brutally beat both boys to death with the clawhammer.
"'I still do not know what it was that we did to that man to merit such an act of hatred," said Carlos Gonzalez, the boys' father, while Toledo hung his head, never glancing at the survivors of his victims.
"'We fed him. We put a roof over his head," Carlos Gonzalez said of Toledo. "'We treated him as family. When he was out of work, we did not ask for anything from him and gave him understanding."
First Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Ronald F. DeLigny said robbery was the motive. The Gonzalez family had a large amount of money in their bank account from a recent refinance of the mortgage on their home. Toledo forced Wanda Gonzalez at knifepoint to withdraw $500 from an automated teller machine - the maximum amount the machine would dispense - before driving north on the Garden State Parkway, where the woman escaped when Toledo stopped for gas at the Monmouth Service Area in Wall.
"I want you to look into my face and tell me - why my children?" Wanda Gonzalez said to Toledo during the sentencing.
Toledo continued to hang his head toward the floor.
"'How could there be people who would be able to take the life of two children, and how can I continue living without them by my side?" the boy's mother said.
"'The murder of children is the most unspeakable crime," Villano told the children's parents. "'I can only hope you have the strength to recover."
Although Toledo cannot be considered for release on parole for his sentence for the murder of Zabdiel, he is subject to the state's No Early Release Act, requiring a prisoner to serve 85 percent of a term before parole consideration, for Karlo's murder and for the mother's kidnapping.
Villano ordered the prison term for the kidnapping be served consecutive to the sentences for the two murders.