Sentencing For 2021 Murder Of Hempstead Man: Prosecutors

MINEOLA, NY — A North Carolina man was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for murdering a 40-year-old man outside of his Hempstead in January 2021, prosecutors announced.

Ruben Diego Avila Huicab, 33, was convicted after a jury trial in June.

He was given 25 years to life sentence for second-degree murder and 15 years in prison to run consecutively for one count of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and 15 years to run concurrently for a second count of criminal possession of a weapon.

"Ricardo Cardona was lured into an ambush and senselessly murdered because of a petty work dispute with the defendant,” said Nassau DA Anne Donnelly. "Avila Huicab wrote increasingly threatening text messages to Cardona in the weeks before his death, ultimately providing the weapon used to shoot and kill the 40-year-old outside of his home. Today, Avila Huicab has been brought to justice."

On January 12, 2021, at approximately 8:33 p.m., Avila Huicab and a then 16-year-old co-defendant both drove in separate vehicles to the intersection of Dakota Place and Vermont Avenue in Hempstead where the victim, 40-year-old Ricardo Cardona, lived, Donnelly said.

On the night of the murder, Avila Huicab provided the teen with a semi-automatic pistol, and told him to wait in his van, while Avila Huicab contacted Cardona and convinced him to come outside to the vehicle. When Cardona approached the van, the teenager fired at the victim seven times, striking him five times, including in his neck and chest.

Avila Huicab and his co-defendant were arrested in Maryland by local authorities on January 21, 2021. The 16-year-old co-defendant, who was charged as an adolescent offender, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is awaiting sentence, Donnelly said.