Convicted Killer In 1993 Getty Gas Station Stick-Up In Ridge Eligible For Parole

WOODBOURNE, NY — A convicted killer who has spent 22 years in prison for the murder of a Ridge man he shot in a stick-up at a gas station in 1993 is eligible for parole, online records show.

Matthew Svanberg, 49, was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of Dennis Folk, a 26-year-old clerk at Getty Gas Station, and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, but his parole has been moved up after his completion of a prison program, according to Folk's family.

Svanberg is being held at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility, records show.

Folk's family is now appealing to members of the community, asking them to sign a petition on change.org and to write letters to the state's parole board asking them not to grant Svanberg's release. So far, the family has collected nearly 1,500 signatures.

Folk was shot in the head on Oct. 24, 1993 and Svanberg fled the scene with his partner in a getaway car, but was not apprehended until about five years later, the petition states, adding that Svanberg allegedly bragged "about having killed someone in Ridge."

"Please help us to keep this bragging killer in prison, where he belongs, for the full term of his sentence — Life," wrote Patricia Connelly in the petition. "Svanberg's release is at odds with the safety of society."

A state Department of Corrections spokesperson told Newsday Svanberg has earned limited credit time, allowing him to appear before a parole board about six months early.

Svanberg’s older brother, Lars, told the outlet that his sibling was consumed by drugs and alcohol as a teen and is deeply remorseful.

“He’s a totally changed man,” he told the outlet.

Svanberg has earned a master's degree and has taken part in all of the programs available to him in the correctional system, Lars told the outlet, adding, that his brother's parole packet is 700 pages long and includes roughly 100 letters supporting his release.

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