A man who spent nearly a decade working alongside his boss at a small Tribeca jewelry store was sentenced this week to 20 years to life in prison for choking him to death with zip ties on Valentine's Day 2017, then fleeing the country just hours later. Michel Patrick DeSalles, now 56, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for killing 51-year-old Omid Gholian inside World of Gold N Diamond, a family-owned cash-for-gold and jewelry shop at 193 Church Street on the corner of Duane Street.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the sentence, saying in a statement posted to X that “the defendant went to great lengths to avoid accountability for this brutal murder,” according to reporting from PIX11. Bragg added that DeSalles's actions caused Gholian's family and loved ones lasting emotional damage, and that his office joined the family in mourning their loss. “It is never too late to pursue accountability for murder victims,” Bragg said, per the same account.
A Decade of Trust Ended in Betrayal
DeSalles had worked at the jewelry store for nearly ten years before the killing and was regarded as “part of the family” by the victim, according to a statement from Gholian's brother reported by the Tribeca Trib. Court documents show Gholian had a bruised eye and a gash on the head at the time of the attack, and prosecutors say DeSalles used two zip ties tightly wrapped around his boss's neck to kill him inside the shop on February 14, 2017.
The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide caused by compression of the neck following an autopsy, the Tribeca Trib reports. Investigators found no signs of forced entry or a struggle at the scene, and no cash or jewelry appeared to have been stolen even though the store lights were left on, according to CBS News. That detail ruled out an obvious robbery motive, though an explicit motive for the killing has never been publicly disclosed by law enforcement.
Discovered a Day Later, Behind a Locked Door
Gholian was not found until the day after the attack, after his brother alerted the NYPD's 1st Precinct that he had not seen him. Family members and officers then used a family key to enter the locked store and located his body on the bathroom floor, per the Tribeca Trib's account of the discovery.
DeSalles fled New York within three hours of the killing. He bought a plane ticket to Mauritius and flew out of JFK International Airport that same evening, according to court documents cited by PIX11. At the time, he had maintained a home address in West New York, New Jersey, the Tribeca Trib reported.
Eight Years, Multiple Agencies, One Extradition
A Manhattan grand jury indicted DeSalles for Gholian's murder in March 2019, securing a warrant for his arrest six years before he was eventually located in Mauritius, according to National Jeweler. He remained on the run until he was extradited back to New York in 2025.
Bringing him home required coordination among the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of International Affairs, the U.S. Embassy in Port Louis, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Office of the Attorney General of Mauritius, and the Mauritian Police Force, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. DeSalles officially entered his guilty plea to second-degree murder in New York State Supreme Court on June 4, 2026, roughly two months before his sentencing this week.
“The defendant went to great lengths to avoid accountability for this brutal murder.” – D.A. Bragg. Learn more about the sentencing of Michel Patrick DeSalles for fatally choking his boss with zip ties in @pix11news: https://t.co/aRGxNnfav9
— Alvin Bragg (@ManhattanDA) August 6, 2026
A Storefront That Moved On
After the murder forced World of Gold N Diamond to close, the Church Street storefront was blessed by a local priest in 2019 before reopening as Razzle Dazzle Barbershop, and it later became a Hawa Smoothies & Bubble Tea shop, according to the Tribeca Citizen. Hoodline previously covered DeSalles's 2025 extradition and indictment after his years as a fugitive came to an end.
Bragg's office says DeSalles is now expected to spend the rest of his life behind bars. PIX11's reporting on the sentencing was compiled by reporter Mira Wassef.
