A Manhattan judge sentenced 32-year-old Justin Torres to 20 years in state prison Friday for a gunpoint home invasion that terrorized a 56-year-old woman and her 5-year-old grandson in their Central Harlem apartment, while his co-defendant, who pleaded guilty rather than face trial, is serving just 4½ years for the same crime.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg
announced the sentence, saying Torres and 35-year-old Joshua Gomez armed themselves to carry out a targeted attack on a woman and her grandchild, a crime he said undermined the victims' sense of security in their own home. The robbery unfolded around 12:30 a.m. on October 9, 2024, near West 118th Street and Manhattan Avenue, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, when Torres and Gomez arrived at the building in Torres's vehicle, forced their way into the apartment, and each displayed a firearm while demanding the victims reveal the location of a safe.
Court documents filed at the time of the original indictment described how the intruders ransacked the apartment and made off with a safe, cash, jewelry, passports, the woman's cell phone and her purse before fleeing back to Torres's own apartment building with the stolen property, per the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. NYPD investigators arrested Torres on October 30, 2024, three weeks after the break-in, while Gomez was taken into custody 47 days after the robbery, on November 25, 2024.
A Stark Sentencing Gap for Two Co-Defendants
The two men's cases diverged sharply once charges were filed. Gomez avoided trial by pleading guilty to second-degree robbery before July 2025 and received a 4½-year prison sentence in July 2025, while Torres chose to fight the charges at trial. A New York State Supreme Court jury convicted Torres on June 4, 2026, of first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery, second-degree robbery, second-degree burglary and endangering the welfare of a child, a far broader conviction that resulted in a sentence more than four times longer than his accomplice's.
Robbery and burglary in the first degree are Class B violent felonies in New York, while the second-degree counts are Class C felonies and the child endangerment charge is a Class A misdemeanor, the DA's office noted. Under New York Penal Law § 70.02, Class B violent felony convictions carry mandatory determinate prison terms of 5 to 25 years for first-time felony offenders, meaning Torres's 20-year sentence lands near the top of that statutory range, according to LegalMatch.
Detectives Traced Suspects to Torres's Building
Investigators tracked the suspects to Torres's own residence in the aftermath of the robbery, a break that helped unravel the case well before either man was formally charged. The DA's office credited Detective Alexis Gaton of the NYPD's Central Robbery Division, along with the Manhattan Robbery Squad and detective squads from the 28th Precinct, for the work that led to the arrests.
Assistant District Attorneys Danielle Turcotte and Aryan Ahmadian prosecuted the case, with Turcotte leading the trial team under the oversight of Trial Bureau 40 Chief Nicole Blumberg and Trial Division Chief Lisa DelPizzo, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said.
Crime Trends Collide With Fear in the Home
The robbery occurred within the jurisdiction of the NYPD's 28th Precinct, which covers Central Harlem's main corridors. That precinct recorded a roughly 25% drop in overall index crime during 2025 under Commanding Officer Captain James Whitlock, ranking it the fourth most improved precinct citywide, according to the New York Amsterdam News.
Yet targeted, armed break-ins against vulnerable residents have continued to surface across Harlem even as broader crime statistics improve. Just last month, three armed intruders forced their way into an East Harlem home containing a 3-year-old boy and a 65-year-old man, displaying firearms before stealing $925 in cash and fleeing, as Hoodline reported in earlier coverage. Together, the two cases underscore an ongoing concern among residents and public safety officials about armed home invasions that single out children and older New Yorkers in their own apartments.
