Press Release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office:
Man Sentenced to Life in Prison Without Parole in MTV Employee’s Murder, Robbery Spree
A Los Angeles man was sentenced June 8, 2016, to two consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole for his murderous two-week robbery spree in 2011 that left two men dead – one of them an MTV music coordinator, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced.
Jabaar Vincent Thomas, 31, was sentenced for the first-degree murders of Gabriel Ben-Meir and Marcelo Aragon.
Deputy District Attorneys John McKinney of the Major Crimes Division and Robert Serna of the Crimes Against Peace Officers Section prosecuted the case.
Ben-Meir, 30, an MTV music coordinator, was executed on May 8, 2011, after parking his car outside his Wilshire area home. Marcelo Aragon, 35, was killed on April 30, 2011, between the Wilshire area and downtown Los Angeles.
In addition, Thomas was convicted of multiple counts of second-degree robbery and attempted robbery and one count of felon in possession of a firearm with a prior during his robbery spree between April and May of 2011. Jurors in March also found true the special circumstances of multiple murders and murders committed during a robbery that made Thomas eligible for LWOP.
Thomas was arrested in May 2011 and charged along with two accomplices, Destiny Young, 35, and Richard Edward Anderson, 38.
Young, who was Thomas’s girlfriend, and Anderson earlier pleaded guilty to multiple counts and are scheduled to be sentenced on July 27 in Department 102 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center.
The case was investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department.
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Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey leads the largest local prosecutorial office in the nation. Her staff of nearly 1,000 attorneys, 300 investigators and 800 support staff members is dedicated to protecting our community through the fair and ethical pursuit of justice and the safeguarding of crime victims’ rights.