Kayla Alvarenga, of Bay Shore, sentenced to life in prison for ordering killing of man sleeping in his car outside her home

A Suffolk judge told the leader of a Bay Shore street gang convicted of ordering the execution of a man sleeping in his car outside her home that she showed "zero respect for human life" and should be shown no mercy in return, sentencing her to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Kayla Alvarenga, 23, is the second Suffolk defendant to be handed down a full life sentence in two months after none had received New York’s most stringent penalty in nearly a decade. Alvarenga was found guilty last month of first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery in the Sept. 17, 2022, death of 29-year-old Linver Ortiz Ponce in a church parking lot.

"Now at sentencing [she] shows absolutely no remorse," acting Supreme Court Justice Anthony Senft said of Alvarenga, who declined to address the judge. "She hides under the veil of ‘I’m going to file an appeal.’ She can’t even offer a simple ‘I’m sorry for the loss of your family member.'"

The victim’s brother, Jaime Ortiz, told the court Ortiz Ponce was a "kind, good-hearted" man whose "life was full of promise." Assistant District Attorney Sheetal Shetty said the victim worked six days a week for a tent company and was on his way home after meeting with a woman he was interested in. Having had a couple drinks, he pulled over when he decided it was best not to continue driving.

Ortiz said the cruel manner in which his brother died still haunts him. He said he promised at his brother’s grave site on the day he was buried that he would speak for him in court if the killers were brought to justice. Shetty said Ortiz kept in touch with prosecutors throughout the criminal case and attended the trial.

"We hope that one day they understand the gravity of what they did," Ortiz said of Alvarenga and her associates in the Family Over Everything, Everybody Killed gang.

During three weeks of testimony, 35 witnesses, including four co-defendants who entered into cooperating agreements, told the jury how Alvarenga offered young men from broken homes a place to smoke weed, chase girls and handle weapons free of adult supervision. A "master manipulator," she demanded total loyalty from gang members with threats and beatings, Shetty told the jury during closing arguments March 23.

The prosecutor said those threats have continued during the investigation and trial, as Alvarenga was held in contempt by Senft for threatening one of the cooperating witnesses. Shetty said Alvarenga has also been accused of threatening two correction officers while incarcerated.

Prosecutors and witnesses said throughout the trial that Alvarenga’s threats had a significant impact on the teenagers and young men she ordered to beat and kill Ponce, who listened to her directives.

One witness, Christopher Perdomo, acknowledged that he fired four shots into Ortiz Ponce after the crew beat him and stole his car  with Alvarenga present. Perdomo is expected to be sentenced to 20 years to life in prison under a plea agreement next month.

Alvarenga’s defense attorney, Jonathan Manley, of Hauppauge, declined to comment both in and out of court, saying he planned to file an appeal. At trial, he rejected the prosecution’s contention that Alvarenga, just 20 at the time, controlled the young men.

"This was not a cult," Manley said. "She is not Charles Manson. These men were not brainwashed."

Manley urged jurors to dismiss the witnesses' testimonies, accusing them of pinning the blame on Alvarenga in return for lighter sentences.

"They make deals with the devils to blame her," Manley said of prosecutors.

The jurors, several of whom attended Tuesday’s sentencing, deliberated for three days before reaching a verdict on March 26.

Senft said the fact that Alvarenga could kill someone who was a complete stranger to her was a factor in sentencing her to life without parole. He said she posed a "grave risk to all of human society."

Shetty, in recommending the life sentence to the judge, said the court needed to send a message to society that such crimes will not be tolerated.

"She has told us with her threats that she cannot be rehabilitated," Shetty said.

 Alvarenga was also among a group of the gang’s members and associates charged in the 2021 robbery and killing of a Dix Hills man during what prosecutors described as a botched robbery attempt. Louis Lombardo, 28, was shot through a garage door in Huntington Station. Shetty said Alvarenga fired the shot that killed Lombardo. She was arrested in 2023 and pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery in 2024, the same year she was indicted in the Ortiz Ponce killing. 

Alvarenga joins Jeremy Allen, convicted in February of the East Quogue beating and stabbing death of Christopher Hahn, as the first defendants in Suffolk County to receive life without parole since November 2016.  Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex A. Heuermann is expected to become the third when he is sentenced June 17.

About 300 inmates are currently serving full life sentences in New York State prisons, according to state records.  

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.