Providence man gets life sentence for 2013 slaying

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — A Providence man received a life sentence Friday for the 2013 killing of a 78-year-old man.

Leopoldo Belen, 33, received a life sentence after he pleaded nolo contendere to second degree murder in the killing of Delor ‘Dean’ Cabral.

Belen is currently serving an additional life sentence for a 2014 sexual assault conviction.

The conviction stems from the 2013 incident where Belen and co-defendant Joel Valdez broke into an Ontario Street multi-family home that Cabral owned in early morning hours of Oct. 5, 2013.

Investigators said that both men severely assaulted another victim in the process of the break-in.

Cabral went upstairs to investigate what was going on when he was stomped repeatedly by the defendants. Cabral ultimately succumbed to his injuries.

“To hear the account of this crime is to be overwhelmed by its senselessness and life-extinguishing impact on a man who had lived life well and at the time of his death was coming to the assistance of others,” said Attorney General Neronha.

Valdez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2015 and is awaiting sentencing.