A Vermont deputy sheriff was in Manhattan federal court yesterday to face a murder charge for the long-unsolved killing of a Bronx man – in a case in which prosecutors may seek the death penalty.
Federal Judge Loretta Preska ordered Vincent Pagan, 33, to be held without bail for the 1996 murder of Eugene Soto. Pagan pleaded not guilty.
Because Pagan and another man, David Gonzalez, are charged with killing Soto in connection with a drug deal, federal prosecutors must decide whether to ask a jury to sentence the men to death.
The two are charged with murdering Soto on Sept. 14, 1996, on Valentine Avenue in The Bronx in connection with a conspiracy to sell heroin and cocaine.
Gonzalez, 29, and his brother, Pedro Gonzalez, 33, were also charged with dealing drugs in The Bronx from 1996 until last year.
Officials said that sometime after Soto’s murder, Pagan moved to Vermont, where he became a Bennington County deputy sheriff last September. Federal agents arrested him last week in Vermont.
David Gonzalez was arrested April 1 in Yonkers.