By Adam Pincus
Moments after Jerome Fletcher, 30, professed his innocence in his part in a payroll robbery plot that turned deadly at a Long Island City dry cleaners, Supreme Court Justice Robert Hanophy questioned his sincerity and his attitude toward women. “You may be able to father a child, but you are not a man,” he said at the Jan. 3 sentencing. Fletcher has three children with three women, and enlisted a girlfriend as a participant in the robbery scheme.”Everything you say is oozing insincerity. You have no respect for anybody, especially the women out there,” he said. Hanophy sentenced him to 29 years to life in prison.Fletcher, who had been fired from the company, was convicted Nov. 17 after a two-week jury trial on charges of murder, robbery, criminal possession of a weapon and evidence tampering for his part in the slaying of Bruce Levy.The 52-year-old Levy, co-owner of the Manhattan-based Red Cap Valet, was arriving at the Queens offices of the dry cleaner on 35-45 35th St. with the payroll money on Oct. 7, 2004, when a 23-year-old Brooklyn man, Denworth Davidson, allegedly took the cash and fatally shot Levy, prosecutors said.Davidson got in the car driven by Fletcher, and they sped off, they said.Fletcher, of Farmingdale, L.I., Davidson and three others were charged in the crime, the district attorney said.Davidson was charged with shooting Levy and faces 25 years to life if convicted, the Queens district attorney said.Fletcher's girlfriend, Stacey Whittaker of Farmingdale, L.I. and Davia Gabriel, 28, of Brooklyn, were also charged in the crime, the district attorney said. Whittaker, 30, pleaded guilty to hindering prosecution and is scheduled to be sentenced next month, he said.Mozart Findlay, 29, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and is awaiting sentencing, the district attorney said.Fletcher insisted he was not involved in the crime and asked for a new trial during the sentencing last week.”I maintain my innocence,” he said. “But my heart goes out to their family.”Levy's wife and stepdaughter spoke about their sense of loss, while Fletcher stood handcuffed with his back to them, remaining expressionless. “I was shot through my heart with the same bullet that day,” said the victim's wife, Cathy Levy.Her adult daughter recalled that the day of the shooting she was called to the principal's office at the Brooklyn school where she worked and told that her father had been injured in an accident.She asked which hospital she should go to. Her sister told her bluntly over the phone: “'You don't need to go to the hospital, you need to go to the precinct'” because her stepfather was dead.Reach reporter Adam Pincus by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
