A TV actor from Rego Park was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on Friday after he was found guilty of murdering a man during a 2021 ambush in St. Albans.
Isaiah Stokes, 45, of 62nd Road, was convicted on March 7 of murder in the second degree and other related crimes for gunning down 37-year-old Tyrone Jones as he sat in a parked Jeep Cherokee waiting on a friend to arrive for lunch. The fatal shooting was in retaliation for an altercation between the two men at the victim’s birthday bash months earlier.
According to the charges and trial testimony, the two met at a birthday party for Jones at a Queens club in October 2020 and they became involved in an altercation after the actor exhibited inappropriate behavior toward female party guests. After Stokes refused Jones’ request that he leave, Stokes was injured during a physical altercation with other partygoers.
On or about Jan. 29, 2021, Stokes placed a GPS tracking device on the undercarriage of Jones’ Jeep Grand Cherokee and used it to track him down on the day of the murder.
At around 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 7, 2021, Stokes exited a parked Audi SUV with New Jersey license plates at the intersection of 200th Street and 118th Avenue. Stokes circled the area of 200th Street and Linden Boulevard on foot for approximately 15 minutes before he walked towards Jones’s vehicle, took out a handgun, and fired 11 times into the Jeep.
Jones suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the head and chest. Police from the 113th Precinct in Jamaica and EMS units responded to the scene and Jones was pronounced dead at the location.
Stokes drove back to his Rego Park apartment later that afternoon and returned the Audi SUV to a rental location in Hackensack, NJ, on Feb. 16.
“Isaiah Stokes, embarrassed and upset that he was thrown out of a birthday party in October 2020, sought revenge on Tyrone Jones,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “Months later, the defendant attached a GPS tracking device to his victim’s vehicle and stalked Jones for more than a week. Stokes tracked Jones down to Linden Boulevard and fired 11 times into Jones’ vehicle, striking the man in his head and chest.”
Detective Daniel Connors of the NYPD’s 113th Precinct and retired Detective Michael Naus, formerly of the NYPD’s Queens South Homicide Squad, investigated the case and ultimately arrested the defendant on July 16, 2021, at his apartment with the assistance of the NYPD’s Regional Fugitive Task Force. The execution of a search warrant at the defendant’s apartment revealed documents connecting the defendant to the GPS tracking device that was found beneath the victim’s vehicle.
Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder, who presided over the two-week jury trial, sentenced Stokes to 25 years to life imprisonment.
“Justice has now been served for the premeditated murder perpetrated by this defendant and he will now spend 25 years to life in prison as a direct consequence of his criminal actions,” Katz said.
Stokes, who was born and raised in Rochdale Village, played small roles in TV series such as “Boardwalk Empire,” “Power,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Blue Bloods,” “Louie” and “Rescue Me,” according to his IMDb biography.
