Mastermind behind 2011 crime that left NYC cafe owner dead is sentenced to 28 years

The mastermind of a 2011 marijuana robbery that left a popular Brooklyn cafe owner dead was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison for his role in the slaying on Thursday — as the victim’s sister spoke in court about how her life had been upended by the crime.

Kevin Taylor, 28, pleaded guilty in September to two counts of robbery and one count of witness tampering for the 2011 killing of Joshua Rubin, the former owner of Whisk Bakery Cafe in Ditmas Park. 

At his sentencing in Manhattan federal court Thursday, Rubin’s sister, Hilarie Rubin, spoke about her anguish since the killing.

“Do you remember me? As the last person on Joshua’s cellphone records — both calls and text messages — I came to see you for help a few days after he disappeared,” Hilarie said.

“Do you remember? Do you recall the panic and desperation I expressed to you? Do you remember the lies you told me? Do you remember the missing posters I printed and along with friends and family, hung them up all over Brooklyn?” Hilarie went on. “Did you tear them down?”

For his part in the robbery and killing, Taylor lured Rubin to an apartment in the Kensington neighborhood after setting up a weed deal on Halloween 2011, federal authorities charged.

Inside the apartment, Taylor and one of his cohorts, Gary Robles, demanded Rubin hand over a pound of pot.

When Rubin refused, Robles shot and killed him, according to charging documents against them.

After the shooting, Taylor swiped Rubin’s credit cards and he, Robles and a third suspect, Michael Mazur, left the body in the apartment and went to a Home Depot to buy supplies to dispose of it.

They then wrapped the body in plastic bags, loaded it into a car and drove to a wooded area outside of Allentown, Pa., where they placed it in a garbage can, doused it with accelerant and set it on fire.

“You did this Kevin Taylor. You planned and robbed him. You lured him to the apartment and you knew that Robles was bringing the gun,” Hilarie said at the sentencing.

“You stood over Joshua and watched him gasp for breath and bleed out. You killed him. You could have saved him,” she said.

Years after the killing, Taylor realized investigators were on his tail and tried to bribe two witnesses who were cooperating with the authorities.

In short remarks to Judge Jed Rakoff, Taylor said he wished he would have made better choices and said he prays the Rubin family could forgive him. 

When he’s released from prison, he vowed to “live my life with meaning and purpose.”

The three suspects were arrested and charged in March 2020, nearly a decade after the killing.

Robles was previously sentenced to 28 years in prison. Mazur, who acted as a lookout during the robbery, was sentenced to 18 years.