A Victorville man convicted of orchestrating a decades-old killing was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.
Antoine Nehme, 73, was found guilty in March of murder, conspiracy to commit a crime, and solicitation of murder in the 2004 shooting death of Moorpark resident Dennis Wood. The jury also found that Nehme ordered the killing for financial gain, District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said.
The judge determined that the crime involved great violence and was carried out with sophistication and planning, the DA’s Office added.
Wood was found dead in the doorway of his Moorpark home on April 16, 2004, after deputies conducted a welfare check at his home on the 12500 block of Mountain Trail Street. He had been shot twice in the head and once in the chest, and his body remained undiscovered for about two weeks.
The case remained unsolved for years, but the DA’s Office said detectives never gave up the pursuit for those responsible for the man’s death, checking for new leads on occasion as the years went by.
A break in the case came in 2010 when a murder suspect in an unrelated Los Angeles case said his co-defendant, Alex Bracamonte, had killed Wood at Nehme’s direction. Bracamonte, who worked at Nehme’s Ojai gas station, confessed to the crime in 2023 and provided details only the killer would know.
Investigators later uncovered a financial motive. Wood, who owned a prepaid phone card business, had loaned Nehme nearly $29,000 for a business venture. Rather than repay the debt, Nehme arranged to have Wood killed.
Nehme was arrested in May 2024, more than 20 years after Wood was killed.
That same month, Bracamonte pleaded guilty to Wood’s death. He was sentenced earlier this month to 15 years to life in that crime, which is to be served consecutively with his sentence for the Los Angeles case.
He testified against Nehme during trial.
“Dennis Wood was a good and honorable man who didn’t deserve to die the way he did,” said Senior Deputy District Attorney John Barrick. “I am glad Dennis’ family was able to see his murderers finally brought to justice after 21 long years.”