Third man found guilty in 2024 deadly home invasion in Lower Merion
Andrew Gaudio was fatally shot while defending his mother, Bernadette, who was shot while she was in her bed at home on Dec. 8, 2024.
A 27-year-old man was found guilty Wednesday of second-degree murder for his role in a botched 2024 home invasion in Lower Merion that left a 25-year-old man dead and his mother paralyzed, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said.
The jury also found Jeremy Fuentes guilty of three counts of conspiracy — he was not present, but prosecutors said he inspired two other men to commit the burglary that turned deadly.
No sentencing date was set, but a second-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence, said Kate Delano, spokesperson for the district attorney’s office.
Andrew Gaudio was fatally shot while defending his mother, Bernadette Gaudio, who was shot while she was in her bed at home on Dec. 8, 2024. Bernadette Gaudio was paralyzed from the neck down.
In July, Charles Fulforth and Kelvin Roberts were convicted of first-degree murder in the case.
“Jeremy is absolutely floored by the verdict,” Matthew Quigg, his attorney, said Wednesday night.
Quigg argued that Fuentes did not know what the other two men were planning.
”We were able to hold everybody accountable today for what happened," Assistant District Attorney Brianna Ringwood said after the verdict.
Fulforth and Roberts forced their way into Bernadette Gaudio’s Main Line home that evening, believing there were guns inside to steal.
The men, who worked for the junk-removal business Junkluggers, did not realize that they had targeted the wrong address and that they were supposed to be in Bucks County rather than Montgomery.
Fuentes also worked for Junkluggers and had spotted guns at a Bucks County home while working a job there, prosecutors said.
He encouraged Fulforth to commit the robbery and thus, prosecutors said, was an accomplice in the crime.
Fuentes “helped to carry out that home invasion for the possibility of his own personal profit,” Ringwood said in her opening statement to the jury.
Ringwood explained to the jurors that a second-degree murder conviction means that somebody was killed during the commission of a crime — including robbery or burglary — and that the person charged does not need to have intended for a death to happen to be found guilty.
“This doesn’t even happen without him starting the ball rolling,” First Assistant District Attorney Edward F. McCann said after the verdict.
Fuentes is facing a separate criminal case in Montgomery County in which he is accused of illegally selling guns.
Staff writer Jesse Bunch contributed to this article.