By: Najla Alexander
Authorities in Monmouth County announced that an Asbury Park man who shot and killed a male victim in 2022 was sentenced to 45 years in a New Jersey State Prison, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced on Thursday.
Joseph N. Argilagos, 19, having been found guilty on December 18, 2024, by a jury on all counts against him, was sentenced on Tuesday, April 22, by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Jill Grace O’Malley, P.J.Cr.
For the Murder charge, Argilagos must serve a minimum of 85 percent of that sentence before the possibility of parole, in accordance with New Jersey’s No Early Release Act (NERA).
Argilagos also received an additional seven years for the possessory weapons offense with a period of parole ineligibility in accordance with the New Jersey Graves Act, which will run concurrent to the Murder sentence.
Co-defendant Lydell Brown, who pled guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Murder after the jury failed to reach an agreement on the charges against him, was sentenced on March 12, 2025 to five years in a New Jersey State prison with a mandatory minimum 85% parole ineligibility in accordance with NERA.
Argilagos, originally a juvenile defendant, was waived to adult court in September of 2023 upon motion by the prosecution, shortly before a Monmouth County Grand Jury indicted both he and Brown as accomplices in the shooting murder of the victim.
At trial before Judge O’Malley, the jury heard evidence establishing that shortly after 5:45 p.m. on Friday, July 8, 2022, members of the Asbury Park Police Department responded to a report of gunfire originating from the 100 block of Prospect Avenue, near the intersection with Atlantic Avenue.
Upon arrival at the scene, officers encountered 19-year-old Dariel Vernet of Asbury Park, who had sustained multiple gunshot injuries.
He was transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, where he was pronounced deceased approximately one hour later.
The investigation into Vernet’s death, led by members of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office’s Major Crimes Bureau and the Asbury Park Police Department, resulted in Brown and Argilagos, both Asbury Park residents, being identified as the individuals responsible.
Argilagos was apprehended just days after the shooting, and Brown was located and arrested without incident in Toms River (Ocean County) in May 2023 by members of the Prosecutor’s Office, the Asbury Park Police Department, and the U.S. Marshals Service New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force.