Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin announced that a Providence County Superior Court jury found Jesus Danilo Fuentes (DOB: 07/04/73), with a last known address of 6 Henry Street, Providence, guilty in the November 6, 2009 murder of Henry Vargas outside Club Platinum in Providence. Fuentes was found guilty of first degree murder and discharge of a firearm, death resulting. The verdict was handed down after one day of jury deliberations that concluded a three week trial before Superior Court Justice Robert D. Krause in which the state presented over 20 witnesses.
During the trial, the state proved that after getting into a fight inside Club Platinum earlier in the evening, the feud between Jesus Fuentes and Henry Vargas escalated outside after the nightclub closed with Fuentes shooting Vargas as Vargas and his girlfriend were walking towards their car.
The state presented evidence that Fuentes fled to the Dominican Republic following the shooting. The Office of Attorney General presented the case to the Grand Jury, which handed up an indictment of murder in April 2010. Fuentes was arrested in the Dominican Republic and extradited back to Rhode Island. He has been held without bail at the ACI since his extradition from the Dominican Republic.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorneys General Thomas O’Brien and Randall White on behalf of the Office of the Attorney General. The lead detective from the Providence Police Department was Detective Kenneth Court.
A date for sentencing has not yet been scheduled.