One of five men who posed as DEA and sheriff’s agents during a fatal home-invasion robbery on Merritt Island has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.
BRIAN V. VOGEL, 33, was convicted under a plea agreement of second-degree murder and armed burglary of a dwelling for his role in a botched heist in 2021 in which victim Matthew Nicol, 25, was accidentally shot and left to bleed to death. Vogel also was convicted of cruelty to animals for shooting and instantly killing Nicol’s protective German shepherd, Mako – a planned step in the robbery.
At a May 19 hearing, Assistant State Attorney Bernadette Serafinowicz asked for the 30-year sentence. Serafinowicz introduced evidence that included home-security video of the robbers arriving at Nicol’s home in a rented U-Haul van while wearing masks, tactical gear and clothing with law-enforcement markings. They were armed with AR-style rifles, semiautomatic handguns, and a hammer to break through a sliding-glass door.
Vogel and his co-defendants’ goal that morning of March 3, 2021: Steal cash from a rival cocaine dealer who shared the home on Hall Road with Nicol. But as one member of the crew zip-tied Nicol to keep him out of the way, he discharged his rifle and fatally shot Nicol through his upper back. Vogel and the others fled without any money.
“This was about greed and rivalry – about taking what was not theirs,” Serafinowicz told Circuit Judge Kathryn Speicher as she weighed sentencing recommendations. “Although there was no intent to kill a human being, there was intent to kill Mako. If you dress as law enforcement officers and go into a house armed with guns and a hammer, things could go wrong in a hurry – and they did.”
Nicol worked as a swimming pool cleaner and was only home that morning because of rainy weather, Serafinowicz said.
Besides the 30 years in prison for murder and burglary, Speicher sentenced Vogel to:
- One year in custody, to run concurrently, for cruelty to animals.
- Lifetime drug-offender probation after his release from prison.
- No contact with any co-defendants in the case.
Of the co-defendants, three await trial on the same charges: Chase Harrison, 32, Cory Cabaniss, 29, and Anthony Davila, 27.
A fourth, David Foreman-Taylor, 23, accepted a plea agreement in 2022 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He has cooperated as a witness.
