For unlicensed Huntington Station dentist Yolani Mejia Carranza, one unhappy patient just wouldn’t keep her mouth shut. So she allegedly took a more direct approach — she hired a gunman.
Suffolk District Attorney Raymond Tierney announced Friday that the fake dentist, Mejia Carranza, 56, together with Daniel Kersey, 35, and 70-year-old Aldo Esmizadeh, were indicted for their alleged roles in the August 2022 murder of Byron Martinez, 23. The three are all from Huntington Station.
Mejia Carranza and Kersey were each indicted for first-degree murder and other charges connected to the murder-for-hire, as well as a bevy of charges related to a separate criminal case.
Esmizadeh faces conspiracy charges for allegedly serving as the go-between who made the murder-for-hire possible.
The scheme began simply enough — with a bad dental procedure, Tierney said.
Mejia Carranza treated Byron Martinez’s mother in 2022 at an unlicensed dental operation she was running out of Huntington Station.
Bad dental work
The procedure went badly. The mother developed serious complications and learned it would cost thousands of dollars to fix the damage.
She demanded reimbursement, warning the bogus dentist that her son had recorded Mejia Carranza performing the procedure, and they would go to law enforcement if she refused to pay, authorities said.
Prosecutors alleged that Mejia Carranza responded by going to Esmizadeh to see if he knew anyone who could “hurt” people.
Esmizadeh allegedly referred her to Kersey, who in late July 2022 agreed to threaten and physically harm Byron Martinez and his mother in exchange for payment, Tierney said.
From bad to worse
The alleged arrangement then escalated into something far darker.
After Kersey failed to follow through on his end, prosecutors said, Mejia Carranza grew impatient. She allegedly told him she wanted both the mother and son dead and wouldn’t pay Kersey until the murders were carried out.
She and Esmizadeh staked out the basement apartment in Huntington Station, authorities said, where Byron and his mother lived, then passed the location to Kersey.
About 1:18 a.m. on Aug. 2, 2022, Suffolk police responding to a 911 call of shots fired outside the residence found Byron Martinez lying in the entrance to the home with a gunshot wound to his upper back.
He was pronounced dead at the scene. Cops recovered shell casings and a black drawstring bag containing a cartridge near the scene.
Martinez’s mother was unharmed.
“Byron Martinez was fatally shot outside his home as part of an alleged contract killing orchestrated to protect an illegal unlicensed dental practice,” Tierney said.
Kept practicing dentistry
Mejia Carranza was arraigned Thursday before Acting Supreme Court Justice Anthony Senft Jr. and ordered to be held in jail without bail. She faces up to life without parole if convicted of first-degree murder.
She is also charged with second-degree murder, second-degree conspiracy, third-degree intimidating a victim or witness and other crimes relating to Martinez’s killing.
In a separate case, Mejia Carranza is charged with three counts of unauthorized practice of a profession for allegedly performing dental work on three individuals between November 2024 and March 2025. Prosecutors noted say that she never stopped the illegal practice, even years after a man allegedly died to protect it.
Kersey was arraigned Thursday on the murder charges — he too faces up to life in prison without parole if convicted.
The alleged hitman faces additional charges in a separate indictment alleging he used a victim’s drug addiction to force her into prostitution for his profit between the spring and fall of 2022.
Esmizadeh was also arraigned Thursday, with bail set at $100,000 cash, $200,000 bond or $1 million partially secured bond. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the top conspiracy charge.
Top: Photo by Jon Tyson.
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