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One of the three suspects sought in the drugging deaths of two robbery victims after they left homosexual golf equipment in Hell’s Kitchen has surrendered to cops, law-enforcement sources stated Sunday.
Jacob Barroso, 30, of Harlem gave up and was charged for his position particularly within the loss of life of Julio Ramirez, 25, who together with John Umberger, 33, died final spring after ingesting a deadly chemical cocktail whereas individually partying in Manhattan, sources stated.
Two different suspects within the males’s deaths — Jayqwan Hamilton, 35, and Robert Demaio, 34, each of Brooklyn — additionally have been indicted final week for the crimes however stay on the lam.
The trio is a component of a bigger gang that’s accused of drugging and robbing folks in 17 separate cases all through town between September 2021 and August 2022, police sources have stated.
Both Umberger and Ramirez died of “acute intoxication” from a mixture of fentanyl, cocaine, ethanol and different medicine, town health worker stated March 3.
Both have been victims of homicides stemming from “drug-facilitated deaths,” the examiner concluded.
Authorities have charged Barroso with homicide, theft, grand larceny and conspiracy, sources stated.
The alleged killers sprang on the lads in separate incidents when the victims have been leaving the Q NYC and Ritz Bar and Lounge.
NYPD Detective Randy Rose linked the deaths to a string of robberies by a gang working the area’s gay clubs.
The group drugged victims, then used cellular money apps to siphon off tens of 1000’s of {dollars} from their financial institution accounts.
A political marketing consultant from Washington, DC, Umberger disappeared May 28, 2022, after a Saturday night time in town.
He’d been partying at The Q NYC, a homosexual nightclub at 795 Eighth Avenue, whereas visiting New York for work.
Four days later, his physique was discovered on the fifth ground of an Upper East Side townhouse owned by conservative lawyer Jay Sekulow’s American Center for Law and Justice, the place Umberger labored as director of diplomacy and political packages.
Umberger’s cellular phone and bank card have been lacking, and greater than $25,000 had been transferred out of his accounts by way of apps corresponding to Venmo and Paypal.
Ramirez, a Brooklyn social employee, was discovered dead weeks earlier behind a taxi on the Lower East Side at about 4 a.m.
He’d been on the Ritz Bar and Lounge, a homosexual membership on West forty sixth Street that’s simply two blocks from Q NYC.
Ramirez’s cellphone and pockets have been lacking after the April 21 theft.
His financial institution accounts had additionally been emptied of about $20,000 by way of fee apps, and the thieves maxed out his bank cards on costly dinners and spa companies.
-Additional reporting by Larry Celona
