Man Surrenders After Gay Club Robbery Leaves Man Dead In UES Home: PD

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY —A man connected to multiple gay nightclub robberies that left one man dead of an overdose in an Upper East Side townhouse has surrendered to police, the NYPD announced.

Jacob Barroso, 30, faces charges of murder, robbery, assault, grand larceny, identity theft and conspiracy after surrendering Saturday, according to officials.

Jayquan Hamilton, 35, and Robert Demaio, 34, both of Brooklyn, had yet to be found as of Monday, police said.

The three men are among six accused of drugging and robbing patrons of gay nightclubs in Midtown on 17 occasions between September 2021 and August 2022, according to reports.

Victims targeted at Midtown gay nightclubs were drugged, robbed of phones later used to drain bank their accounts, and left for dead, officials said.

Among those victims was John Umberger, 33, a Washington, D.C. political consultant who died in an Upper East Side townhouse last May, police said.

A month earlier, Julio Cesar Ramirez, 25, was found unconscious in the back of a taxi in the Lower East Side and later died, according to reports.

A medical examiner last month ruled that the two deaths were “drug facilitated thefts,” caused by a mix of fentanyl, cocaine, ethanol and other drugs, the Daily News reported.

Last week, six men were indicted by a grand jury, including Hamilton, Demaio and Barroso, according to the Daily News.

“It was an answer to our prayers and we are grateful,” Umberger’s mother Linda Clary told the Daily News after last week's indictment. “But the streets are still not safe as these are life-long criminals.”

Police said in November at least seven people had died in connection to Manhattan nightlife robberies.