Jacob Barroso, Jayqwan Hamilton, and Robert Demaio – Photos: New York Police Department
A Manhattan judge sentenced three men to decades in prison for their role in a scheme that led to the deaths of two gay men.
Jayqwan Hamilton, 37, Jacob Barroso, 32, and Robert DeMaio, 36, were found guilty of murder, robbery, and conspiracy in connection with the scheme. They used illicit substances to drug and incapacitate their victims, deploying facial recognition technology on victims’ phones to access and drain their bank accounts.
The scheme, which ran from March 2021 to June 2022, resulted in the deaths of 25-year-old Julio Ramirez, a social worker, and John Umberger, a 33-year-old political consultant from Washington, D.C.
Both men were murdered within a week of each other in the spring of 2022.
Ramirez was found dead in the back of a taxi, while Umberger was found dead in a townhouse where he was staying. Both had a mixture of drugs in their systems, including fentanyl, lidocaine, and cocaine, according to the city medical examiner’s office.
Three other men — Eddie Ashley, Shane Hoskins, and Andre Butts — were also arrested and convicted in the drugging and robbery scheme, but pleaded guilty to the charges against them, while the other three chose to go to trial.
Hamilton, Demaio, and Barroso were ultimately convicted of murdering Ramirez, while Hamilton and DeMaio were convicted of murdering Umberger.
During a May 21 hearing, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Felicia Mennin sentenced Hamilton and DeMaio to 40 years to life in prison, while Barroso was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, reports NBC News.
“This was a cold and calculated pattern,” Mennin said. “I pity your lack of empathy. But pity will not translate into leniency in this case.”
At trial, prosecutors alleged that the trio worked together to drug and rob five men after meeting them outside popular New York City gay bars and nightclubs. As evidence, they presented a video of Hamilton and DeMaio partying in the townhouse alongside Umberger’s unconscious body.
Lawyers for Hamilton, Barroso, and DeMaio argued that it was impossible to know which drugs killed the two men, noting that some of the victims of the robbery scheme used illicit drugs recreationally.
Prior to sentencing, the men’s lawyers asked for more lenient sentences and noted they planned to appeal the convictions.
“In this case, no one was supposed to die. That’s the tragedy. No one intended to murder these young men,” Dean Vigliano, DeMaio’s attorney, told the court.
Both Hamilton and Barroso continue to maintain their innocence, despite the conviction. Addressing the court, Hamilton admitted to making mistakes, which he regrets, but insisted his actions weren’t deadly.
Following Ramirez’s death, additional victims stepped forward and shared stories of being drugged and robbed at gay bars on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. But some victims claims that police did not believe them after they shared their stories, leading to criticism of the way the New York Police Department handled the cases.
Prosecutors maintain that the victims were targeted for financial gain, and not due to their sexual orientation, which is why the men faced no bias-motivated enhancements.
At the same time that Hamilton, DeMaio, and Barrosso were conducting their scheme, another crime ring was carrying out a nearly identical one involving non-LGBTQ club-goers in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, which also led to several deaths and has resulted in at least one arrest.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has called upon third-party payment apps to implement more stringent security measures to protect their customers.
But last December, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill that would have required mobile banking applications to require the use of a Personal Identification Number (PIN) when a user made any transaction exceeding a set monetary limit of their choosing.
The bill also would have required a PIN before transferring money to users in situations where fraud is suspected — such as signing in on an unrecognized device or making multiple transactions within the same hour. Many advocates argue that Hochul’s veto encourages criminals to commit similar robberies.
A 26-year-old Bronx man will finally stand trial for an alleged anti-gay assault committed more than two years ago, according to the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr.
Tavaughn Thompson was indicted on May 21 on two counts of third-degree assault as a hate crime and one count of second-degree aggravated harassment. He was previously arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court in February, days after his January 31 arrest.
Thompson was initially detained in connection with an unrelated incident, but police identified him as the suspect in the 2023 assault case.
LGBTQ New York Police Department officers affiliated with the Gay Officers Action League (GOAL) will boycott Manhattan's Pride March on Sunday, June 28, after organizers declined to exempt them from a policy barring marchers from carrying weapons, including police service firearms. GOAL argues that officers' firearms are an integral part of their uniform.
The boycott marks the fifth consecutive year that GOAL has clashed with Heritage of Pride, the organization behind the march, over the participation of uniformed police officers.
Ginger's is canceling most of its DJ events for Pride Month after receiving dozens of noise complaints from neighbors.
The popular lesbian bar, located in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood, opened in 2000 and is best known as an Irish dive bar with billiards tables and an outdoor patio that hosts a range of events, from drag king shows and LGBTQ storytelling to DJ nights. Each year, it typically hosts a schedule of various DJs spinning and mixing during Pride Month.
But in a May 18 Instagram post, Ginger's wrote, "Due to ongoing noise concerns in the neighborhood, we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel the majority of our DJ events during Pride this year.... As much as we love turning up the music and creating space for queer joy, we also want to remain respectful of the neighborhood we have called home for the past 26 years, and of our space, which has been a neighborhood bar for more than 100 years."
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.