1 of 3 suspects arrested in drugging deaths of two men in NYC

April 2 (UPI) -- One of three suspects is in custody in connection with the drugging and killing of two men in New York City last year.

Jacob Barroso, 30, surrendered to police on Saturday after being named a suspect in the killings of John Umberger, 33, and Julio Ramirez, 25, on separate occasions. The New York Police Department alleges that Barroso, Jayqwan Hamilton, Robert Demaio drugged and attempted to rob the men.

The trio were identified as suspects on Friday.

Barroso is charged with murder, robbery, grand larceny and conspiracy relating to the death of Ramirez and an unnamed victim who did not die in a separate case, NBC News reports. Ramirez was found dead in the back of a taxi. Money was withdrawn from his bank account shortly after his body was discovered.

Ramirez and Umberger were reportedly given drugs laced with Fentanyl while out at gay bars in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood in Manhattan. The three suspects would allegedly approach their victims and drug them until they were "incapacitated to the extent that their ability to perceive events became diminished," the indictment reads.

There are as many as 17 active investigations into similar incidents in New York City. Last week, the death of up-and-coming fashion designer Katie Gallagher was ruled a homicide. Gallagher died in July, after being unknowingly drugged with a mixture of fentanyl, p-fluorofentanyl and ethanol, investigators determined. It is believed someone drugged her with the intent of robbing her.

In December, 33-year-old Kenwood Allen was charged with murder in connection with a series of drugging deaths in Manhattan. ABC7 in New York reports Allen is "being looked at" for a possible role in Gallagher's death.