A thief whose crew drugged drunk Hell’s Kitchen clubgoers said nothing as he was sentenced Thursday to eight years behind bars for the fiendish scheme that left two people dead.
Andre Butts, 30, appeared solemn in Manhattan Supreme Court to learn his fate after he changed his story and fessed up to robbery and conspiracy charges for his part in the fentanyl-wielding crew that drugged victims to rob them blind.
Butts — who was not charged with murder in the scheme — worked alongside Jayqwan Hamitlon, Robert DeMaio and Jacob Barroso, who were found guilty at trial in February for mugging and drugging five different gay men, killing two.
“Andre Butts is now facing accountability for his role in this deadly and callous conspiracy,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. “He admitted to participating in multiple robberies using fentanyl-laced drugs to incapacitate victims, so he and his co-defendants could drain money from their financial accounts.”
Butts helped the trio target victims outside The Q NYC, a gay nightclub that was located on West 48th Street and Eighth Avenue, where they preyed on clubgoers before feeding them fentanyl-laced drugs in order to rob them, prosecutors have said.
The hefty Butts admitted to participating in two robberies, including a March 18, 2022 robbery where he took the victim back to a hotel in Union Square — then drugged him until he lost consciousness.
The crew were seen pushing the victim’s limp body on a luggage cart to bring him back to his hotel room — before they took his phone and made quick unauthorized charge transfers using Apple Cash and Cash App.
Less than a month later, Butts and Shane Hoskins, another member awaiting sentencing for his role in the scheme, tagged along with Hamilton and Barroso to target another victim outside the same night club.
They brought the man back to his Lower East Side apartment and drugged him, then robbed him of his cellphone and credit cards, according to court papers.
When the victim woke up, he saw purchases made using his money at Prada and Bloomingdale’s, prosecutors have said.
Manhattan Assistant DA Emily Ching told the judge that Butts had initially denied his guilt in a probation report, telling officers that he was “guilty by association, at the wrong place at the wrong time with friends.”
But Butts quickly admitted his guilt when pressed by Judge Felicia Mennin. At his sentencing, he was slapped with five years post-release supervision in addition to his prison term.
Butts is the first member of the crew to be sentenced for the spree, which left consultant John Umberger and Brooklyn social worker Julio Ramirez dead.
Hoskins is expected to be sentenced to eight years in prison next month after pleading guilty to robbery.
Hamilton, DeMario and Barroso are set to be sentenced on May 21.
