Five individuals, including two women from northeast Queens, were arrested this week and charged in an alleged scheme to drug wealthy victims and charge approximately $200,00 in unauthorized purchases to their credit cards at two gentlemen’s clubs – one in Flushing and the other in Manhattan, law enforcement officials announced Wednesday.
Among those announcing the arrests were the city’s Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s New York Division James J. Hunt, and
Samantha Barbash, of Little Neck, was arrested Monday and charged with allegedly being part of a scheme to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from people she and others allegedly drugged. Photos courtesy the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor
NYPD Commissioner William Bratton.
“This repugnant scheme involved not only the theft of $200,000, but compromised the health, safety and security of victims by covertly giving them harmful substances,” Brennan said in a prepared statement. “The defendants were banking on the victims being too afraid to contact the police, but as the indictment and arrests show, they made a serious miscalculation.”
An eight month investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s tactical diversion squad and the NYPD resulted in an indictment by the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor.
Beginning late Monday, agents and officers arrested four female adult entertainers – Samantha Barbash, of Little Neck; Marsi Rosen, of Bayside; Roselyn Keo, of Nanuet; and Karina Pascucci, of Metuchen, New Jersey. Carmine Vitolo, a manager at RoadHouse NYC Gentlemen’s Club in Flushing was arrested Wednesday morning.
The conspiracy charged in the indictment centers on the theft of approximately $200,000 from four victims between Sept. 3, 2013 and Dec. 19, 2013. However, agents said they believe one or more of the charged defendants were allegedly involved in similar criminal activity as early as 2011.
The four victims in this case included professionals in medicine, finance and the law. In carrying out the alleged scheme, the female defendants initially met with the victims in upscale bars or restaurants in the New York area, often under the pretense of a “date,” according to law officials. At other times, in a process known to law enforcement as “fishing,” the defendants allegedly trolled bars for worthy targets, Brennan’s office said.
Working together, the defendants allegedly used drugs or a mixture of drugs to intoxicate the victims, including ketamine – a tranquilizer, methylone – commonly known as “molly,” and cocaine, according to officials. In many cases, drugs were allegedly secretly administered to the victim without their consent, the law enforcement agencies said.
While under the influence of the drugs, the victims were allegedly transported to either Scores New York at 536 West 28th Street on Manhattan’s West Side or to RoadHouse NYC Gentlemen’s Club at 32-17 College Point Boulevard in Flushing in the defendants’ vehicles, officials said. Inside the club, the victims were then allegedly taken to a private room for adult entertainment.
Karina Pascucci was one of four adult entertainers arrested Monday and charged with allegedly being part of a scheme that involved drugging individuals and bringing them to gentlemen’s clubs in Flushing and Manhattan, according to the city’s Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor. Photos courtesy the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor
investigation revealed that the defendants then allegedly obtained the victims’ credit cards and identification, according to the DEA. Barbash and Keo have been charged with primarily overseeing the financial part of the scheme, Brennan’s office said. The defendants allegedly determined the available credit and discussed among themselves how much to charge on the cards, officials said. In instances when they were at RoadHouse, the women also allegedly conferred with Vitolo, according to officials.
The defendants allegedly fraudulently charged tens of thousands of dollars to the victims’ credit cards without their knowledge, the agencies said. Charges on individual credit cards allegedly ranged from approximately $5,000 to over $50,000, according to Brennan’s office.
At the end of the night, some victims allegedly woke up in their beds and had no knowledge of having gone to a club the night before, according to investigators – who believe that a combination of different drugs utilized on the victims sometimes caused memory loss.
