NYC man charged with 3 additional deaths in fatal drugging, robbery spree in 2022: DA
MANHATTAN, N.Y. (PIX11) – A man who's accused of fatally drugging and robbing clubgoers in New York City has been charged with three additional deaths during a months-long spree last year, authorities said Wednesday.
Kenwood Allen, 33, allegedly fatally drugged five people in a five-month span between March and August of 2022, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Allen was previously indicted last December for two fatal druggings. A superseding indictment now charges him with three additional murders he allegedly committed on July 22, July 23 and Aug. 6 in 2022, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced.
Allen was allegedly part of a robbery crew that targeted victims coming out of Manhattan clubs, often when they'd had too much to drink, law enforcement sources told PIX11 News in December. A different crew was apparently focused on gay nightclubs in Hell’s Kitchen where other fatal overdoses were reported.
Allen would allegedly drug his victims with fentanyl and other opioids in order to steal their credit cards, watches, phones, and other personal identifying information, prosecutors said. He would also allegedly withdraw cash from ATMs and use the stolen credit cards to make purchases. Many of the victims were later found unconscious on the street, authorities said.
PIX11 News previously reported that Allen was under investigation for two cases where overdose victims were dumped in the Bronx.
"These alleged pernicious drugging and robbery schemes have left far too many families mourning the loss of their loved ones,” Bragg said in a statement Wednesday. “The careful and meticulous work of our prosecutors and the NYPD has led us to charge this individual with a spree of criminal conduct that now includes five murders – four of which took place over a mere 15 days last summer."
Allen is now charged with the following:
- Murder in the Second Degree, a class A-I felony, ten counts
- Robbery in the First Degree, a class B felony, 13 counts
- Robbery in the Second Degree, a class C felony, two counts
- Attempted Robbery in the First Degree, a class C felony, two counts
- Criminal Possession of a Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony, three counts
- Assault in the Second Degree, a class D felony, 11 counts
- Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree, a class E felony, three counts
- Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree, a class E felony, one count
PIX11's Mary Murphy contributed to this report.