BY ROBERT POZARYCKI | Justice has been served against the Brooklyn man who violently stabbed a popular Greenwich Village chef to death back in 2016, prosecutors announced on Friday.
Jahkeem Scott, 21, of Cypress Hills, Brooklyn was convicted on Sept. 19 of stabbing Romulo Heras, 61, approximately 31 times in his Brooklyn residence. Prosecutors said Scott then set six separate fires at Heras’ residence in an effort to cover his tracks.
Heras worked as a night chef at the Cornelia Street Café. According to the New York Daily News, he had just returned home from his shift and was sleeping when Scott broken in and fatally attacked him.
A jury found Scott guilty of second-degree murder, second-degree arson and first-degree burglary. He now faces up to 25 years to life behind bars, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.
“A beloved family man and popular chef was senselessly and brutally murdered in his home. This verdict is a small measure of justice for Romulo Heras’s wife, children and grandchildren. This defendant has now been held accountable for this terrible crime.”
Law enforcement sources said that Scott broke into Heras’ apartment on Logan Street in Cypress Hills on Jan. 22, 2016 and found Heras in his bed. He then stabbed him 31 times about the body, neck and head, then proceed to remove numerous items.
Scott was captured by nearby security cameras carrying a laundry bag full of stolen items while leaving Heras’ building, prosecutors said.
On his way out, authorities noted, Scott set six fires to Heras’ apartment. Responding firefighters, upon extinguishing them, found Heras’ body inside.
Detectives tracked down Scott in Virginia the following May and extradited him back to Brooklyn to face murder charges. He’s now scheduled to be sentenced in October.
