N.J. man who helped his brother lure a victim to a fatal robbery, then dumped his body in Upper Bucks, was sent to prison

A New Jersey man who helped his brother lure an acquaintance to his death in a robbery disguised as a marijuana deal and then tried to hide his body in a wooded area along a rural road in Upper Bucks County has been sentenced to 5 to 10 years in state prison.

Joshua Gamble, 20, fought back tears as he expressed his regret and apologized to the family of Kevin Rosero, 26, who was stabbed 28 times by Gamble’s older brother, Anthony, in June 2021 over $400.

Gamble told them he idolized his older brother and followed his every move.

“I’m truly sorry for my brother’s actions, and mine, as well,” Gamble said Wednesday as he awaited sentencing by Bucks County Court Judge Jeffrey L. Finley. “I wasn’t strong enough to tell my brother ‘no,’ and that’s on me.”

Gamble pleaded guilty to robbery, conspiracy, abuse of a corpse, and other crimes in 2022 in exchange for an agreement in which prosecutors dropped the murder charge he faced.

He told Finley that he had grown up in a loving, religious household, but had followed his older brother into marijuana use, slacking in school, and spending time with “bad influences.”

Anthony Gamble, 22, admitted he stabbed Rosero during a robbery in Somerset, N.J. He and his younger brother then drove Rosero’s body to Richland Township, and attempted to discard it in a wooded area, but were spotted by a Pennsylvania state trooper who mistook their parked cars as a sign of a motorist in distress.

The two later said they stole $400 from Rosero, whom they had known for years, and had targeted him while desperate for money and marijuana.

The older Gamble is serving a 25- to 55-year sentence in state prison after pleading guilty in October to third-degree murder and conspiracy to commit robbery.

In handing down Joshua Gamble’s sentence Wednesday, Finley said he took into account the man’s admission to the crime, which came at a time when Gamble’s older brother was pushing to go to trial. But, Gamble said Wednesday, he knew he had a duty to tell the truth.

“I knew Kevin’s family needed closure,” Gamble said. “And I knew at the end of the day, I was the only one who could give it to him.”

Still, Finley said, Gamble’s actions were brutal and caused permanent damage to the lives of everyone affected by them.

“I realize Joshua did not take the life of Kevin Rosero. But that doesn’t take away from his own conduct,” Finley said. “This was a senseless act of greed that has destroyed the Rosero family and so seriously impacted the Gamble family.”

Prosecutors said when they found Rosero’s body in the woods, he had been stabbed in his head, neck, and arms. One of two cars police found on the side of the road, an Audi A5, had its interior covered in blood. A large, bloody knife had been stashed on the floor of the car’s passenger side.

The brothers had driven the Audi, as well as a second car registered to their father, from Somerset, stopping at a 7-Eleven near the crime scene to buy work gloves and disinfectant wipes. An analysis of Anthony Gamble’s phone showed he had searched for “7 eleven,” “junk yards near me,” and “can soap wash off fingerprints.”

During Wednesday’s proceeding, Rosero’s parents described how he, their only child, had combined his sense of ambition with a passion for helping others. At the time of his death, he was studying to become an immigration lawyer and had been an active community organizer.

“We didn’t just lose Kevin, but everyone he could’ve helped lost that opportunity, too,” said Rosero’s father, Marcelo.

Rosero’s mother, Cecilia Tirado, said she never imagined her son would ever “endure such animalistic abuse, torture and pain.” Since his death, she said, she struggles with anxiety, depression and insomnia, especially at the thought that he was “discarded like trash.”

“No day has been the same since he was robbed and left to die by the two brothers, who only thought of their greed,” she said.