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Police have made arrests in the case of three people who climbed out of an Upper East Side sewer early Wednesday morning. Two people are now facing charges.
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The NYPD identified the suspects as Kevin Rodriguez, 26, and Samuel Reveron, 25, both of Queens, according to ABC7 New York. They’re charged with trespass and conspiracy in connection with the incident, which ESF covered earlier this week.The pair told police they were looking for gold and other valuables “washed away in storm drains and sewers,” according to a criminal complaint reported by Gothamist. Both pleaded not guilty to trespassing charges at their arraignments Friday in Manhattan Criminal Court, where a judge released them and ordered them to return Nov. 25. Reveron’s attorney told the outlet that his client’s time in the storm drains had nothing to do with the UN General Assembly.
Officers responded to a 911 call about a possible crime around 4:35 a.m. Wednesday near 535 Park Avenue at East 61st Street. When they arrived, they learned three individuals had exited the sewer and left, heading north on Park Avenue in two vehicles. An NYPD surveillance camera captured the incident.
The manhole is across from the Park Regency, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has often stayed, Gothamist reported.
Because of the UN General Assembly and the location’s proximity to Netanyahu’s hotel, the NYPD and federal agents conducted additional sweeps of the area. Nothing suspicious was found.
NYPD spokesperson Brad Weekes told Gothamist the incident fit the same criteria as earlier cases, in which people went into the sewer system to look for valuables and scrap metal after a storm. Those cases include a sighting near Penn Station in August and incidents in May in which groups were seen entering manholes in Gravesend and Williamsburg and coming out hours later.
The arrest details come from ABC7: the NYPD said Friday that it arrested Kevin Rodriguez, 25, and Samuel Reveron, 25, both of Queens, charged with trespass and conspiracy. The recap of Wednesday’s incident, the Netanyahu hotel detail from police sources, and the sweeps with federal agents that found nothing suspicious are also from ABC7. The Regency Hotel, the dignitaries detail, the Weekes quote, and the Penn Station and Brooklyn incidents are from Gothamist, which reported that five people were spotted near Penn Station in August and that in May, groups of seven and eight people were seen entering manholes in Gravesend and Williamsburg and coming out hours later.
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