Two men were arrested in connection with this week’s mysterious sighting of sewer invaders emerging from a New York City manhole cover, court records revealed on Friday.
Samuel Reveron, 25, and Kevin Rodriguez, 26, were each booked on two counts of trespassing.
The pair were implicated in the latest sewer incident, in which men were seen climbing out from underground near East 61st Street and Park Avenue at about 1:38 a.m. Wednesday, according to a criminal complaint.
At around 4 a.m., “the individuals were observed getting back into the vehicles and driving in tandem over the Queensboro Bridge, alerting the automatic license plate readers as to the vehicle’s’ VIN and license plate numbers,” the complaint said.
Reveron and Rodriguez, who own the vehicles, both “identified themselves as the individuals that entered the manhole” early Wednesday morning, according to the court document.
They “both described in sum and substance that they entered the manhole together to look for valuables that get washed away in the storm drains and sewers,” authorities said.
Reveron and Rodriguez have not been charged in other sewer break-ins, but the NYPD said earlier that Wednesday’s incident “fits that same criteria” previous cases of unauthorized sewer entries.
This particular incident raised concerns of local law enforcement, already under strain with the United Nations General Assembly in session and world leaders strolling around New York City.
The 61st and Park sighting came steps away from a hotel where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had stayed in previous New York City visits — though he ultimately did not bunk here this week.
Brian Kennedy, an attorney for Reveron, contested allegations his client was in sewers — but said that if his client were underground, there was no intent to injure anyone.
“It seems like not much of a case,” Kennedy told NBC News on Friday. “I understand that it is strange that it’s alleged he went (into the sewer). But there’s no connection to the UN or the appearance of Netanyahu or any other kind of nefarious scheme.”
Rodriquez’s attorney declined comment.
If it’s proven that Reveron did go underground, Kennedy said he’d counsel his client not to do that again.
“It’s not advised to go into a sewer,” Kennedy said. “Besides the grime and rats, there are other dangers down there. It’s not something I would be doing.”
Earlier this year, there were at least two incidents of men captured on video mysteriously emerging from New York City sewers.
The underground visitors, not affiliated with any public works crews, were seen climbing out of manholes in various Brooklyn neighborhoods in late May.
The incidents reignited New York fascination with the urban lore of “mole men” — mythical Big Apple residents who allegedly reside under city streets.
The myth was fed a dose of reality in 1993 when late journalist Jennifer Toth published “The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City,” chronicling homeless people living in or around city train tunnels.
