Two men, Samuel Reveron and Kevin Rodriguez, were arrested after allegedly emerging from a Manhattan-area sewer; police say they were tracked via video footage in Queens. The suspects reportedly told officers they search drains for valuables such as gold, a claim experts and experienced urban explorers call unlikely. Authorities say entering sewers is illegal and dangerous, and police scrutiny rose because the arrests coincided with the UN General Assembly, though a defense attorney denied any connection.
Manhattan 'Mole' Mystery: Arrests Rekindle Rumors Of Lost Gold In City Sewers
Reports of mysterious gangs of sewer spelunkers have transfixed New Yorkers over the summer.Photograph: william87/Getty Images
Two men were arrested after allegedly emerging from a Manhattan-area sewer, renewing public interest in a spate of recent sightings of people lifting manhole covers and descending into New York's underground storm drains.
Police say Samuel Reveron, 25, and Kevin Rodriguez were identified from video footage and picked up in Queens. Both men face criminal trespassing charges; officers allege they entered the sewer system with four other people who have not yet been identified.
“We go into the sewer and look for valuables that get stuck in the storm drains and sewers, gold, anything of value,” Reveron reportedly told police after his arrest.
The claim echoes earlier incidents in which detainees said they were searching for lost jewelry, coins or gold. But experienced urban explorers and experts say treasure-hunting in New York's tunnels rarely pays off. Steve Duncan, who has made more than 100 explorations of the city's sewers and subway tunnels, told The New York Times his most valuable find was an expired credit card.
A Pattern of Incidents
There have been multiple reports this year of people entering sewers, including three episodes in May that were captured on video. One clip from Astoria shows three people in hip waders removing a circular manhole cover and descending into the darkness. Eyewitnesses compared the scene to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a pop-culture reference repeatedly invoked in media coverage.
The behavior is not new: in 2015 a trainee from the New York Department of Environmental Protection was arrested in the sewers, and last year three men were detained in Brooklyn after allegedly entering the system to search for valuables. Then-NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton commented at the time that the motives were unclear and the activity was plainly risky.
Safety and Security Concerns
Authorities have been particularly alert because the latest arrests coincided with the UN General Assembly, when world leaders and delegations were in town. Reveron’s attorney, Brian Kennedy, told reporters there is no evidence of any connection to visiting dignitaries or a larger plot.
“It seems like not much of a case,” Kennedy said. “There’s no connection to the UN or the appearance of Netanyahu or any other kind of nefarious scheme.”
Officials stress that entering sewers is both illegal and hazardous. Rob Wolejsza, a spokesperson for the New York Department of Environmental Protection, warned that sewers may contain toxic or potentially deadly gases, unstable surfaces, sudden flooding, and other confined-space hazards, and urged the public never to enter pipes, drains, catch basins, manholes or outfalls.
Whether warnings will deter future excursions is unclear: on the same day Reveron and Rodriguez were arrested, three other men were observed emerging from a sewer in Bensonhurst before police could apprehend them. Authorities reported finding a shovel in the sewer.
Bottom line: Claims that city sewers hide a fortune appear to be urban legend rather than fact, while the real risks of entering the system—legal, physical and public-safety related—are very real.
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