The arrest of two men in New York City has highlighted a bizarre and dangerous trend of individuals entering the city's sewer system in search of lost gold and other valuables.
Samuel Reveron, 25, and Kevin Rodriguez were apprehended in Queens after police used video surveillance to track them down. The pair, along with four other unidentified individuals, were allegedly spotted entering a sewer tunnel in Manhattan. Both men face charges of criminal trespassing, but it is their stated motive that has captured public attention.
Following his arrest, Reveron reportedly explained their underground excursion to police, stating, "We go into the sewer and look for valuables that get stuck in the storm drains and sewers, gold, anything of value."
This quest fits into an ongoing and apparently misguided belief that New York's sewers are paved with lost riches. Last year, three men were arrested after emerging from a sewer in Brooklyn. One of them told authorities at the time, "The reason we went down there is that people lose their gold down there. We got to get it and sell it to make money." Commenting on that incident, then-New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton remarked to journalists, "God knows what they were looking for. I know for damn sure I wouldn’t be crawling through the sewers of New York, but these three were evidently looking for something." Additionally, in 2015, a trainee with the New York Department of Environmental Protection was arrested after being caught inside the sewer system.
Despite these high hopes, experienced explorers say the search is largely fruitless. Steve Duncan, a former urban explorer who has completed more than 100 trips into New York's sewer and subway tunnels, noted that the most valuable item he ever recovered was an expired credit card.
Nevertheless, sewer exploration has seen a spike this year. In May alone, three separate incidents of people entering the sewers were reported, with two caught on camera. In one video from Astoria, Queens, three people wearing dungaree-style hip waders and carrying flashlights lifted a circular manhole cover in the middle of a street and climbed down. Local resident Aki Jakupovic, who witnessed the event, compared them to the "Ninja Turtles." The reference evokes the fictional Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who mutated into humanoids from green toxic goo, trained under a giant rat, and fought villains like Shredder, Bebop, Rocksteady, and Krang.
The recent September excursion by Reveron and Rodriguez drew extra attention from law enforcement because it occurred while world leaders were gathered in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Some leaders were staying at hotels near where the men entered the sewer. However, Reveron’s defense attorney, Brian Kennedy, dismissed any security concerns, stating that the case was minor and had "no connection to the UN or the appearance of Netanyahu or any other kind of nefarious scheme."
City officials have strongly warned against these underground ventures. Rob Wolejsza, a spokesperson for the New York Department of Environmental Protection, emphasized that entering the sewers is "both illegal and extremely dangerous." Wolejsza warned that the system contains numerous hazards, including noxious and potentially deadly gases, unstable surfaces, flooding risks, and confined spaces, urging the public to never enter pipes, drains, catch basins, manholes, or outfalls. During the investigation, police reportedly recovered a shovel inside the sewer, though the suspects had initially managed to flee before the two arrests were made.
There’s been one thing in particular that has been intriguing New Yorkers this summer: the existence, and whereabouts, of so-called “mole people” – a mysterious group of individuals who spend at least some of their time wading about in the city’s sewers.
New Yorkers learned a bit more about the phenomenon this week, when two men were caught red – or perhaps another color – handed, after allegedly emerging from a tunnel in Manhattan. Their arrests have shed some light on a slew of instances where people have been witnessed lifting manhole covers and clambering underground.
