Police said the Queens men entered the underground system looking for valuables as authorities investigate a series of similar incidents across the city.
NEW YORK CITY, NY — Two Queens men have been arrested after authorities said they entered New York City’s sewer system and later emerged from a manhole on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, an episode that drew an unusually large police response because it occurred near a sensitive location during the United Nations General Assembly.
Kevin Rodriguez, 26, and Samuel Reveron, 25, were charged in connection with the incident near Park Avenue and East 61st Street, according to police and court records cited by local news organizations. Authorities said the men entered the sewer early Wednesday and were seen emerging about three hours later. Investigators said they were searching underground for valuables that may have been washed into storm drains and sewers. The case is the latest in a series of incidents involving people entering New York City’s underground infrastructure.
Police responded after a 911 call reported suspicious activity near 535 Park Ave. at about 4:35 a.m. Wednesday. Surveillance footage showed three people leaving a manhole and departing the area in two vehicles, authorities said. Investigators later used surveillance footage and vehicle information, including license plate data, as they worked to identify people connected to the incident.
The location prompted heightened concern because the manhole was near a hotel associated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visits to New York. The incident also occurred as world leaders were in the city for the U.N. General Assembly. The NYPD and federal authorities conducted additional security sweeps because of the timing and location. Authorities said they found nothing suspicious and have not linked the sewer entry to the General Assembly, Netanyahu or a terrorism plot.
Police said the incident instead appeared consistent with other recent cases in which people entered sewers looking for valuables or scrap metal. New York has recorded repeated sightings in recent months of people wearing protective clothing and headlamps entering or emerging from maintenance holes, often during overnight or early morning hours. Some incidents have been captured by surveillance cameras or witnesses and widely circulated online.
Earlier this year, videos showed groups entering or leaving underground infrastructure in Brooklyn and Queens. In August, three people wearing overalls and headlamps were recorded emerging from a manhole near Penn Station in Manhattan. Police investigated that episode but did not immediately announce arrests in that case. Authorities have said people questioned in some previous incidents described searching underground for objects of value.
The city’s Department of Environmental Protection has warned that unauthorized entry into sewers is illegal and dangerous. The underground system can contain toxic gases, unstable surfaces, confined spaces and rapidly changing water conditions. City inspections after some of the earlier incidents found no damage or immediate threat to sewer infrastructure.
The Upper East Side arrests did not end the unusual sightings. Early Friday, police received another report of three men climbing out of a sewer near Bay Ridge Parkway and 17th Avenue in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Officers responding to the scene found the manhole closed and no suspects there. City crews later worked around manholes in the neighborhood as police investigated the report.
Rodriguez and Reveron were arraigned Friday. They were released while the cases proceed, according to court records reported by local news organizations. Police continued searching for at least one other person seen emerging from the Upper East Side manhole. Authorities were also investigating the separate Bensonhurst sighting and had not announced arrests in that case as of the latest reports.
Author note: Last updated September 27, 2026.