Police have arrested two men accused of climbing into a Manhattan manhole in a pre-dawn search for gold and jewels, finally offering an explanation for the so-called “mole people” who have been seen emerging from New York City sewers for months.
Kevin Rodriguez, 26, and Samuel Reveron, 25, both Venezuelan citizens, were arrested Thursday near their homes in Queens. Police tied them to an incident early Wednesday in which the pair entered a manhole just steps from the Loews Regency New York on the Upper East Side.
According to prosecutors, Reveron told a police officer why he and Rodriguez were underground. “We go into the sewers to look for valuables that go into the sewer drains,” he allegedly said.
Both men were arraigned Friday in Manhattan court on charges of trespass and conspiracy. No information has been released on their immigration status.
A Mystery Months in the Making
Sightings of people climbing out of Manhattan manholes have been reported since at least May, fueling speculation about who these people were and what they were doing beneath the city. Video posted to TikTok last August showed three men wearing headlamps and overalls climbing out of a manhole near Penn Station, at 32nd Street and Seventh Avenue, just blocks from Madison Square Garden.
That footage came roughly two months after separate sightings of men emerging from manholes in Williamsburg and Gravesend prompted an NYPD investigation into the phenomenon.
Until this week’s arrests, no one had confirmed why people were surfacing from the city’s sewer system. Reveron’s statement to police is the first public account tying the sightings to a search for lost valuables believed to have washed into storm drains.
Not a Victimless Stunt
Trespass and conspiracy are the only charges filed so far, but the practice carries real risk. New York City has experienced heavy rains and flash flooding in recent months, conditions that can turn a sewer system deadly for anyone caught underground when water levels rise quickly.
