A total of five men were arrested on trespassing and other charges in two separate manhole cases in New York City, according to police and criminal complaints revealed on Friday.
Two men who “smelled like sewage” were found on Sept. 30 on a Manhattan street corner “soaking wet,” according to a complaint. They told police they had gone into the sewer looking for jewelry.
Guenis Martinez, 33, and Wilfredo Teran Briceno, 23, were among five people arrested in two separate manhole cases in Upper Manhattan since late September.
Luis Chaparro, 28, and Jean Rosa, 31, were also arrested on the same charges in a separate case, according to police and criminal complaints.
All five people were charged with third-degree criminal trespass and trespass, both misdemeanors, according to the complaints and court records.
Martinez and Teran Briceno were arrested after the pair were caught climbing out of a manhole in Inwood. A third person, 24-year-old Xavier Guevara Lizcano, was found sitting in a nearby car waiting for them.
Four of them pleaded not guilty at their arraignments and were released without bail earlier this month, court records show. Rosa does not appear in online court records.
Lawyers for four of the men did not return messages seeking comment. An attorney for Guevara Lizcano declined to comment.
The city’s Department of Environmental Protection has warned that entering the sewers is both illegal and dangerous.
The first case began around 11 p.m. on Sept. 29, when a 911 call brought officers to Nagle Avenue in Inwood, police said.
An officer found Guevara Lizcano in the driver’s seat of a black Nissan Rogue, which he said was his, parked about a foot from a manhole cover, according to the complaint. Police found a crowbar and a screwdriver in the trunk.
Guevara Lizcano told police two people had paid him $200 that night to drive them to manholes where they could look for jewelry, the complaint says.
Later that night, a detective saw two people pop their heads out of a manhole on Nagle Avenue, then lower the cover and go back down. About 20 minutes later, a sergeant found Martinez and Teran Briceno at Broadway and Dyckman Street, the complaint says.
All three are due back in court Nov. 18, court records show.
In a separate case, shortly after midnight on Oct. 4, a police lieutenant saw two men standing over a manhole at Indian Road and West 218th Street while a third person climbed in and put the cover back over the opening, according to a second complaint.
Rosa and Chaparro were arrested at the scene. Police and the complaint did not say why the men were there, or identify the third person.
Police previously arrested two Queens men after they were seen surfacing through a sewer near Park Avenue and East 61st Street.