ICE has arrested a Venezuelan migrant who was caught climbing out of a Manhattan sewer near the United Nations last month, after a New York City judge released him despite an active federal warrant.
Samuel Reveron Ascanio, 25, was taken into custody following his release by Judge Sheridan Jack-Browne, who had sprung him on the non-bail eligible trespassing charge the day after his Sept. 24 arrest. The same judge had previously released Gerardo Miguel Mora, a 45-year-old Mexican migrant and convicted sex offender, despite a federal ICE detainer for his arrest.
Reveron Ascanio and Kevin Rodriguez, 26, a legal US resident from Queens, were both charged with criminal trespassing after a 911 caller reported seeing three men emerge from a manhole at Park Avenue and East 61st Street around 4:30 a.m. The men had used two Toyota Corolla sedans to block the manholes before climbing out and fleeing, according to police. A third man remained at large.
The timing of the incident, just before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s expected arrival at a nearby hotel for the UN General Assembly, initially sparked security fears. However, investigators determined the men were part of a growing trend of “mole people” searching storm drains and sewers for scrap metal and lost valuables, and found no connection to Netanyahu’s visit.
According to a criminal complaint, both Reveron Ascanio and Rodriguez told NYPD detectives “that they entered the manhole together to look for valuables that get washed away in the storm drains and sewers.”
The federal warrant for Reveron Ascanio had been issued just two days before the sewer incident, stemming from a Sept. 20 arrest for alleged criminal mischief. Police sources said he and two other males were caught stripping parts from a U-Haul van in a Queens parking lot. When officers arrived, Reveron Ascanio was found underneath the vehicle, and the men claimed they were repairing it. They produced a rental contract, but the company informed police the men lacked permission to remove parts, the sources said.
Reveron Ascanio also faced a driving with a suspended license charge from the Sept. 24 manhole arrest, sources said. He pleaded not guilty to the trespassing charge before Judge Jack-Browne released him.
Kenneth Genalo, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations New York City Field Office Director, criticized the city’s handling of the case in a statement to The Post.
“New York City had a clear opportunity to transfer this individual to ICE in a secure, controlled environment,” Genalo said. “Instead, the city recklessly released him despite his repeated arrests and unresolved criminal charges — a choice that needlessly returned an alleged public-safety threat to the streets…. ICE will not allow noncooperation to deter us from enforcing federal immigration law and protecting our communities.”
New York’s sanctuary city laws limit police cooperation with federal immigration agents. “The NYPD does not participate in civil immigration enforcement, in accordance with New York City laws,” a spokesperson said in an email.
An ICE spokesperson said Reveron Ascanio “entered the United States illegally in August 2022, but was released as a result of the Biden administration’s open border policies.” The spokesperson added: “Under President Trump and Secretary (Markwayne) Mullin, criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the US. ICE is working diligently to remove these often violent, dangerous offenders from our communities.”
Reveron Ascanio’s defense attorney, Brian Kennedy, said he was unaware of the federal arrest when reached by The Post. “That’s news to me,” Kennedy said. “This case is so petty,” he added of the manhole incident.
The “mole people” phenomenon has drawn increasing attention in recent months. Groups of men were spotted entering manholes in Williamsburg and Gravesend, Brooklyn on May 29. In August, three men wearing headlamps and overalls — described as “Minions” doppelgangers — were filmed emerging from a manhole near Penn Station. Another man was seen exiting a sewer in Middle Village, Queens in mid-September, and a third group was spotted in Bensonhurst just last week.
The earlier case involving Judge Jack-Browne drew sharp criticism from the NYPD. Mora, the Mexican migrant she released, had been deported in 2014 after serving 18 months in an upstate prison for attempted rape following a woman home in Midtown. He also faced a more recent crack-possession charge in Manhattan. Court officials insisted the judge was not notified about the ICE detainer, though police maintained she was alerted. Federal agents arrested Mora before he could leave the courthouse.
Reveron Ascanio remains in ICE custody as deportation proceedings move forward.