{
  "id": 14273177,
  "title": "NYC manhole mystery: Why people are crawling in and out of New York City sewers, according to police",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/13/nyc-manhole-mystery-why-people-are-crawling-in-and-out-of-new-york",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-13T18:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fast Company",
    "slug": "fast-company",
    "url": "https://www.fastcompany.com/91622967/nyc-manholes-mystery-police-on-why-people-are-crawling-into-new-york-city-sewers-underground"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Over the past month, at least eight incidents have been reported of people venturing into the sewers of New York City and Long Island, marking a recent surge in sewer-diving activity. On Sunday, three men were spotted entering a manhole in Hamilton Heights shortly before 1 a.m., only to vanish when police arrived. Last week, five individuals were seen exiting a manhole on the Upper East Side after driving there in a black SUV. Other recent incidents have been reported at locations such as Penn Station, Williamsburg, Bensonhurst, and Gravesend.\n\nThe Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) suspects that these sewer explorers are treasure hunters searching for lost valuables and scrap metal flushed away during storms. This behavior is both illegal and dangerous, as officials have warned. Kevin Rodriguez and Samuel Reveron, who were caught entering a manhole on the Upper East Side in September, confessed to police that they entered the sewer \"to look for valuables that get washed away in the storm drains and sewers.\"\n\nDetective Stephen Jones stated that the two men made this admission during an interview with prosecutors. The DEP has emphasized the risks associated with sewer-diving, including exposure to noxious gases, unstable surfaces, potential flooding, and the dangers of confined spaces. They have warned the public not to enter any sewer-related infrastructure, as doing so is both illegal and hazardous.",
  "summary": "Three people were seen entering a manhole in New York City on Sunday, marking at least the eighth sewer-diving incident in the city and on Long Island since May. In the latest incident, three men were seen entering a manhole in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood shortly before 1 a.m. When police arrived at the scene, the men were gone. Just last week on October 9, five people were spotted climbing…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}