81-Year-Old Arrested, Accused Of Being Notorious 'Holiday Bandit' Targeting Luxury Apartments In NYC
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – An 81-year-old Florida man who police believe is New York's notorious "Holiday Bandit" has been arrested after years on the run.
The NYPD says Samuel Sabatino is the suspect they believe carried out a series of burglaries in luxury high rises over the last decade in New York City.
CBS2 first reported on this robbery pattern in 2015 after Upper East Side residents found their apartments ransacked and their expensive jewelry stolen.
The 81-year-old has been dubbed the "Holiday Bandit" for his reported tendency to pick a holiday weekend -- like the Fourth of July -- when wealthy Manhattan residents are most likely to be away from their homes.
Tenants on East 86th Street and York Avenue believed he was able to pick the locks of doors that weren't dead bolted and knew people weren't home when he saw newspapers outside their doors back in 2015.
Sabatino is currently in custody and has been charged with burglary and bail jumping.