An illegal alien from Venezuela crawled out of a New York City sewer at 4:30 in the morning hunting for gold, got arrested, and was released the next day by a leftist judge — forcing federal immigration agents to do the job the city refused to do. For ordinary Americans, the message is plain: if you break the law, you face consequences. If you're an illegal alien in a sanctuary city, you get a different system entirely.
Samuel Reveron Ascanio, 25, and Kevin Rodriguez, 26, were spotted climbing out of a manhole near Park Avenue and East 61st Street on Sept. 23, according to the New York Post. A 911 caller reported three men emerging from the sewer. The group had pulled up in two Toyota Corollas, blocked the manholes, dropped into the tunnels, and later drove off across the Queensboro Bridge. License-plate readers tracked them to Queens.
Reveron Ascanio was blunt with police: "We go into the sewer and look for valuables that get stuck in the storm drains and sewers, gold, anything of value," the Post reported. Authorities say the operation is part of a wider pattern of "mole people" — scavengers in hip waders popping out of manholes to hunt for jewelry and scrap.
The NYPD arrested Reveron Ascanio on Sept. 24 and charged him with criminal trespassing and driving on a suspended license. He pleaded not guilty. The next day, Judge Sheridan Jack-Browne released him on the non-bail-eligible trespass charge.
Here's the part the establishment doesn't want to dwell on: a federal arrest warrant had already been issued for Reveron Ascanio two days before the sewer incident. That warrant stemmed from a Sept. 20 arrest for alleged criminal mischief — he and two other men were caught stripping parts from a U-Haul van in a Queens parking lot, police sources told the Post. When cops arrived, Reveron Ascanio was under the vehicle. The men claimed they were repairing the van and produced a rental contract, but U-Haul told police they had no permission to remove parts.
So Judge Jack-Browne released a man who had an active federal warrant, who had been arrested twice in four days, and who is in the country illegally. His defense attorney, Brian Kennedy, waved the whole thing off: "This case is so petty."
ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations New York City Field Office Director Kenneth Genalo laid it bare: "New York City had a clear opportunity to transfer this individual to ICE in a secure, controlled environment. 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."
New York's sanctuary city laws limit police cooperation with federal immigration agents. An NYPD spokesperson confirmed: "The NYPD does not participate in civil immigration enforcement, in accordance with New York City laws."
Reveron Ascanio entered the United States illegally in August 2022 and was released under the Biden administration's border policies, an ICE spokesperson said. Both outlets noted the incident occurred blocks from where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stays during the UN General Assembly, though authorities determined the sewer caper was not related to his visit.
The Gateway Pundit framed the arrest as emblematic of "madness in Democrat-run New York City" and sanctuary policies; the Post kept the focus narrower on the individual case and the judge's decision. Both reported the same core facts.
The question isn't whether hunting for gold in a sewer is "petty." The question is why a judge released a repeat offender with an active federal warrant back onto the streets — and why it took federal agents to do what the city wouldn't.
