Samuel Sabatino Spent Years Breaking Into Homes While People Were On Vacation, Suspected Of Stealing Over $400,000 | September 8

New York: Samuel Sabatino spent his holiday weekends driving from Florida to Manhattan — and possibly other states. But when he got there, instead of relaxing and sightseeing, he slipped past doormen in upscale buildings and went on burglary sprees in vacant apartments.

According to authorities, he committed at least 10 burglaries that resulted in $400,000 worth of items over five years just in New York City alone.

Just this year alone, he is believed to have stolen $100,000 worth of goods across three apartments, prosecutors said.

Investigators dubbed the culprit the Holiday Burglar because of a repeated pattern of burglaries on holidays, specifically Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day.

Police have been investigating the string of burglaries since 2014. In 2015, investigators put out surveillance footage from a nanny cam, asking the public for help in identifying the suspect.

Sabatino would enter upscale apartment buildings on the Upper Eastside of Manhattan carrying a black bag, prosecutors said. He would go to a top or near top floor of the building, looking for an apartment with signs that the residents were gone, like newspapers and packages left outside.

He would then enter and steal tens of thousands of dollars in items such as watches, wedding rings, and diamond and gold jewelry.

On August 31, a in New York County building employee stopped him as he tried to enter a building carrying a black bag, authorities said. He said he was there to visit his cousin Suarez, and he may be in the wrong building — but the employee told him no one by that name lives there. He left that building with an empty black bag and was arrested shortly after, police said.

Samuel Sabatino was arrested in New York City last weekend and faces charges of burglary, attempted burglary and grand larceny.

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