Lieutenant Tony Lavino (right) and Officer Nicholas Ramsammy with the box they say was opened by a thief. Via 20th precinct.
A man who police say had repeatedly stolen packages from one Upper West Side building got an unwelcome surprise this past weekend, when cops caught him in the act, according to the 20th precinct.
Two officers from the 20th precinct laid a kind of trap for the burglar, Deputy Inspector Timothy Malin said in a post on the precinct’s Facebook page.
“Between January 30th and February 6th, a burglar struck at 101 West 85th Street three times during the overnight hours. Each time, he manipulated the building’s front door lock, entered the lobby, and went straight to the mail room where packages were left for residents. He stole multiple packages, including one that contained a laptop computer.
The building has excellent security cameras, and the video showed that the perpetrator wore the same distinctive outfit every time. So Lieutenant Tony Lavino, who coordinates our special operations, set a trap for our burglar with the help of Officer Nicholas Ramsammy, a member of our plainclothes Anti-Crime Team.
In the wee hours of the morning on Saturday, they left a “bait package” conspicuously placed inside of the building’s lobby and then surveilled the vestibule while remaining hidden. Sure enough, the perpetrator, wearing the same clothes as before, and later identified as Carlos Maisonet, broke into the building and stole our bait package. As he left the building, our officers apprehended him immediately and without incident. Oh, and if you’re asking yourself “What was in the bait package?” Look closely at the below photo… Tony and Nick – who have good senses of humor – decided to fill the box with a stack of law enforcement magazines that were sitting inside of our stationhouse.
As you can imagine, our perpetrator was not thrilled when he learned that the package he got caught committing a burglary to steal contained only policing periodicals. Mr. Maisonet is 52 years old, has been arrested over 30 times (six of them for burglary), and has an active parole warrant. He has been charged with four counts of burglary from his recent exploits on the Upper West Side and is being held on $30K bail. We doubt the publishers of The Blue Magazine had this in mind when they sent these magazines to our precinct… but Lt. Lavino, Officer Ramsammy, and the rest of us would like to thank them for the assist in taking this criminal off the street!”
Great work! Hopefully he will be put away for a long time so this does not happen again.
Arrested 30 times?
Perhaps there is something wrong with the system?
Glad they got him, but you know he will be out soon!
Good work but why did this guy get bail? He had a previous active warrant out for his arrest (likely for not appearing for a hearing on prior charges), if he makes bail he’ll probably just disappear and continue his criminal ways until caught again.
“Mr. Maisonet is 52 years old, has been arrested over 30 times” – How is this guy not locked up for life?? He’s clearly a menace to society and we should take him out of it. Good job law enforcement.
30 arrests? How many convictions? And he’s out on the street?
How long until he is on the street again? How long until he strikes again? How many crimes has he committed for which he was never caught?
What is wrong with the judicial system? What is wrong with the prison system? At what point do we say enough is enough, and put an end to it?
Arrested over 30 times??? I fret over a potential parking ticket and people like this are free to roam the streets. Beautiful.
Bravo! Great job NYPD.
Bravo 20th! Love the touch of humor.
That is entrapment!
I hope that you are joking.
If yes – good sense of humor.
If not – really low IQ.
Hardly
Entrapment would be if NYPD uniformed officers approached someone and told them to take the box. In this case, the person breaking and entering had a choice to not do that. They also had the choice of not taking something that they know is not theirs (larceny).
Good work!!!! 👍
That is awesome and hilarious! Good for them for catching him.
Ha, great story. Not the past burglaries, but the way they caught him.
I’m shocked that so many of you are surprised that perps with so many arrests are walking our streets.This has been going on for a long time.Years ago I locked up numerous criminals who would beat me back the the pct after our first court appearance.
Hey, whass-a-matta-wit-youse!
No one saw dat da perp’s name (Maisonet) sounds like “Maisonette”, French-talk for “Little House”!
So Mr. Little House is gonna be spendin’ time in The Big House! Funny, no?
Sheesh!
We have an excellent team at the 20th. So glad they caught him.
Way to go 2-0.