Cops Nab Burglary Suspect Said to Easily Enter Tribeca, BPC Apartments

Police escort Sean Collins from 40 Harrison Street in Independence Plaza where he is accused of entering three apartments and taking property from one of them. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

A search by cops through the hallways of 40 Harrison Street, a 39-story building in Tribeca, ended in the cuffing of a suspected serial walk-in burglar of apartments in that building, and another in Battery Park City. 

Sean Collins, 26, whose residence was given as the Bowery Mission at 90 Lafayette St., is accused of unlawfully entering three apartments in the Independence Plaza tower on Monday afternoon, Jan. 17, and two in Liberty Luxe, 200 North End Ave., three days earlier. Authorities said he took property from two of the apartments and left empty-handed from the others.

Police said a 23-year-old female tenant in the Independence Plaza tower called 911 after a man had entered her apartment while she was there, taking her purse and other personal items before fleeing. In a second incident in Independence Plaza, according to the criminal complaint, a resident “was inside their apartment and observed the defendant open their door and enter into…[the] apartment and then exit the apartment.” About 20 minutes earlier in the building, the complaint states, someone was in their apartment when the person “observed the defendant pop his head in the door, and then shut the door.”

An Independence Plaza security worker said responding police caught the suspect “in the act” as he was trying apartment doors. 

On Jan. 14, a Liberty Luxe tenant said his wallet, containing credit cards and $100 cash, disappeared while he was gone from his apartment between 7 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. Authorities say building surveillance videos showed a man fitting Collins’ description entering the building at 8:41 p.m., getting off on the 32nd floor, and leaving the building at about 9:28 p.m. When he was shown a still from the video, according to the complaint, Collins said, “That’s me in the video.”

That same evening, authorities say, a home surveillance camera recorded someone entering another apartment at 9:23 p.m., where he turned on a cell phone flashlight, and walked around the apartment until the tenant’s dog began barking, at which point he left. 

When he was arrested, authorities say, Collins was carrying an Apple watch and credit cards that were stolen. He is charged with two counts of burglary in the second degree and attempted burglary in the second degree. He is also charged with multiple counts of trespass and possession of stolen property. At his arraignment, the assistant district attorney requested—and was granted—supervised release for Collins until his scheduled Feb. 22 court appearance, the Manhattan DA’s office said. Legal Aid Society lawyer Jesse Kropf, who represented Collins at arraignment, did not respond to a request for comment.

Following the original posting of this article, a tenant in 80 North Moore Street, also in Independence Plaza, emailed the Trib to say that the same man opened her door while she was home, recently but probably earlier than the other incidents. “I walked to the door, and he backed out saying he had mistaken my apartment for the one next door. Then he left. I locked my door,” the tenant wrote, adding: “Now I’m careful about locking my door. I also make a habit of carrying my keys so I won’t get locked out.”

There is a history of burglars entering what appeared to be unlocked apartments in Independence Plaza. In October 2020, a woman, 33, discovered a burglar when she entered her apartment at 40 Harrison Street. It was unclear at the time how he got in. Several burglaries were reported at 80 North Moore Street, also in Independence Plaza, in late 2018 and early 2019. 

Following the spate of incidents, the 1st Precinct’s Neighborhood Coordination Officers (NCOs) canvassed the building. “We’ve noted that a lot of residents leave their door open,” the then precinct commanding officer, Capt. Angel Figueroa, said at the time. “The NCOs turn the doorknob and, low and behold, the doors are open.”

“We may be living in Tribeca and it may be looking pretty and all that,” noted the Independence Plaza tenant who said her door was opened by the intruder, “but we should lock our doors.”

The 1st Precinct’s current commanding officer, Capt. Thomas Smith, said he would wait to comment on the situation in Independence Plaza until he had spoken to the building management.

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