An unidentified man followed a food delivery worker through a locked door of an East Village apartment building on the night of Thursday, July 23, then climbed a stairwell to the roof and slipped into a resident's apartment through an open terrace door, according to police. The burglary happened at approximately 9:33 p.m. near East 6th Street and Loisaida Avenue, within the confines of the NYPD's 9th Precinct, and the suspect made off with roughly $60 in property before fleeing on foot to parts unknown.
The account comes from a wanted notice posted by NYPD Crime Stoppers, which is now offering a reward of up to $3,500 for an anonymous tip that leads to the suspect's arrest and indictment. Anyone with information can call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or send a direct message to @NYPDTips online, according to the notice.
π¨WANTED FOR A BURGLARY: On Thursday, July 23, 2026, at approximately 9:33 PM, in the vicinity of East 6th Street and Loisaida Avenue, confines of the 9th Precinct, an unidentified individual followed a food delivery worker into a residential building. The individual went up the… pic.twitter.com/eCeiXVqzFr
— NYPD Crime Stoppers (@NYPDTips) August 6, 2026
The break-in illustrates a security gap common in multi-family buildings across the city. Rather than force his way inside, the suspect appears to have exploited a common tactic known as tailgating — slipping in behind someone with legitimate access, in this case a delivery worker entering the building, according to physical security assessments of NYC residential properties. High-volume food deliveries in apartment buildings create frequent moments when locked doors are propped open or held for someone else, giving an intruder an easy way past the front entrance without ever touching a lock.
From the Rooftop to an Unlocked Terrace
Once inside, the individual reportedly went up the stairwell leading to the building's rooftop, then entered a private terrace and made his way into the apartment through an open door. That detail matters under New York law: entering a home through an open terrace or rooftop door with criminal intent still counts as felony burglary no matter how little the stolen property is worth, according to H. Benjamin Perez & Associates.
Under New York Penal Law § 140.25, entering an occupied dwelling with intent to commit a crime inside constitutes Burglary in the Second Degree, a Class C felony that carries up to 15 years in state prison, according to Tilem & Associates, P.C. New York criminal law treats an unlawful entry into someone's home far more seriously than commercial trespass, regardless of how small the haul turns out to be — in this case, about $60 in property.
A Neighborhood Steeped in History, Watched Closely by CompStat
The block sits along Loisaida Avenue, the name New York City officially gave Avenue C in 1987 to honor the neighborhood's Puerto Rican heritage. The phonetic Spanglish name was popularized by activist and poet Bittman “Bimbo” Rivas in his 1974 poem “Loisaida,” a nod to the Nuyorican cultural movement that shaped Alphabet City. The 9th Precinct itself covers just 0.75 square miles, stretching from East Houston Street to East 14th Street and from Broadway to the East River — encompassing the East Village, Alphabet City, Loisaida, and NoHo under the command of Deputy Inspector Pamela A. Jeronimo.γγγγ
The burglary falls within the property crimes that NYPD CompStat reporting tracks weekly across the 9th Precinct, alongside robbery and grand larceny, as part of the department's broader felony monitoring for late July. It also comes as the precinct's East Village vehicle storage lot at 324 East 5th Street, just blocks from the burglary scene, is being eyed for conversion into 100 percent affordable housing while keeping police parking on-site — a plan tied to commitments from the SoHo/NoHo rezoning that Hoodline previously reported.
Part of a Pattern of Trailing Suspects in the Area
This is not the first time this year that a 9th Precinct case has centered on someone trailing a victim before striking. In March, NYPD Crime Stoppers issued a $3,500 reward after a suspect trailed two transit riders off an M14 bus near Avenue C and East 10th Street before assaulting one of them and pulling a knife during a chase, a case detailed in Hoodline's report on the “Hard-Hat Creep” incident. In February, detectives investigated a robbery on East 14th Street in which a suspect shadowed a pedestrian on foot before striking him and fleeing into a subway station.
No description of the suspect has been released, and investigators have not said whether surveillance footage from the building or surrounding area has been recovered. The case remains open, and anyone with information is urged to contact NYPD Crime Stoppers.
