Earlier this month, a purple-gloved, cargo-shorts wearing burglar was caught on camera breaking into an apartment in the East Village. It turns out that burglar Piotr Pasciak, 24, had actually robbed that same apartment twice this summer. How was he able to do that? He still had the key to the apartment, because he had shown it when he worked for a real estate company this past spring. Which just goes to show once again: you should REALLY change the locks anytime you move somewhere new.
Greenpoint resident Pasciak told the Times he blames his descent into burglary on his heroin addiction. After spending two years in jail for stealing a friends guns to give to a drug dealer as “collateral,” he had several odd jobs around the city, including working as a doorman in Manhattan, for an air-conditioning repair outfit, at a Williamsburg restaurant, and for a real-estate brokerage company.
After he had left that job, and ran out of money due to his addiction, he went over to the East 11th street apartment on June 12th, rang the doorbell, and entered with the key, stealing video games and other electronics. “I didn’t hurt anyone,” he said, noting he used the stolen goods to get heroin. Two months later, he went back to the same apartment: “I wasn’t thinking clearly,” he said, adding he felt safe because he didn't hang out in the East Village. He failed to notice the security camera the tenant, a college professor, had installed.
The second time, he was spotted stealing an iPad, wallet, and watch from the tenant. Pasiciak is now at Rikers Island, where he is being held awaiting legal proceedings. So if you don't want a heroin addict, or any former real estate brokers, or any random guys with 100 house keys breaking into your apartment, just change your locks with some regularity—unless you don't mind the idea of a goldilocks burglar taking up residency in your apartment for a little while.
