By Patrick Hedlund and Murray Weiss
DNAinfo News Editor
MANHATTAN — A former New Yorker says his reputation is ruined after the NYPD wrongfully named him as a suspect in a string of burglaries on the Lower East Side and then failed to correct the record with news organizations — even after arresting the actual suspect.
Irving Walker, 41, said the NYPD released his name, description, former Bronx address, and a decade-old mugshot in an e-mail to the media naming him as a suspect wanted in connection with 13 high-profile residential burglaries in October and November.
Walker, who has lived in Virginia Beach, Va., since relocating from the Bronx more than a decade ago, said he first learned of the foul-up from his brother, who saw his mug shot and name all over the press.
Walker contacted the detective assigned to the case, Jose Santiago of the 5th Precinct, who confirmed Walker's alibi of being at a doctor's office during one of the burglaries. Santiago even sent a letter to Walker's lawyer saying he was no longer considered a suspect.
"At this time after further inquiry Irving Walker is not a suspect in this investigation," Santiago wrote in the letter dated Dec. 3.
Walker said Santiago apologized for the error and said he was close to finding the real suspect.
On Jan. 6, police arrested another man named Irving Walker, 31, of New York, after already nabbing his alleged accomplice, Kenneth Harden-Smith, 22, on charges they burglarized the same 13 residences in Chinatown and the Lower East Side that the Virginia-based Irving Walker had originally been accused of, according to a criminal complaint.
But since the arrest, police have done nothing to publicize the new development, or to acknowledge that they made a mistake, Walker said.
"Now they got him, but they still haven't posted that they caught the Lower East Side burglar," Walker said. "They're just trying to push it under the carpet and make believe it didn't happen."
The NYPD did not respond to repeated phone calls and e-mails for comment, and Det. Santiago also did not return calls for comment. The Department of Correction would not release a photo of the Irving Walker currently in custody.
According to the criminal complaint obtained by DNAinfo, the 31-year-old Irving Walker told police he entered three apartments in Chinatown in October and November, and acted as a lookout as Harden-Smith allegedly stole cash, credit cards, a flat-screen TV, laptop computers, iPods and cell phones from victims' apartments while they slept.
Walker is being held at the Manhattan Detention Center on $25,000 bail or bond for three counts of second-degree burglary, according to the Department of Correction's website. He's due back in court Wednesday.
Harden-Smith, who was arrested in November, is being held at Rikers Island on $50,000 bail or $150,000 bond and is due back in court in March to face 13 burglary counts and one count of possession of stolen property, according to court records.
The other Walker has since retained a Virginia Beach-based lawyer, who requested the NYPD investigate the mistake and further wants them to acknowledge the error and apologize to his client.
"We're investigating and preparing all legal avenues to press forward to clear his name, and to look into a defamation case against anybody responsible," said attorney Adam H. Lotkin, who said he plans to pursue legal action against the NYPD.
Lotkin added he's sent about 20 cease-and-desist letters to various media outlets demanding that Walker's photo be removed from their websites.
Walker's face was splashed across newspapers and on nightly newscasts in November, and some sites continue to carry the story with his photo included.
"This just seems to be pretty arbitrary and penal to a guy who did nothing wrong," Lotkin said.
Walker said the NYPD also reached out to his employer in Virginia to tell him they were no longer looking at him as a suspect.
"Basically [the detective] just let me know that it was a mistake and that he was cleared, and not to worry about his job," said Ryan Dunbar, owner of Superior Pawn in Virginia Beach, where Walker works. "The only way Irving could have done it is if he had a Learjet parked in his backyard."
Walker said his mugshot ended up in NYPD files after a 1998 incident in which he was detained as a suspect in a pattern of video-store burglaries in the Bronx. He was never charged in that case and obtained a letter from Bronx Criminal Court confirming that fact, according to the letter, which he shared with DNAinfo.
Now, Walker said he doesn’t feel safe returning to New York City.
"I can't even go to my old neighborhood without somebody thinking, 'Oh there's a reward for him' — people taking justice into their own hands," he said. "I don't want to think about it, but it's a possibility. [The police] have opened a lot of doors to harm me."
Walker added that even if his face is removed from every news site, the damage is already done.
"It's terrible, I hate it," he said. "I can't believe [the NYPD] did that. This is an attack, it's not even a mistake."
