By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
FINANCIAL DISTRICT — A would-be robber channeling Spider-Man allegedly broke into a Southbridge Towers apartment last Saturday afternoon by lowering himself from the roof with a rope.
The intruder landed on a 76-year-old woman’s 27th-floor terrace around 2 p.m. on Sept. 18 and asked her to let him in, the woman told police. When she refused, he pried open her balcony door and fled through her apartment without touching her or taking anything, she told police.
The woman, who told police she had poor eyesight, described the intruder as a 6-foot-1 black male with a lanky build, wearing a ski mask, according to the police report.
"Everyone is concerned," said John Fratta, a Southbridge resident who lives at 77 Fulton St., the building where the break-in reportedly occurred. "Southbridge is taking it very seriously."
Southbridge’s management office sent out a memo on Tuesday advising residents of what happened and detailing new security measures.
The doors to the building’s roof already have alarms and motion detectors, but it appears that the intruder used a stairwell window to access the roof and somehow evaded the motion detectors, according to the memo.
The window was supposed to be screwed shut, but was found open, police said. From now on, Southbridge will bolt the roof windows from the outside and will reposition the motion detectors so they have a broader reach, according to the memo.
Southbridge will also increase inspections of the stairwells leading to the roof and may add security cameras.
Fratta, 58, former president of Southbridge’s board, said he recalled a similar Spider-Man intruder many years ago. In response, Southbridge put barbed wire on the roof, but the complex had to take it down three or four years ago because it posed a danger to firefighters, Fratta said.
Fratta said the elderly woman who reported last week’s intruder has lived in Southbridge for decades and was shaken by the incident. Another neighbor said the woman mentioned that she no longer wanted to live in her apartment alone.
Despite the memo from the management office, not all Southbridge residents have heard about the incident.
"That’s bizarre," said Mariama James, 39, a mother of three, when told of the intruder. "I’ve never imagined anything like that happening."
