MANHATTAN — A pair of smooth-talking "Bonnie and Clyde” grifters — who came to the city to take advantage of generous welfare benefits — have been charged with bashing a Manhattan real estate broker into unconsciousness and then looting his apartment while posing as Con Edison workers, DNAinfo New York has learned.
Sarah Napier, 28, of Florida, and Tracey Williams, 28, of Ohio, are suspected of knocking on the apartment door of the 57-year-old broker’s apartment at First Avenue and East 119th Street, inquiring about gas hook-ups and lead emission in his building, according to court documents filed by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.
When their victim allowed them inside, the pair quickly overpowered him and slammed him over the head with a chair that sent him tumbling to the floor, where he lay unconscious as his assailants rifled his home.
When he awakened three hours later, he discovered they had made off with cash, jewelry and electronic equipment including a watch, a laptop, and an iPhone.
The victim walked to a nearby police station and officers sent him to the hospital, where he remained for two days.
With only a description of the suspects to go on, investigators were hard-pressed to develop leads on the suspects’ identities until the victim contacted police Feb. 27 saying he had just gotten off a southbound 6 train heading to work and coincidentally spotted his attackers, law enforcement sources said.
By the time the police responded, the suspects had vanished.
But detectives spent days traveling along the 6 line to recover surveillance video and reviewed the images until they found a match, which the NYPD released March 30, according to police officials.
Within a few days, detectives unearthed their identities and located the duo Uptown in a city shelter for couples.
Williams reportedly told police he was originally from Ohio and he met Napier in Tampa, after they chatted on Facebook.
They decided to come to the Big Apple last summer because they believed they could easily get financial assistance as well as a place to live on the dole, law enforcement sources said.
Williams also said he had hoped to gather enough money to go to culinary school, and that he and Napier had been squirreling away for tuition.
The couple were arraigned and Williams was held in $5,000 bail and Napier held on $10,000, according to court records.
They were being held on Rikers Island following a court appearance Tuesday.
