HARLEM — A pair of grifters who bashed a Manhattan homeowner into unconsciousness and then looted his apartment last year were sentenced to prison Monday, the DA’s office said.
Officials said Sarah Napier, 28, of Florida, and Tracey Williams, 28, of Ohio, were in the city one night in February 2016 posing as ConEd workers, and knocked on the East Harlem man's home pretending to ask about gas hook-ups and lead emissions in the building.
The 57-year-old victim let the pair into his apartment at First Avenue and East 119th Street, officials said.
They talked for roughly 10 minutes before the pair quickly attacked him and slammed him over the head with a chair, knocking him unconscious before they ransacked his home.
When the victim awoke the pair had vanished. They got away with his smartphone, laptop computer, tablet and other belongings, officials said.
The man managed to walk into the NYPD's 25th Precinct, where police called an ambulance. He was hospitalized for 36 hours with a concussion, officials said.
Several days later, the victim saw his attackers on the subway, DNAinfo New York previously reported.
By the time police responded, the suspects had disappeared but detectives spent days traveling along the 6 line to recover surveillance video and reviewed images until they found a match.
Within a few days, detectives unearthed the pair's identities and found them in an Uptown homeless shelter.
The pair, who officials said came to the city to take advantage of more generous benefit entitlements, pleaded guilty this past December to burglary. Napier was sentenced to seven years and Williams was sentenced to nine.
“Be wary of strangers that ask to enter your home for any reason, and don’t let anyone inside without verifying their identification and presence with the company or organization which they claim to represent,” said Cyrus Vance, the Manhattan DA, in a statement.
