Michael Cesarczyk

20 Bayard Robbery: An Inside Job?

While Tatiana Cames’ son slept in her 20 Bayard Street apartment, on Friday, September 21st, a thief with a seeming radar for Cames’ valuables looted her home.

When she returned to the residence she shares with Randolph Craig, she discovered she was missing jewelry, a watch, a camera and a laptop. “They knew where everything was,” she pointed out. “Nothing was ransacked.” Cames believes that the thief has to be someone who has had access to the apartment in which she has lived since August 2009.

Craig is equally convinced that they were victimized by someone with a strong knowledge of the building. He noted that although the back gate is rarely locked, the thief entered from the opposite side to avoid surveillance cameras. Indeed, only his back is visible in the videos.

Adding to their concern that the robbery “had to be an inside job,” was the super’s refusal to allow them to see the cameras on the night it happened. First, Cames said, they said they had to wait until Monday, then that they had to wait for the cops and later that they didn’t have access to the cameras. When the cops came, she said, the super suddenly had access and had reviewed and edited the footage.

According to Cames and Craig, the building hired a new management company in December 2011, which quickly replaced many of the building’s employees. Both are convinced that at least one member of the building’s new staff was involved in the robbery. “It was too well thought out,” argued Craig.

The NYPD would not comment on the ongoing investigation, and said they were unaware of any similar incidents in the building.

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