A few hours after midnight on New Year’s Day, a man scaled the fence surrounding Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the New York City mayor, Eric Adams, and broke into the building before being arrested, a Police Department spokesman said.
Mayor Adams was not at home at the time, a spokeswoman for the mayor said.
The bizarre incident was recorded by surveillance cameras, which captured the man, Michael Aromando, 20, climbing the fence at 4:23 a.m. Wednesday, according to a written account of the incident from the Manhattan district attorney’s office. One minute later, a police officer noticed Mr. Aromando walking around inside the mansion.
Mr. Aromando was unarmed when he was arrested. He was carrying several items, including a Christmas ornament he had taken from the mansion, the police said. In an interview with a police officer, Mr. Aromando shared a video recorded on his phone, which showed him taking the ornament from a drawer inside the residence.
Police officers assigned to guard the mansion did not notice him scaling the fence, the police spokesman said. The closed-circuit television video of the break-in was found only after he was arrested.
Mr. Aromando lives on the Upper East Side, about seven blocks from Gracie Mansion, the police said. The police did not know on Thursday why he had broken into the building.
He was arraigned on Thursday. His bail was set at $5,000 cash. A judge imposed a curfew of 11 p.m., and ordered Mr. Aromando to stay away from Gracie Mansion.
Mr. Adams celebrated New Year’s Eve in Times Square, but a spokeswoman for his office declined to say where he went after the events in Midtown ended. There have long been questions over where Mr. Adams lives. He owns an apartment in Brooklyn and co-owns a co-op in New Jersey with his longtime partner, and he was known to sleep at Brooklyn Borough Hall when he was borough president during the pandemic.
Mr. Adams says that he lives in Gracie Mansion and uses it prolifically as a venue for cultural events, and he is known to stay out late partaking in the city’s nightlife.
The mayor said in a television interview in 2023 that he liked living along the East River and enjoyed sitting on the mansion’s porch having a cigar and a glass of cognac. But he has also lamented that the building, which was built in the 1790s, has ghosts.
“People think I’m joking, but there’s a ghost that runs around here,” he said.
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