Investigators probing a Manhattan cat-burglary suspect last month were shocked to find a pile of apparently stolen goods and 100 house keys in his Queens apartment — a cache so big they still haven’t figured out how many thefts they will accuse him of.
So far, Luis Torres, 50, remains charged with just three break-ins, to which he pleaded not guilty in Manhattan Supreme Court today. Prosecutors say they linked him to the first break-in, committed on the Upper West Side in September, thanks to DNA from a towel recovered at the scene.
The other two heists were on the Upper East Side and in Midtown. Each time, Torres would leave no sign of forced entry, and would take only two or three selective items — leaving everything else undisturbed — so that victims wouldn’t even realize at first that they’d been burgled, prosecutors said.
Torres, who has seven prior felonies, was ordered held without bail by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Bonnie Wittner and is back in court on February 15.