Photos of the arson (U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of NY)
Aug. 14, 2020 By Allie Griffin
An Elmhurst man was arrested and charged with arson Thursday for setting a NYPD vehicle on fire last month in Manhattan.
Sam Resto, 29, will appear in federal court later today for dousing a parked NYPD van with gasoline and setting it ablaze on the Upper West Side in the early morning hours on July 29, Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme announced today.
Resto allegedly visited an Elmhurst gas station on the night of July 28 and filled a red jerry can with gasoline, which he brought back to his home, video surveillance shows.
About an hour later, Resto was observed in surveillance getting in a rideshare car heading to Manhattan, according to the criminal complaint.
Suspect Sam Resto of Elmhurst (U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of NY)
Resto — in the same clothing as earlier — was then caught on camera smashing in the window of a NYPD vehicle on West 83rd Street near Columbus Avenue just before 4 a.m.
With a Guy Fawkes mask covering his face, Resto poured gasoline inside the car and lit it on fire before fleeing east towards Central Park, the compliant states.
NYPD officers later found a backpack abandoned by Resto in Central Park. It contained the items of clothing he had worn earlier in the day, along with the gasoline can, lighters, a hammer and other items, according to the complaint.
Fingerprints on the gas canister lid match Resto’s and cell tower data places his phone at the scene of the fire and the area his backpack was found, the complaint states.
Items recovered by police (U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of NY)
“When Resto set an NYPD van ablaze last month, as we allege today, his actions not only destroyed essential public safety equipment paid for by the people of New York City, he placed the personal safety of those living in the neighborhood and their private property into harm’s way,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney said.
If convicted, Resto faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment.
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18 Comments
Maybe some of our lawmakers could be
Charged as coconspirators. They have encouraged this type of deviant behavior. They are culpable in the same way a mob boss has one of their goons committ a crime. They don’t have to directly ask an underling to murder somebody. They will say “do what u have to do” and it’s understood. Same here with all these “Peaceful protestors” who were encouraged by numerous lawmakers by their anti cop, pro criminal rhetoric. Time to recall and defund our dangerous lawmakers.
Lawlessness – Culpable like a person of authority using the word “liberate” when instructing his followers to go up against a legally elected Governor of a US State? A person who openly supported white suprematist even after one of them deliberately ran down a white girl and was convicted of her murder? A person whose irresponsible behavior resulted in the deaths of nearly two hundred thousand Americans? Culpable?
Yes, politicians should be held “culpable” like a politician who tells his followers to “liberate” and storm a state capital with weapons to defy a legally elected governor. Support for white supremacist in Charlottesville,VA, whose member deliberately ran over and murdered a young white woman and subsequently was convicted of murder. A president who chooses money over American lives allowing a pandemic to overrun state after state killing nearly 200,000 thousand Americans. A president who uses his position to appoint administrators to subvert the rule of law to spring convicted Russian spies like Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort. Culpable.
Maybe he just wanted to warm up a loaf of bread!!
Resto figured out that he was the subject of a police investigation and prepared to flee. He wrote a taunting message on his apartment wall, took his pass port and went to his last day of work…where he was arrested by the FBI.
After seeing pictures of the taunts on his apartment wall, a US magistrate ordered him held without bail until his trial, where he face a possible sentence of 20 years.
LOL
This guy is a real genius…he wears fingerless gloves, thereby negating the primary reason for wearing gloves during the crime…
“Fingerprints on the gas canister lid match Resto’s and cell tower data places his phone at the scene of the fire and the area his backpack was found, the complaint states.”
Just goes to prove Mustang, that the socialist leaders and their followers are spontaneous to whatever is in the moment. no long term strategy. this idiot could not even figure how to commit a low level crime without getting caught.
Hope that the Feds stick it to him.
Hopefully he will just get probation. No one was hurt and we are in the middle of a revolution. I am sure some group will fund his legal fees. Statues are being teared down and some are. even burned and bystanders and most of the media makes it seem like its the right thing to do. He has a good defense. A church was set on fire and clergy forgave them and spoke against the police trying to stop them.
Who gives a shit of no one was injured? He torched someone else’s property!!!
sure if he was in our lousy court system that releases killers and child rapists back on the streets in 24 hours. fortunately, he is in federal prison and thankfully, the fed judges are coming down hard on this criminal, most likely 30 years in a federal penitentiary or more. his life is pretty much over. oh well, hopefully he will serve as an example.
A NYPD car gets vandalized and their is a quick investigation and arrest. Meanwhile crime is on the rise including car theft, people are being assaulted, harassed and shot at and nothing is being done other than marches to defund the police and police sitting around protecting their precincts and vehicles.
crime is all the rage now, all the kids are doing it! Thanks DeBlasio!
Ah come on guys , he is just a peaceful protester !
I think you’re wrong
Guy Fawkes mask deserves way more respect that this.
These incidents must be treated accordingly for what they are: domestic terrorism and federal offenses. 20 years of knitting sweaters and picking up the soap would give him something to think about.
Federal charges, awesome. No catch and release. He will get at least 5 years, beautiful.