May 16, 2008 7:24 pm US/Eastern
Crime-Fighting Super Protects UES Building
Jorge Ortiz Catches Suspected Criminals Using Technology, Street Smarts And Turns Them Over To NYPD
Reporting
Cindy Hsu
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
There's an Upper East Side apartment building on Park Avenue burglars won't want to mess with. The superintendent of the building just nabbed a guy who's spent a lifetime ripping people off, and this isn't the first time he's chased down criminals.
His latest bust involved the use of surveillance cameras.
Meet long-time super Jorge Ortiz.
"I think that he came to the wrong building to try to do his thing, but he got caught," Ortiz said.
Ortiz is talking about Glenard Brown, who was caught on the building's surveillance video in the elevator.
A doorman was watching the monitors in the lobby, when he saw Brown doing something strange.
"Look what he does, he looks left, and then goes straight to that door and starts shaking the door down, why would he do that?" Ortiz asked.
So the doorman alerted Ortiz, who went flying up the stairs, and that's where he first confronted Brown, who tried to escape.
"He runs through this door, pushes this door open, goes around trying to walk down. That's when I grabbed him and I held him down right here," Ortiz said as he illustrated his actions.
The tape shows Ortiz and another employee getting Brown into the corner of the elevator, and down to the lobby to wait for police.
Cameras also caught Brown sneaking into Ortiz's building through the back service gate, which was left open for construction crews. He'd just gotten out of prison six months ago for burglary.
It turns out Brown was already wanted for allegedly burglarizing an apartment at another East Side building just a few days ago. He was allegedly caught on camera making off with thousands of dollars.
The modest Ortiz didn't even mention it, but doormen tell CBS 2 HD he's nabbed criminals before.
"He caught someone breaking into someone's car around the corner on 95th between Park and Lexington and the guy came at him with a screwdriver and Jorge tackled him down and he got apprehended," doorman Rene Roman said.
Ortiz has been working in the building for 21 years, starting as a doorman when he was 18 and says he'll do anything to protect it.
Brown has been in and out of prison for years and is a lifetime parolee. He's now being held at Rikers Island facing burglary charges once again.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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