#Feds bust two suspects accused of torching NYPD van in Manhattan

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Federal investigators used an undercover officer and law enforcement photo databases to arrest two Brooklyn residents for allegedly torching a police van in Greenwich Village.
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Federal investigators busted two Brooklyn residents accused of torching a cop car in Greenwich Village last month with liquid poured from a tequila bottle — thanks to an undercover officer and law-enforcement photo databases, authorities said Thursday.

The suspects, 24-year-old Corey Smith and 36-year-old Elaine Carberry, were each charged with conspiracy to commit arson and arson for allegedly torching the homeless outreach van near the corner of 12th Street and University Place early in the morning on July 15, prosecutors in Manhattan federal court said.

Smith and Carberry were among four suspects caught on surveillance footage pouring an accelerant on the van from a Patron Tequila bottle that morning then setting it alight, according to prosecutors.

Investigators from a federal-local task force that probes arson cases then passed out still photos of the suspects to law enforcement in the city, according to a federal complaint.

An undercover officer who had interacted with both the suspects identified them as Smith and Carberry, the complaint states.

Law enforcement officials then compared the surveillance footage with photos of Smith and Carberry in police databases, as well as a photo of Carberry from the DMV and social media posts from Smith, according to prosecutors.

In addition to the matching photos, an anonymous tipster called police after seeing the surveillance footage in a news report and said she knew where the woman in the footage lived. That address matched Carberry’s Brooklyn home, according to the complaint.

“Setting a police car on fire endangers police officers, firefighters, and nearby residents and properties. These organized efforts are not a form of protest, they are crimes,” NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said in a statement.

“I commend the hard work of our detectives in this case together with our law enforcement and city partners, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, and the New York Fire Department,” he added.