A pair of Swedish tourists woke up in their Wingate Hotel room Tuesday morning to find a creepy thief snatching up their belongings — and he offered to let them beat him up rather than call the cops.
Viktor Lofgren and Andreas Mansson, who just arrived in town last night, were startled at around 7:30 a.m. by the sounds of the intruder lifting their wallets, cellphones and pricey watches from their West 35th Street room.
“I woke up and he was next to my bed,” said Lofgren, 24, who was the first to notice the alleged burglar, identified by police as Josue Alicea, 32, hovering over his bed.
“I grabbed him and said, ‘Where’s my watch and wallet?’”
Mansson, who was sleeping with earplugs, awoke to find his friend vigorously shaking Alicea down during a brief struggle, causing the cellphones wallets and a $3,000 Breitling watch to fall from his pockets.
Alicea then pathetically pleaded with the shocked Swedes for several minutes, and even offered himself up as a punching bag in a lame attempt to keep police out of the bizarre situation.
“We said we were calling the police and he said, ‘No, please. Beat me up. Do whatever you want. Don’t call the police,’” Lofgren recalled.
“He was panicking,” added Mansson, 35. “I didn’t want him in the room. I was standing at the door … I was screaming for help.”
Alicea then bolted from the room and ran down 10 flights of stairs and through the lobby, where hotel staff saw the two victims chasing after him and screaming, “Stop that guy. He robbed us.”
The group followed Alicea outside but lost him after he ran into a neighboring building and hid.
Police scoured the building for hours but initial searches turned up nothing.
But Alicea was eventually undone by a building employee, who found him cowering in a fifth floor restroom stall around noon and called police.
Police cuffed Alicea on the bathroom floor and brought him to Bellevue Hospital. He was charged with burglary, criminal possession of stolen property, and criminal possession of a controlled substance. Police sources said Alicea had crystal meth in his pocket and was allegedly high when cops found him. He was awaiting arraignment Tuesday night.
“This is my first time in New York,” Mansson said after the dust had settled. “I’m really in shock. I’m shaking.”