Patchogue man found stuck in roof vent charged in break-ins, cops say

A Patchogue man tried to break into a Bay Shore dentist's office Tuesday morning but was found stuck in a roof vent by the staff — three hours later, Suffolk police said.

Sean Maranzino, 32, of Montauk Highway, an unemployed HVAC specialist, also was charged with four other burglaries in the past week during which he entered through the heating, ventilation and air conditioning vents on the roof, a clear sign that there was a serial burglar at work, said Third and Fifth precinct detectives.

Detectives knew they were looking for someone who was skinny and a bit of a contortionist — the vents twist and turn, said Det. Sgt. Scott Beiter of the Fifth Precinct.

But in one case, when Maranzino was trying to bust into an East Patchogue pharmacy Thursday, the ducts collapsed over the Jackson Hewitt tax office next door, resulting in what seemed "like a scene from a movie," police said.

"At some point, even 140 pounds was too much for the ducts to handle," Beiter said. "He came through the ceiling. ... The owner of the place was sleeping there because it was tax season. He heard this crash and confronted him. The guy [Maranzino] kind of made it like he was working on the HVAC system" at 3:45 a.m. He bolted out the back door, police said.

Maranzino was arrested after he tried to break into Calderon Dental on Sunrise Highway about 6 a.m. Tuesday and was found by employees who got to work at 9:30 a.m., police said. Emergency services officers had to dislodge him from the ceiling, police said.

Maranzino was charged with five counts of third-degree burglary. He took cash, protein bars and lockboxes of cash from businesses, police said.

Police said he stole from Vitamin Shoppe on Sunrise Service Road in Bohemia on Friday; High Times Vape on Medford Avenue in North Patchogue about 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, through an unlocked door of a neighboring business before crawling through the ceiling into the vape shop; and Vitamin World on Farber Drive in Bellport some time overnight on Monday.

"It was a tight squeeze to say the least for the first one that we saw," Beiter said, referring to Thursday's incident. "None of my detectives were getting through those vents, so we knew he had to be a smaller-frame guy. He turned out to be thin, and he turns out to be a contortionist on top of it all."

Maranzino was to be arraigned Wednesday at First District Court in Central Islip.