Latest / I Do, Part 2 / Daredevil Couple Facing Multiple Felonies As Engagement Status Is Questioned: Are They Already Married?

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Daredevil Couple Facing Multiple Felonies As Engagement Status Is Questioned: Are They Already Married? · I Do, Part 2

0:02
Speaker 1: Hey, they're folks. It is Friday, July third. Two of
0:07
Speaker 1: the most talked about couples in all of New York
0:10
Speaker 1: are having a hell of a week. One couple's getting
0:13
Speaker 1: married at an iconic spot in New York. The other
0:17
Speaker 1: got engaged at a very iconic spot. Then they got arrested,
0:21
Speaker 1: and then they gave us another great picture and with that,
0:23
Speaker 1: welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. This couple
0:26
Speaker 1: knows how to put on a show robes and they
0:29
Speaker 1: know how to use some iconic New York City backgrounds
0:33
Speaker 1: to do it. Ah, I didn't mind this so much.
0:35
Speaker 2: Yes, we're talking about Angela Nicolaw and Ivan Berkiss. That
0:40
Speaker 2: is the newly engaged couple who got engaged on top
0:44
Speaker 2: of the Empire State Building. Now they yeah, that's yeah.
0:48
Speaker 2: We'll get into that because there is some there are
0:51
Speaker 2: some conflicting reports about the status of their relationship, but
0:55
Speaker 2: we'll get into that in just a bit. But yeah,
0:57
Speaker 2: we're not talking about getting engaged on the observation deck.
1:00
Speaker 2: I'm sure by this point you all have seen the
1:04
Speaker 2: unbelievable proposal on the spire on the needle of the
1:10
Speaker 2: Empire State Building, a place that well you're not supposed
1:13
Speaker 2: to be. In fact, it's supposed we were looking at
1:15
Speaker 2: how dangerous it actually was, not just that you might fall,
1:18
Speaker 2: but actually from what that needle actually does broadcasting radio frequencies.
1:25
Speaker 2: It's apparently it can be harmful to the human body
1:27
Speaker 2: just to be near it.
1:28
Speaker 1: You remember that, I know you remember the scene from
1:31
Speaker 1: the show We Love Below Deck when a couple of
1:34
Speaker 1: deckhands went up to the top where the radar and
1:37
Speaker 1: all that stuff. Wasn't that are you idiots crazy? You're
1:39
Speaker 1: gonna fry yourselves up there? So yeah, I thought about
1:42
Speaker 1: that moment. But yes, it's not just a matter you
1:44
Speaker 1: can fall, you can actually do other harm to yourself.
1:46
Speaker 1: So yes, we were celebrating, and I guess we can
1:49
Speaker 1: smile and we can say it's a sweet story in
1:51
Speaker 1: the picture because we saw an engagement and that's supposed
1:53
Speaker 1: to be great. But this was dangerous and they did
1:55
Speaker 1: endanger other people, in particular police officers who had to
1:58
Speaker 1: go up there and get them correct.
1:59
Speaker 2: So they were in court on Thursday, and we're learning
2:02
Speaker 2: a bunch of new details about how they pulled this
2:05
Speaker 2: off and the unbelievable charges they're facing because they are
2:10
Speaker 2: they are they threw the book at this couple. So
2:13
Speaker 2: we also found out in order to pull this off,
2:16
Speaker 2: they actually spent the night in the Empire State Building.
2:21
Speaker 2: That's kind of incredible that they weren't found. They weren't caught.
2:24
Speaker 2: Aren't their cameras everywhere?
2:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's incredible and criminal. Now some of the details
2:28
Speaker 1: not coming on in court. You don't you go away
2:31
Speaker 1: from all this is a sweet story. I mean, Rod,
2:34
Speaker 1: just think if these folks were not there to have
2:37
Speaker 1: a sweet moment, and these were criminals who were there
2:40
Speaker 1: to do harm, they would have done that harm. This
2:44
Speaker 1: is a big deal.
2:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know what, this is a wake up
2:46
Speaker 2: call to security there at that building, because yes, you
2:50
Speaker 2: get up on top of that building, think about I
2:52
Speaker 2: don't even want to. I don't want to think about
2:54
Speaker 2: all the things that somebody could do from that height
2:57
Speaker 2: to this city, if they wanted to launch something from
3:00
Speaker 2: that place.
3:02
Speaker 1: They wed. They say they were able to at least
3:04
Speaker 1: get through the building with what robbery tool, burglary tool
3:07
Speaker 1: something they've been charged. So they carried enough equipment that
3:10
Speaker 1: it sounds like they could have done some harm. If
3:13
Speaker 1: they wanted to robes it could have gotten more in
3:16
Speaker 1: if they wanted to. So, yeah, the story is taking
3:18
Speaker 1: on a little more seriousness.
3:19
Speaker 2: Yes, And so here's what we know, at least what
3:22
Speaker 2: came out in court on Thursday. So we know the
3:25
Speaker 2: couple bought tickets Tuesday night to go up to the
3:28
Speaker 2: observation deck. But yes, they secretly spent the night. They
3:32
Speaker 2: believe they actually when going back through the security cameras.
3:36
Speaker 2: This is what's crazy. Is no one monitoring these cameras
3:39
Speaker 2: because they had video of these two at five a m.
3:42
Speaker 2: The next day Wednesday, It caught them going through a
3:46
Speaker 2: hatch on the one hundred and second floor. Why was
3:51
Speaker 2: nobody watching said security camera?
3:54
Speaker 1: But that's the thing. What's the point of the security game?
3:56
Speaker 1: So why even have it so.
3:57
Speaker 2: After the fact you can charge people with things? Know,
3:59
Speaker 2: that point would be that you catch people while they're
4:02
Speaker 2: doing said criminal acts.
4:04
Speaker 1: And who know if somebody's supposed to be watching that
4:07
Speaker 1: constantly rose But if it sounds like a place people
4:10
Speaker 1: aren't supposed to be, there's not an alert system to
4:12
Speaker 1: let you know that there's some activity that that part
4:15
Speaker 1: is bizarre. And you picture that scene that you see
4:18
Speaker 1: in movies all the time with some security guard with
4:20
Speaker 1: it's feed up on the thing, paying attention to something else,
4:23
Speaker 1: and he misses the criminal on the computer screen right
4:25
Speaker 1: in front of him.
4:26
Speaker 2: I think that's sandwich or or sleeping or whatever.
4:30
Speaker 1: Money get fired over this.
4:31
Speaker 2: They should, I absolutely think somebody shouldn't.
4:34
Speaker 1: Shouldn't they well held responsible? I thought a little, But
4:38
Speaker 1: who knows. I don't know. It might not be somebody's fault.
4:40
Speaker 1: It might be a system, It might be the whole
4:42
Speaker 1: system that is the problem. But well, if you're not
4:44
Speaker 1: supposed to be able to go sleep in the Empire
4:47
Speaker 1: State Building in a secure area, you're not supposed to
4:50
Speaker 1: be able to do that.
4:51
Speaker 2: You're not supposed to be able to do that. So
4:52
Speaker 2: we don't. I don't actually know where they slept. They
4:54
Speaker 2: haven't detailed that, but we just know at five am, Yes,
4:58
Speaker 2: they went through this hatch on one hundred and second floor.
5:01
Speaker 2: Then they say there was a lock on the security
5:05
Speaker 2: door to the one hundred fourth floor that was broken.
5:09
Speaker 2: And then they say it appears that the couple, yes,
5:11
Speaker 2: had tools, as you mentioned, they brought with them to
5:13
Speaker 2: loosen the brackets to access this stairwell, and so that
5:19
Speaker 2: is how they got up. And they believed that the
5:21
Speaker 2: couple may have been up there several times to observe
5:26
Speaker 2: some employees. They're at the Empire State Building and they
5:30
Speaker 2: used a worker entrance to get around screening, so they
5:33
Speaker 2: had been scoping.
5:34
Speaker 1: This out a worker entrance to get around screenings.
5:37
Speaker 2: How's the fact that it was that easy to do
5:39
Speaker 2: that the.
5:39
Speaker 1: Building needs to close for them to figure that out
5:42
Speaker 1: that easy? We used a an to prevent screen so
5:45
Speaker 1: they could have carried anything.
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Speaker 2: Correct, So that's why they got the tools in. They
5:49
Speaker 2: used a worker's entrance, so they believe they've they'd gone
5:52
Speaker 2: to this building several times to look and see how
5:54
Speaker 2: can we do this, how can we circumvent security? And
5:57
Speaker 2: seems like they did it pretty damn easily. And yes,
6:00
Speaker 2: we did learn that there is danger from the antenna
6:03
Speaker 2: because they said in court it emits high frequency radio
6:07
Speaker 2: signals that are powerful enough to cause harm to the
6:10
Speaker 2: human body. That's scary stuff.
6:14
Speaker 1: I'm sure. And again they have done this for years
6:18
Speaker 1: around the world. I assume they looked into this a
6:21
Speaker 1: little bit. These don't seem like as crazy as this
6:24
Speaker 1: stuff seems. And we call them daredevils. These are, in
6:28
Speaker 1: my experience, ropes, these type of climbers are some of
6:30
Speaker 1: the safest people I know. They do take precautions. They're
6:33
Speaker 1: not just idiots. These are not two randos who just
6:36
Speaker 1: decided to go up and do this. So whatever level
6:39
Speaker 1: of danger I'm sure they had looked into, but still
6:41
Speaker 1: to hear that robes, we're looking and thinking, oh my god,
6:44
Speaker 1: are they gonna fall? They had other stuff to worry
6:47
Speaker 1: about it.
6:47
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, things that I wasn't even considering. So now, yes,
6:50
Speaker 2: this couple is facing multiple felonies, babe, including reckless endangerment
6:56
Speaker 2: and burglary. I mean, you're talking years and years and
6:59
Speaker 2: years in prison. Now. They didn't enter a plea yesterday,
7:03
Speaker 2: and the judge did allow them to leave. We'll talk
7:06
Speaker 2: about their departure from the court because that is also
7:10
Speaker 2: now making headlines and providing some wonderful photos. But they
7:13
Speaker 2: said a supervised release. I don't They said it would
7:16
Speaker 2: be like a loosely supervised release. Not really sure what
7:18
Speaker 2: that means. They're going to be monitored. They live in
7:22
Speaker 2: East Orange, New Jersey, I believe. So. Look, they were
7:26
Speaker 2: all smiles for the cameras as they left the court.
7:29
Speaker 2: Can you imagine the press gaggle out there waiting for
7:31
Speaker 2: them and so they didn't say anything. I believe in
7:35
Speaker 2: he said, we love New York. I believe that's the
7:37
Speaker 2: only thing he said, we love New York. They're smiling,
7:40
Speaker 2: they're holding hands, they look like the happiest newly engaged
7:43
Speaker 2: couple ever. And then came the moment, the big photo op.
7:48
Speaker 1: Did you see what train line it was? I didn't
7:51
Speaker 1: see it. But there are few things everybody immediately recognize,
7:56
Speaker 1: no matter where you are in the world, about New York.
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Speaker 1: You immediately recognize the Statue of Liberty. You understand the
8:03
Speaker 1: Empire State Building, and you understand New York City cabs,
8:07
Speaker 1: and you know subways. Subways are just a part of
8:09
Speaker 1: our identity here, right ropes and as scary as they
8:12
Speaker 1: can be at times, So we have all kinds of issues.
8:14
Speaker 1: It's almost something that tourists have to do here.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, they have sweatshirts and swag all with the different
8:21
Speaker 2: lines of the New York City subway. It's an iconic
8:24
Speaker 2: part of this city.
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Speaker 1: So these folks who have already made a historic mark,
8:29
Speaker 1: they will forever be a part of the history of
8:30
Speaker 1: the Empire State too. They made a stop heading down
8:34
Speaker 1: to the This makes you think they're locals, right, they
8:36
Speaker 1: know to take the train.
8:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the fastest way to get anywhere in the city,
8:40
Speaker 2: no question.
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Speaker 1: So they're making their way down the train to the
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Speaker 1: train the steps, and yes the press is following them,
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Speaker 1: and robes. They stop in the exact perfect spot, which
8:51
Speaker 1: is several spots down as you're walking down into the subway,
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Speaker 1: but before you get underground and you're still hitting some sunlight. Robes.
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Speaker 1: They stopped right in the middle of those the mill
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Speaker 1: of those steps. And they didn't just kiss robes. They
9:06
Speaker 1: put on a show.
9:08
Speaker 2: You called it a love Island kiss.
9:09
Speaker 1: It was. They went at it. They went at it.
9:11
Speaker 1: It was just missing Ariono Mattox and some whipped cream.
9:15
Speaker 2: But yes they made out, and oh they gave the
9:18
Speaker 2: photographers there a total show and just it again. They're
9:23
Speaker 2: just joyful, spreading love. But now, yes, they are facing
9:27
Speaker 2: serious charges. And in fact, the attorney said, yes, a
9:30
Speaker 2: plea negotiation is possible. I think we could hope for that.
9:32
Speaker 2: Do we really want this to go to trial? Do
9:34
Speaker 2: we really want to have some massive criminal proceedings with
9:38
Speaker 2: these folks. But he did mention that a threat of
9:41
Speaker 2: deportation is on the table. This couple is from Russia.
9:46
Speaker 1: What's their status though he said.
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Speaker 2: That they are. I don't know what their status is,
9:51
Speaker 2: but he the attorney said it like this. I believe
9:54
Speaker 2: they are in the United States legally.
9:56
Speaker 1: I need a stronger answer from the attorney than that.
9:59
Speaker 2: It wasn't that's wrong. I believe they are in the
10:02
Speaker 2: US legally, And he did mention they live in East Orange,
10:05
Speaker 2: New Jersey, so they are local ish.
10:08
Speaker 1: But that growth they can use that against them. You
10:10
Speaker 1: are here as a guest. If they're not permanent residents',
10:14
Speaker 1: you don't have free use of all of our rights
10:17
Speaker 1: and privileges here, which means we can get your ass
10:19
Speaker 1: out if you do something we don't like. Robe. This
10:22
Speaker 1: is uh. I mean, I hope it was worth it
10:24
Speaker 1: to them as far as the criminality of it. As
10:27
Speaker 1: much as you know, I loved it. I was hooped
10:29
Speaker 1: in Holland. I says, the best engagement photo I've ever
10:31
Speaker 1: seen in my life, and it will go down in history.
10:33
Speaker 1: But roabes, when you listen to the police commissioner and
10:35
Speaker 1: see some of the body cam video, we had to
10:37
Speaker 1: send members of the New York Police Department up to
10:41
Speaker 1: get them. Folks that we pay salaries for these are
10:44
Speaker 1: our people up there in harm's way unnecessarily because of
10:47
Speaker 1: some mediacy. You could make that argument. I will listen
10:51
Speaker 1: to that.
10:51
Speaker 2: It's a really good point. And actually to that point,
10:53
Speaker 2: they actually said the reason why they had such a
10:58
Speaker 2: long time up there, a large amount of time the
11:00
Speaker 2: helicopters to get up to get all those iconic shots,
11:02
Speaker 2: for him to take the time to get down on
11:04
Speaker 2: one knee and propose to her, because they said it
11:07
Speaker 2: took them thirty minutes to turn off the antenna. They
11:11
Speaker 2: didn't want police to even get near that needle until
11:15
Speaker 2: the needle was turned off. They actually shut down the
11:19
Speaker 2: electricity up to that needle to get up there or
11:22
Speaker 2: to get close to the folks to bring them down.
11:24
Speaker 2: So that was a process thirty minutes long to do
11:27
Speaker 2: all of that, and that's why they had all that
11:29
Speaker 2: time up at the top that we all got to
11:30
Speaker 2: look at those photos.
11:32
Speaker 1: You're endangering that did part of it? Rolls in God forbid? Right,
11:36
Speaker 1: people be asking they'd throw the book at them if
11:39
Speaker 1: God forbid a police officer. I had Guiden absolutely injured
11:42
Speaker 1: in some way. But I guess the result, the outcome,
11:46
Speaker 1: I guess should impact the punishment, but the crime is
11:50
Speaker 1: the same.
11:51
Speaker 2: That is true. When we come back, we're going to
11:54
Speaker 2: talk about the why behind this stunt, what we heard
11:58
Speaker 2: from Birkus, what he actually told Lease when they were arrested.
12:02
Speaker 2: But then interestingly, we also heard from his father who
12:07
Speaker 2: was telling a much different story. And welcome back everyone
12:20
Speaker 2: to this episode of Amy and TJ where we are
12:22
Speaker 2: talking about the newly engaged couple where Ivan proposed to
12:28
Speaker 2: Angela up way up on the Empire State Building at
12:32
Speaker 2: the Needle and I say yes, the newly engaged couple
12:36
Speaker 2: who is now facing several felony charges, but also facing
12:39
Speaker 2: some scrutiny because now we are hearing from his father,
12:45
Speaker 2: Berkus's father. He told ABC News that this was all
12:49
Speaker 2: just a massive publicity stunt and that the couple is
12:53
Speaker 2: already married. Say what, can this not be confirmed or
12:59
Speaker 2: denied on their records? Can we find this out? That
13:03
Speaker 2: changes everything? Doesn't it?
13:06
Speaker 1: This turns out to be true. I am going to
13:08
Speaker 1: turn on this couple publicly and strongly.
13:11
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
13:12
Speaker 1: I absolutely am Robes because well, I guess it's obvious
13:16
Speaker 1: you bringing me along for something I'm supposed to embrace
13:21
Speaker 1: as beautiful. That's really just meant to fool or to
13:24
Speaker 1: promote or obviously it's all a selfish act. You can argue,
13:29
Speaker 1: but love is something that I will I will err
13:32
Speaker 1: on the side of. But if you tell them you
13:34
Speaker 1: just you're using that as a ruse almost to promote
13:38
Speaker 1: something else, I'm gonna take issue with it.
13:40
Speaker 2: So yes, I'll wait, yeah, well wait, because look, I've
13:43
Speaker 2: been told detectives as he was being arrested. This was
13:47
Speaker 2: actually in the indictment, this was read alout on court
13:50
Speaker 2: in court yesterday, that he had to do something special
13:53
Speaker 2: for his engagement, and given all that they had done
13:55
Speaker 2: in the world, he picked this place to make it
13:59
Speaker 2: exc for his proposal. So he absolutely stood by that
14:05
Speaker 2: said that to detectives. This is the narrative that's in
14:08
Speaker 2: the court. So I look, I'm curious why his father
14:11
Speaker 2: would even contradict him like they must have They must
14:15
Speaker 2: not be close, because why would his father say this
14:18
Speaker 2: to reporters and completely upend the story and completely take
14:23
Speaker 2: away from this moment that his son is creating by
14:28
Speaker 2: saying it's just a stunt. They're already married. I mean,
14:31
Speaker 2: they obviously could not be on good terms for his
14:34
Speaker 2: father to have said.
14:35
Speaker 1: But it might have been just an inadvertent slip, or
14:39
Speaker 1: it might not have been malicious, is what I'm saying.
14:40
Speaker 1: I could see a day I could see your dad,
14:42
Speaker 1: my dad's slipping up and revealing something if somebody asked
14:45
Speaker 1: them about us. I just if that's the case. I
14:49
Speaker 1: just added, I hold out the possibility that this was
14:52
Speaker 1: not malicious and he just let something out that he
14:54
Speaker 1: should not have.
14:55
Speaker 2: Hmmm, well, I do know that there are obviously going
14:58
Speaker 2: to be journalists detectives on the case, because this shouldn't
15:02
Speaker 2: be difficult to find out. I don't know if they
15:03
Speaker 2: got married in Russia, maybe it would be difficult to
15:06
Speaker 2: find out.
15:07
Speaker 1: Maybe.
15:08
Speaker 2: Look, sometimes people claim they're married because they've been living
15:11
Speaker 2: together for long enough, it's common law. I don't know
15:13
Speaker 2: what different people's versions of marriage is. So maybe that
15:18
Speaker 2: could be where it is that they're not officially on
15:22
Speaker 2: the books married, but they're like it's like they're married,
15:25
Speaker 2: or they've acted like a married couple. They've been together
15:28
Speaker 2: for a very long time. But look, she had the
15:31
Speaker 2: engagement ring. I mean, well, I want to know more.
15:35
Speaker 2: I want to actually hear from them and say, explain
15:37
Speaker 2: why his father would come out and say that publicly,
15:40
Speaker 2: because that does that does change this story.
15:44
Speaker 1: Snit the ca ah.
15:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, but look, the attorney had their attorney has has also.
15:51
Speaker 2: Even though they didn't say much other than we love
15:53
Speaker 2: New York, their attorney did speak to reporters after the
15:57
Speaker 2: court hearing yesterday, and I look, I kind of I
16:00
Speaker 2: hear what he's saying. He's talking about the choice to
16:05
Speaker 2: really throw a lot of charges at this couple. He said,
16:08
Speaker 2: they're trying to send a message. As far as what
16:10
Speaker 2: I've seen, and I'm sure you've all seen, it was
16:13
Speaker 2: a message of love, and you know that's a nice thing.
16:16
Speaker 2: So do we forgive them because this is about love?
16:19
Speaker 2: I don't think we forgive them, but maybe that's taken
16:22
Speaker 2: into consideration. But hell, if they didn't actually get engaged,
16:25
Speaker 2: if they're already married, I think a lot of people
16:27
Speaker 2: will be like, yeah, go ahead, throw the book at
16:29
Speaker 2: the way.
16:29
Speaker 1: Well, what if he just went up there. What if
16:31
Speaker 1: there were some couple of kids up there, Daredevil's that
16:34
Speaker 1: did this had nothing to do with an engagement. What
16:36
Speaker 1: if somebody went up there and just wanted to make
16:38
Speaker 1: a political statement. Would we be looking at this any differently? Yes?
16:42
Speaker 1: And I think that is the answer. So I think
16:44
Speaker 1: we kind of do need the answer if we think,
16:46
Speaker 1: if we thought this is just a part of a
16:48
Speaker 1: promotion to promote themselves, to promote a movie, to promote
16:50
Speaker 1: a project, We're not gonna like that.
16:52
Speaker 2: No, people are going to be outraged. I think the
16:54
Speaker 2: only reason why people were kind of cheering them on
16:57
Speaker 2: and this story puts a smile on a lot of
17:00
Speaker 2: spaces is because it is, or we thought. We hope
17:05
Speaker 2: it actually was about love. So we shall see, but
17:10
Speaker 2: until then, we always appreciate you listening to us. Everyone.
17:12
Speaker 2: I'm Amy Roboch alongside TJ. Holmes. We'll talk to you soon.