A lone female burglar has been arrested after allegedly breaking into the Upper East Side townhouse of actor Robert De Niro early Monday morning and bagging up all the gifts spread around the Christmas tree while the Hollywood actor was home, according to police.
ABC7 New York reports Shanice Aviles, 30, was arrested on burglary charges after she was spotted entering De Niro’s East 65th Street home at 2:45 a.m.
Aviles was being tailed by police because she was wanted in connection with six other burglaries. Police sources described her as a recidivist who had just been arrested December 8.
Police described how they saw her entering the townhouse on East 65th Street. When she failed to exit the property, police entered the home and saw her taking presents from under the Christmas tree and putting them into a bag.
That’s when the officials say De Niro came downstairs in a bathrobe. Aviles was taken into custody at the scene.
File/Robert De Niro does his impression of Alec Baldwin at Spike TV’s “One Night Only: Alec Baldwin” at the Apollo Theater on Sunday, June 25, 2017, in New York. (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Police did not know it was the actor’s house until he appeared. There was no interaction between the actor and the alleged thief, police said.
NBC NewYork reports the accused burglar has 26 prior arrests, not including Monday’s cuffing, primarily for burglaries.
This year alone, Aviles has reportedly been arrested 16 times on burglary and petit larceny charges, the senior police officials told the outlet. Seven of the burglaries were in the 19th Precinct within a three-week span that started around Thanksgiving, they added.
That’s why the public safety team was tracking her, one senior law enforcement official said. The team was deployed earlier this month specifically by top NYPD brass to stop the rash of burglaries in the neighborhood.
De Niro has not made any public statement on the matter, however the record shows the left-wing activist has strong views on police and policing.
In 2019 he joined Billie Eilish, Mariah Carey, Megan Thee Stallion, Shawn Mendes and Rihanna among hundreds of other celebrity signatories in an open letter from the music, entertainment and sport industries supporting police reform legislation in California.
Variety reported the statement, spearheaded by the American Association of Independent Music, urged the governor and state legislature to approve two bills addressing police accountability.