NEW YORK – An alleged burglar with more than two dozen previous arrests has been arrested for allegedly breaking into Robert De Niro’s home, located on The Upper East Side in New York City, and steal all the presents around her Christmas tree, according to two senior police officers with direct knowledge of the investigation. The woman was arrested while she was inside the actor’s home.
The 30-year-old suspect, identified by officials as Shanice Aviles, was seen early Monday descending a stairway leading to the entrance of a lower-level townhouse at East 65th Streetthe sources said. The alleged thief was never seen again, and senior law enforcement officials said the New York Police Department’s 19th Precinct Public Safety team found her next to the Christmas tree at De Niro’s home taking the gifts.
That’s when officials say De Niro came downstairs in his bathrobe. Aviles was arrested at the scene.
The woman has recorded 26 previous arrests, excluding the one that occurred on Monday, mainly for robberies. This year alone, Aviles has been arrested 16 times on charges of robbery and minor theft, senior police officials said. Seven of the robberies took place in the 19th Precinct in a three-week span since Thanksgiving, they added.
That’s why the public security team was following her, a senior police official said. The posse was deployed earlier this month specifically by high-ranking NYPD officers to stop a spate of robberies in the neighborhood.
Aviles had also been arrested in Queens, allegedly for robbery, on Black Friday and was also arrested on a similar charge in October. They let her out, the cops say.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Aviles had an attorney, nor were details immediately available about the specific charges allegedly leveled against her in the De Niro case.
