‘Little focker’ busted ‘stealing Christmas presents’ from Robert De Niro’s NYC home
December 19, 2022
The
break-in happened around 2:45 a.m. Monday, on East 65th Street between
Lexington and Park avenues, an NYPD spokesperson confirmed
A serial burglar was caught red-handed rifling through Robert De Niro’s rented Manhattan townhouse Monday — fiddling with the famed actor’s iPad and presents under his Christmas tree, law enforcement sources told The Post.
Shanice Aviles, 30, allegedly crept down a stairwell leading to the 79-year-old Oscar-winner’s basement on the Upper East Side around 2:30 a.m. and forced her way inside using a pipe or metal bar, according to police and the sources.
Eagle-eyed cops with the NYPD’s 19th Precinct Public Safety team had been keeping an eye on Aviles — a “known burglar” with at least 26 past arrests on her rap sheet. She was spotted trying to open doors to commercial buildings in the neighborhood before she got to the townhouse, the sources said.
The officers trailed her into De Niro’s home and found her on the second floor – fumbling around with his iPad, according to sources.
“She was stealing Christmas presents,” a police official added.
Shanice Aviles is led from the 19th Precinct after her arrest.
Shanice Avile has at least 26 prior arrests, mostly for burglaries.
Known burglar Shanice Aviles was caught “stealing Christmas presents” from Robert De Niro’s NYC townhouse.
There are photos of the “Irishman” star all over the $69,000-a-month rental home, according to the sources – but the actor himself was upstairs sleeping at the time. No one inside — including the actor’s daughter who was in a bedroom — knew what was going on, the sources said.
Aviles was charged with burglary — adding to an already-lengthy rap sheet that includes at least 16 arrests this year alone, according to sources.
“Back in the saddle with this perp,” said a police source.
Records show Aviles was arraigned on charges connected to two Queens burglaries just last Wednesday and released without bail, according to records and sources.
In those cases, she was accused of stealing $1,000 in cash from St. Patrick’s Church in Dutch Kills on Oct. 23 and of ransacking an apartment on Oct. 1, making off with a debit card, which she later used the card to charge more than $50 at local 7-11, according to the criminal complaint against her.
Shanice Aviles, 30, allegedly sneaked into the actor’s home around 2:30 a.m.
Aviles was also picked up for at least six burglaries in the 19th Precinct – which covers the Upper East Side – between Nov. 25 and Dec. 8, the sources said.
She was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on Dec. 9, where Judge Paul McDonnell ordered a $5,000 cash bail after prosecutors requested the amount be set at $35,000, the District Attorney’s Office said.
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Jonathan Svetkey, who was assigned the case, then agreed to release Aviles into a 28-day drug rehab program at Cornerstone Treatment Facilities on Dec. 13, prosecutors said.
De Niro was upstairs when the burglar showed up, police sources said.
The DA’s office agreed to the move with the understanding that Aviles would be in the custody of the rehab clinic, prosecutors said.
But she skipped out on her next court appearance and a bench warrant was issued for her arrest two days later.
As she was being led out of the Lenox Hill stationhouse in handcuffs on Monday afternoon, Aviles — who at times flashed a smile for the cameras — maintained she was innocent.
“I didn’t go to Robert De Niro’s house,” she told reporters, flippantly adding, “I didn’t murder anybody.”
Police said there were signs that the suspect — who was awaiting arraignment Monday night — had broken into the townhouse. It appeared the door was locked at the time, cops said.
De Niro, meanwhile, was holed up in the townhouse most of the day — until he breezed past reporters and into and into a waiting Cadillac Escalade around 4:30 p.m., clutching a binder for paperwork and wearing a black and gray striped scarf, a black beanie and sporting running shoes.
He said he was doing “OK” and replied, “Yep, I’m good. Thank you,” when a reporter asked if he was alright.
Quizzed about the crime, the “Raging Bull” star, a lifelong New Yorker, fired back, “You can read about it in the paper.”
The only other activity at the house throughout Monday were crime scene cops coming and going, a locksmith changing the locks — and a staffer’s trip out for eight bags of takeout from Nobu, the Japanese fusion eatery the actor co-founded.
About 15 minutes later, De Niro also got a delivery from Dominique Ansel Bakery, the famous Big Apple maker of the “cronut.”
Prior to Aviles’ alleged thieving spree this month and last, the sticky-fingered suspect faced charges for three separate burglaries in Manhattan dating to August.
Those included an Oct. 11 heist in which a 68-year-old homeowner allegedly found her hiding behind his fridge when he woke up and realized his wallet was missing from his night table, according to a criminal complaint. He allegedly caught the thief hiding behind his fridge and got into a scuffle with her, stabbing her in the leg, the complaint said.
On Oct. 3, Aviles allegedly broke into a woman’s apartment and made off with a bag, $200 in cash, a ring and other items. The victim told police she woke up and saw the thief walking in through her front door — but was so scared she stayed in bed and watched as the suspect robbed her, according to the complaint.
Aviles was also charged with stealing $2,000 in coupons from an East 70th Street community center on Aug. 19, the records show.
“This is just another example of the catch-and-release justice system we’re dealing with,” the police official said, while another source described Aviles as “one of the [19th Precinct’s] top five burglars.”
De Niro’s reps declined to comment on Monday’s burglary.
“We are not making any statements at this time about the robbery at the temporary rental home of Robert De Niro,” Media Strategies Representation Consulting said in an email to The Post.
The legendary actor sold his West Village townhouse of 37 years for $9.5 million in 2012. He relocated to his home in upstate New York during the pandemic.
De Niro and his wife actress Grace Hightower filed for divorce in 2018 after 20 years of marriage. The two share a daughter born in 2011.
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