Police have arrested a woman for allegedly breaking into Robert De Niro’s Upper East Side townhouse, early Monday morning. A law enforcement source for CNN described her as one of the NYPD’s “most prolific recidivist burglars.”
The woman, 30-year-old Shanice Aviles, has 26 prior arrests including 16 for burglaries and petit larcenies.
Aviles broke into De Niro’s East 65th Street home at 2:45 AM. According to varying reports, she began bagging up Christmas presents under the tree, as well as using the legendary actor’s iPad. De Niro and his 10-year-old daughter slept upstairs while she did so.
Police say officers caught Aviles trying door handles of commercial establishments earlier in the night and began following her. After she turned onto De Niro’s street, they briefly lost sight of her. Officers later spotted a townhouse door open. It ended up being De Niro’s, where they found Aviles on the second floor. After arresting her, they later woke up De Niro to inform him of what was happening.
De Niro reportedly intends to press charges against Aviles.
Last week, it was announced that De Niro will star in and executive produce the upcoming crime drama, Mr. Natural. The creator, Mitch Glazer, intends the project to be a multi-season series. It would be the first regular television role for De Niro.
According to the logline, the series will be following “Louis ‘Mr. Natural’ Baron (De Niro), who, fresh off a 30-year stint in federal prison, hits Palm Springs driven by a dream to reunite with his stolen family and a dangerous scheme to grab a taste of the Salton Sea’s lithium billions. There will be blood in the sand and bones in the desert. Palm Springs will never be the same.”
[Via]