Police say that on Monday, a woman broke into Robert De Niro’s townhouse in New York City and tried to steal the gifts under his Christmas tree while he was home. At 2:45 a.m., police saw a 30-year-old woman who had been arrested “many times for burglary” go into the basement of the Oscar-winning actor’s home on the Upper East Side. Police in New York City said that the basement door had signs of being broken into.
Two top police officials with direct knowledge of the investigation told NBC New York that officers then saw the woman trying to take the gifts from around the Christmas tree. The news station said that’s when officials said De Niro came downstairs wearing a bathrobe. He didn’t get hurt.
Police say the woman was arrested at the scene and charged with burglary.
She said she didn’t go to the actor’s house in a video of her being led out of a police station in handcuffs.
In the video, she could be heard saying, “I didn’t go to Robert De Niro’s house.” On Monday, it wasn’t clear if she had a lawyer or not.
The woman has been arrested 26 times before, including 16 times this year for burglary and small theft. Senior police officials said that all seven of the break-ins happened on the Upper East Side in a three-week span that began around Thanksgiving. A representative for the actor said, “At this time, we have nothing to say about the break-in at Robert De Niro’s temporary rental home.”
De Niro, who is 79, won two Oscars: one for supporting actor in “The Godfather Part II” and one for best actor in “Raging Bull.”