During her arraignment on Tuesday, Shanice Aviles, the woman accused of attempting to steal Christmas presents from actor Robert De Niro’s Manhattan home was ordered held on bail.
According to authorities, Shanice Aviles was apprehended on burglary-related charges after allegedly breaking into De Niro’s house with a crowbar.
Shanice Aviles on bail
According to sources, officers discovered her inside the house stealing gifts from the actor’s Christmas tree. At the time, De Niro was at home. She has since been granted bail that was set at $40,000 cash/$80,000 Insurance Company Bond/$120,000 Partially Secured Surety Bond. She’s set to return to court on Dec. 23.
Robert De Niro appeared to be fast asleep when the woman broke into his home and of all things started to steal Christmas presents.
Shanice Aviles was caught in the act by the police at his rented Upper East Side townhouse. DeNiro’s 10-year-old daughter was also at home asleep at the time.
The police found the 30-year-old woman in the living room of the house and arrested her shortly after.
Shanice Aviles serial robber
A representative for the 79-year-old actor said he would not be making any statement about the attempted robbery. The actor who had run downstairs when the police arrested the suspect simply said, “I’m good” when asked how he was doing.
Aviles is apparently wanted for a string of burglaries and has been arrested 26 times before, 15 times just this year alone.
As police took her to the police station she shouted out to reporters, “I didn’t go to Robert De Niro’s house. I didn’t murder anybody!”.
Police say Shanice Aviles was spotted checking doors at the building around 3.30 am and used a crowbar to get in. When the police came in she was busy packing up presents from under the Christmas tree.
The police had been watching her in connection with other burglaries.
Apparently, there had been seven other burglaries within that precinct alone in the three weeks following Thanksgiving. One police officer described her as “one of the [19th Precinct’s] top five burglars.”
It was however uncertain as to whether Ms Shanice Aviles specifically chose the well-known actor to steal from or whether it was a random act.
Interestingly New York City Mayor Eric Adams spoke about the crime rate urging newly-elected Governor Kathy Hochul to stop the “catch, release, repeat” bail cycle that often sees criminals being released but being picked up again for offences within hours.
