Hollywood veteran Robert De Niro becomes victim of a 'Christmas' heist

A suspected serial burglar was caught Monday while attempting to poach Christmas presents from actor Robert De Niro's Manhattan home, police said.

Officers had been tracking the real-life Grinch amid a string of recent robberies and saw her bust into 'The Godfather' and 'Goodfellas' star's townhouse around 2:45 a.m. Monday, police said.

Inside, they found a 30-year-old woman in the living room "attempting to remove property" and arrested her, police said. Police have not publicly identified her by name.


De Niro, who had been upstairs, came down to the living room as the woman was being arrested.

A spokesperson for the 79-year-old actor said he wouldn't be making statements about the attempted robbery. "We are not making any statement at this time about the robbery at the temporary rental home of Robert De Niro," said De Niro's PR representative Stan Rosenfield to CBS News.

According to the news agency Associated Press, the thief was caught red-handed when she was going through the Christmas presents. De Niro was home at the time and came downstairs while the suspect was being arrested.

The incident happened at a townhouse on East 65th Street in Manhattan. The basement door that the woman used to enter the townhome had signs of forced entry, police said. The accused has been arrested 17 times before. On October she was taken into custody, when she allegedly broke into the St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Astoria, Queens, and stole $700.

De Niro's spokesperson said it was a temporary rental home being used by the actor.