Officers were tracking a serial burglar amid a string of recent burglaries and spotted him breaking into De Niro’s townhouse early Monday morning.
NEW YORK — There was a suspected serial thief. Caught on Monday. while trying to hunt down Christmas presents from actor Robert De Niro’s Manhattan home, police said.
Officers were tracking the real-life Grinch amid a string of recent robberies and spotted the statue of him at the “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 room “attempting to remove property” and arrested her, police said. Police have not publicly identified him by name.
De Niro, who was upstairs, came downstairs as the woman was being arrested.
A spokesman for the 79-year-old actor said he would not comment on the attempted robbery.
The incident took place in a townhouse on East 65th Street in Manhattan. The basement door the woman used to enter the townhome showed signs of forced entry, police said.
De Niro’s spokesperson said it was a temporary rental home the actor was using.