Serial robber tried to rob Robert De Niro's house in New York: she was caught on a hot

On December 19, a serial burglar was caught red-handed while trying to rob Robert De Niro's rented townhouse in Manhattan. She fiddled with the famous actor's iPad and gifts under his tree, reports New York Post. According to sources, the actor himself was also in the building at that time.

Shanice Aviles, 30, allegedly descended the stairs leading to the basement of the 79-year-old Oscar winner's Upper East Side home around 2:30 am. She got inside using a pipe or a metal rod.

Police from the 19th NYPD Precinct were tracking Aviles, a notorious burglar with at least 26 robbery arrests. She was spotted trying to open the doors of commercial buildings in the area before she got to De Niro's townhouse.

Officers followed her and found her on the second floor of the star's apartment fiddling with his iPad, sources said.

“She was stealing Christmas presents,” added a police spokesman.

Photos of the star have been hung throughout the home, which costs $69 a month, sources said. The actor himself was sleeping upstairs at that time. Nobody inside, including the actor's daughter, who was in the bedroom, knew what was going on.

Aviles was charged with burglary. This added to her already long record of 16 arrests this year alone.

According to the records, Aviles was arraigned on charges of two thefts in Queens last Wednesday and released without bail. In these cases, she was accused of stealing $1 in cash from St. Patrick's Church in Dutch Kills on October 000rd, as well as robbing an apartment on October 23st. Aviles was also involved in at least 1 burglaries in the 6th precinct, which covers the Upper East Side, between November 19 and December 25.

On the subject: The woman robbed the victim of an accident in Manhattan: she has already been arrested 40 times and each time released

"I'm not guilty"

As she was led handcuffed out of the Lenox Hill precinct on Monday afternoon, Aviles sometimes smiled for the camera and claimed she was innocent.

"I didn't go to Robert De Niro's house," she told reporters. And then for some reason she added: “I didn’t kill anyone.”

The actor was not shocked.

De Niro spent most of the day at the townhouse. He darted past the reporters and got into a waiting Cadillac Escalade around 16:30 pm.

He said he was fine. And he said, “Yes, I'm fine. Thank you,” when the reporter asked if he was okay.

When asked about the crime, the actor replied: “You can read about it in the newspapers.”

Throughout Monday, the police came and went to the house, and the locksmith changed the locks. In addition, the actor's employee went out to get eight bags of takeaway food from Nobu, a Japanese restaurant that the actor co-founded.

Representatives for De Niro declined to comment on the robbery.

“We are not making any statements regarding the robbery of Robert De Niro's rental home,” Media Strategies Representation Consulting said in an email.