Updated on Dec. 1, 10:53 a.m
A woman who burglarized the home of an Astoria senior citizen several times and threatened him with a knife was arrested last month. According to the NYPD, the suspect committed burglaries both at the Astoria home and in Manhattan.
Captain Esvaldo Nunez, commanding officer of the 114th Precinct, said Edith Caoilfhionn committed at least two burglaries at a home at 32-77 46th St. in October.
On Oct. 16, officers at the 114th Precinct responded to a 911 call at the residence at 7 a.m. When Officers Joseph Basirico and Bryan Faught arrived at the home, they saw that the front door was open and that a window at the home had been shattered.
When they searched the home, they found Caoilfhionn hiding in the bathtub of the third-floor bathroom. She was holding a plastic bag and a black book bag. Officers found a handheld telescope, four iPads, one laptop and one cellphone, according to a criminal complaint.
The home belongs to a man in his 90s who has been in and out of the hospital for the last two months, Nunez said. Caoilfhionn was “basically squatting” at the home when the owner wasn’t there, Nunez added. The captain also said that police found World War II and Nazi paraphernalia in the home but did not specify what items they found.
“I was just hanging out there,” Caoilfhionn told the cops. “That’s my bag. I went into the house because it was interesting. I went in with a couple of friends. I went into it to see the items inside. There were some strange things in there. There was a lot of Nazi stuff in there. My friend said that he went there before and saw the stuff.”
Caoilfhionn also admitted into breaking into a home in Manhattan and taking an iPad. She admitted that she and her friends “go into buildings regularly.”
She was charged with second-degree burglary, petit larceny and fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and was released on her own recognizance.
On Oct. 23 at about 2:20 p.m., Caoilfhionn went to the same home while a man named Maximillian Dileo, who told police he was the legal custodian of the house, was there. When she saw him in the home, Caoilfhionn pulled out a knife and began waving it at the man. She then pushed him into a glass door. Before leaving the home, she again waved the knife at Maximillian and hit him several times, the criminal complaint said. He suffered a laceration to his elbow.
Nunez said officers went back to the home earlier this month to board it up and dissuade people from breaking in again.
Caoilfhionn was charged with first- and second-degree burglary, third-degree assault, second-degree menacing, fourth-degree criminal mischief, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree harassment.
A judge set bail at $75,000 bond/$50,000 cash and she is due back in court on Dec. 11.
