At least $25,000 of property, including designer bags, jewelry and personal documents, were stolen from an East Hills home late Saturday, said one of the residents.
The incident happened between 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., when Jeanine Cinelli and her boyfriend Aaron Elkowitz left the home and went to a local restaurant, Cinelli said.
While they were away, entry was gained through the back of the home, where a rear basement window was pried open, said Detective Vincent Garcia.
This was the first residential burglary in East Hills for the month of October, Garcia said. Since 2017, they have decreased throughout the county by more than 13.5 percent, he said.
Almost all of the property stolen was Cinelli’s, she said.
Stolen items included antique jewelry passed down to her from her grandmother, handmade items she brought home from Italy in September, Tiffany & Co. merchandise and her class ring, Cinelli said.
Her divorce papers were also stolen, which had her social security number, she said.
Elkowitz’s daughter is away at college, and her jewelry upstairs had been dumped in a pillowcase but dropped, Cinelli said.
“When I say they ransacked and trashed everything, that’s what they did,” Cinelli said.
When Cinelli and Elkowitz came home, Elkowitz called the police and Cinelli ran upstairs with a baseball bat, she said.
“I didn’t know if anybody was still in the house, and I didn’t want to be surprised, but there was nobody in the house,” she said. “They were gone.”
Over the course of the evening, police officers, detectives, the crime scene unit, and Crimes Against Property Squad all came to the home, Cinelli said.
Elkowitz has lived in the home since 2008, he said.
“You hear about it happening to other people around you in the area, but until it happens to you, you’re in a state of disbelief that it can,” he said.
Cinelli said she was in Manhattan for a class Sunday, and the weight of what happened hit her when she got home.
“I had a breakdown,” she said. “I couldn’t even function.”
She said she wishes items with less sentimental value were targeted.
“I wish they took my TV,” she said. “I wish they took that.”
