According to prosecutors, between 2017 and 2018, LaTonia Stewart, 30, robbed six homes in Westchester County in an unsettling scheme in which she went through obituaries so she could burglarize grieving families.
“It is appalling that people mourning the loss of a loved one were specifically targeted and taken advantage of in such a cruel and heinous manner,” District Attorney Mimi Rocah said in a statement.
“I commend the great work of my team, the Greenburgh Police Department, and the other law enforcement partners who handled this case, and I hope that this verdict brings some measure of comfort to the victims.”
After searching online obituaries, Stewart was accused of targeting homes in Cortlandt, Greenburgh, Ossining, Rye Brook, Scarsdale, and Tarrytown, then struck while residents were at the wakes or funerals of their dead husbands and wives, the DA stated.
A jury convicted the woman on Oct. 14. https://t.co/YaSlcGcVr0
— Tacoma News Tribune (@thenewstribune) October 18, 2021
According to the statement, Stewart would use a sledgehammer to shatter glass windows or doors and then snagged jewelry, watches, silverware, and other items.
On May 1, 2018, she was busted when Greenburgh cops said they saw her driving away from one of the homes she’d burglarized, the DA said.
She was found with jewelry, and an obituary pulled up on her cellphone, cops said.
The serial burglar faces a maximum of 15 years behind bars on each of six burglary counts. She is due to be sentenced on Nov. 22.
