MIAMI (WSVN) - A woman broke into a neighbor’s Miami apartment and removed furniture and other belongings with help from one of her children while the residents were at work, police said.
Surveillance footage showed Nicole Bottiglieri Vega, 42, forcing her way through the apartment’s rear door on Oct. 29, according to an arrest report.
The victim and his wife returned home around 3 p.m. and discovered their apartment had been burglarized.
Several belongings had been moved to a rear common area leading toward the street and parking lot.
The victim saw Bottiglieri Vega in the shared area behind the apartments when he returned home, but he did not yet know she had been involved in the burglary, police said.
According to the report, the building manager reviewed surveillance footage showing Bottiglieri Vega leaving her apartment with two children and approaching the rear entrance of the victim’s unit.
Police said the footage showed her forcing open the rear door and carrying furniture and other property outside. One of her children helped remove items from inside the apartment, according to investigators.
The door, its lock and furniture inside the residence were damaged, police said.
The building manager recognized Bottiglieri Vega as a tenant who had moved into the complex two weeks earlier, according to the report.
Officers tried to contact her after she returned to her apartment with the children, but she did not respond to knocks at the door and rear window, police said.
The Florida Department of Children and Families was contacted over concerns about the children’s welfare. An investigator arrived that evening but was also unable to contact her.
Officers returned around 4 p.m. Oct. 30 to assist DCF employees. Police said officers entered the apartment after hearing screaming and spotting blood near the door. They found the woman in her bedroom.
She refused officers’ commands and pulled away as they tried to handcuff her, according to the report. Officers took her into custody and transported her to the department’s North Station.
While inside a holding cell, Bottiglieri Vega slipped out of her handcuffs and approached the cell door before an officer handcuffed her again, police said.
She was later transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
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