11:18 AM PT — De Niro’s Grinch, Shanice Aviles, was just led out out the police station in handcuffs.

Robert De Niro came dangerously close to becoming a victim of the real-life Grinch, a home intruder who was attempting to steal the actor’s Christmas presents just days before the holiday.

According to law enforcement sources, the actor’s New York City home was broken into early Monday morning, around 3:30 a.m., by a 30-year-old woman who pried open his door and slunk inside. Not quite Dr. Seuss-esque (down the chimney), but still frightening.

We’re told the woman was caught red-handed in the act… cops say she was attempting to clean out the bottom of RDN’s tree of gifts – but Bobby D himself, who was said to be at home with his family, came down to confront her when he heard all the commotion.

As you might expect, the cops were called… and the NYPD claims they immediately recognized the perpetrator. She was apparently arrested recently for similar crimes; we’re told her long-running M.O. is to case houses and break in, similar to what she did at De Niro’s.

In this case, they apprehended her, arrested her, and took her to jail. Sounds like they didn’t want to wait for her heart to grow three sizes and realize the error of her ways.