Enlarge image
Verona Pooth: Safe torn from the wall
Photo: Christian Charisius / dpa
Verona Pooth and her family experienced a horror on Christmas Eve: Burglars got into their villa in Meerbusch near Düsseldorf and stole jewelry, cash and designer bags.
"I feel defenseless like a turtle whose shell has been taken away," said the presenter of "Bild am Sonntag".
In total, the thieves would have stolen several hundred thousand euros.
"All of my Cartier wedding jewelry is gone," said the 53-year-old.
Heirlooms were also stolen.
She celebrated Christmas Eve with her husband Franjo and their two sons San Diego and Rocco at their in-laws.
When the family got home around 11 p.m. on Friday evening, there were broken pieces in front of the house and their small car was no longer in its parking lot.
"Franjo stormed into the house immediately," said Verona Pooth - but the thieves had already left.
"I was so shocked that I just shivered and couldn't even dial 110."
"You have ransacked everything"
The burglars would have wreaked havoc.
"You were in every room (...) You tore out the drawers and rummaged through everything," said the moderator.
They even ripped a firmly anchored safe out of the wall, dragged it across the house, and then hauled it away in Pooth's car.
The day before, burglars had struck the neighbors' house, a family friend.
When she came home from ice skating with Pooth's son Rocco, he was still face to face with the burglars - but the thieves simply ran away.
Both families assumed that it was the same gang of burglars.
The Neuss police confirmed both break-ins.
However, it is currently not clear whether the two acts are the same burglars - further investigations should show that, it said on Saturday evening.
abl / dpa
