Metro

Woman guilty of using obits to burglarize homes of mourners

A Bronx woman was found guilty Thursday on charges she robbed the homes of mourners while they attended their spouses’ funerals, officials said.

Latonia Stewart, 30, burglarized six homes in Westchester County between 2017 and 2018 in a morbid scheme in which she used obituaries to pick her victims, prosecutors said.

“It is absolutely 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.”

Stewart was accused of targeting homes in Cortlandt, Greenburgh, Ossining, Rye Brook, Scarsdale and Tarrytown after she searched online obituaries, then struck while residents were at the wakes or funerals of their dead husbands and wives, the DA stated.

Stewart would use a sledgehammer to shatter glass windows or doors and then snagged jewelry, watches, silverware and other items, according to the statement.

She was busted on May 1, 2018, 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.