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US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and his wife were robbed by a machete-wielding intruder at their vacation home in the West Indies, the court confirmed yesterday.
Breyer, 73, his wife, Joanna, and two guests were playing bridge at around 9 p.m. Thursday when a masked robber broke into the home they own on the island of Nevis, court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said.
The thief confronted the Breyers and their guests and took about $1,000 in cash before fleeing. No one was hurt, Arberg said.
Local news media reported there were other break-ins and robberies about the same time — including the theft of computer equipment from the Nevis High Court Building on a heavily trafficked street in the island’s capital, Charlestown.
There are no suspects or arrests in the Breyer case, officials said. It was not known if the thief knew Breyer’s identity and targeted him.
The St. Kitts-Nevis Observer, which first reported the incident Saturday, said local police were told when the justice and his wife arrived on the island, as is customary.
But it was not known if there was security with the justice, provided by local members of the US Marshals Service, which often protects justices when they are outside Washington.
An FBI spokesman said the bureau was assisting the Royal St. Kitts and Nevis police force with their investigation.
The State Department’s Web site has posted a travel advisory telling Americans that St. Kitts and Nevis experienced a spike in violent crime in 2008 and strongly urged visitors not to walk alone at night.
Breyer reported on his most recent annual disclosure in June that property he owns on Nevis is worth between $100,000 and $250,000. As the daughter of a viscount, his wife is a member of the British aristocracy.
The justice, a former Harvard professor and top aide to Sen. Ted Kennedy, was visiting the island during the court’s traditional monthlong winter vacation.
Breyer has already returned to Washington.
The justices resume work in their closed-door conference room Friday.
The last time a Supreme Court justice was a crime victim was in 2004, when a group of young men assaulted Justice David Souter as he jogged near his home on a Washington street. Souter suffered minor injuries.
In 1996, a man snatched Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s purse while she was out walking with her husband and daughter from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to their nearby home in Washington. Ginsburg was not hurt.