RISKY RIPOFF
$200G heist hit home of martial-arts master
A HOLIDAY thief who lifted $200,000 worth of jewelry and high-end watches from a Brooklyn home has no idea of how lucky he got.
The apartment the Christmas crook targeted belongs to a martial arts master who knows all about kung-fu fighting — and just happened to be away for the holidays.
Vincent Lyn, a former U.S. and World champion kickboxer who specializes in Ling Gar fighting, could have made mincemeat of the sticky-fingered burglar.
But the 10th degree black sash master was out of town on a visit to Uganda — and didn’t return until Sunday.
“I’m really shocked,” Lyn told the Daily News Tuesday. “It’s very upsetting. You feel violated. We were gone since (Dec. 24). We got back at around midnight.”
Despite his jet lag, it didn’t take him long to realize something was amiss, he said. Lyn, 58, lost any chance to sleep when he and Charlotte Ghigliazza, 29, walked into their-fifth floor apartment on Macon St. in Bedford-Stuyvesant and noticed the closet door open.
“I said, ‘That’s weird,’ ” Lyn recalled. “As I’m looking I then see her black tray, where all her earrings, and all that kind of stuff, (are kept) was completely empty. Then I noticed my jewelry box wasn’t there. I have an expensive watch collection . . . a Rolex.”
Lyn, who currently works as a consultant to the United Nations, has also been a male model and action movie star in Asia — starring in some of well-known cult films like “Tiger Cage” and “Operation Condor.”
But he’s not just a fighter — he’s also a world-class jazz musician who graduated from Boston Conservatory of Music and had his debut performance in 2011 at Carnegie Hall.
Lyn said some of the pilfered items were of sentimental value, like the watch he got from his grandfather.
Police said there was no sign of forced entry. The only other people who have keys to their apartment are the building managers, Lyn said.
About six detectives spent Tuesday morning in the apartment searching for clues.
The only other item missing was a pillowcase — presumably what the thief used to hold the stolen wares when leaving the building, cops told Lyn.
“I don’t think this was a professional thief,” said Lyn, who works on issues like children’s rights and child soldiers.
“I hope they find some of the things,” he said. “They are not going to find everything — that’s impossible.
“But maybe they’ll find some of the items important to me.”