Justice Breyer robbed by machete-wielding intruder at West Indies vacation home

In this Oct. 6, 2011 file photo, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer in Richmond, Va. (AP)

WASHINGTON – Justice Stephen Breyer was robbed last week by a machete-wielding intruder at his vacation home in the West Indies, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said Monday.

The 73-year-old Breyer, wife Joanna and guests were confronted by the robber around 9 p.m. EST Thursday in the home Breyer owns on the Caribbean island of Nevis, spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said. The intruder took about $1,000 in cash and no one was hurt, Arberg said.

She said the robbery was reported to local authorities, but she did not know if an arrest has been made. The U.S. Marshals Service is assisting local authorities and the Supreme Court Police with the investigation, Marshals Service spokesman Jeff Carter said.

Breyer reported on his most recent annual disclosure in June that property he owns on Nevis is worth between $100,000 and $250,000.

The last time a justice was the victim of a crime was in 2004, when a group of young men assaulted Justice David Souter as he jogged on the street in Washington.

In 1996, a man snatched Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's purse while she was out walking with her husband and daughter near their home in Washington. Ginsburg was not hurt.

The justices return from a nearly month-long recess for a closed-door conference on Friday. They will next meet in public on February 21.