Sounds like the maid had her mitts in Candy’s jar

A HOUSEKEEPER WHO worked for Manhattan’s rich and famous has been charged with swiping pricey property from her clients, including Candice Bergen and Robert De Niro‘s wife. Lucyna Turyk-Wawrynowicz was arraigned Tuesday on charges of grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, forgery and coercion.

Law enforcement sources said a search of her home turned up property belonging to DeNiro’s wife, Grace Hightower, including diamond earrings worth $95,000 and shoes valued at $1,000.

The sources also said Bergen had property stolen in 2002, but gave no further details.

In 2001, Turyk-Wawrynowicz allegedly used an unidentified victim’s credit card 16 times to make purchases at Barney’s, a high-end clothing store.

A year later, she allegedly stole a brown suede jacket – also recovered at her home – valued at $1,000. When confronted, she threatened to claim she had been sexually harassed by the client’s husband, prosecutors said.

Judge answers Mel’s preyer

An Idaho drifter convicted of stalking Mel Gibson was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison.

Zack Sinclair, who had repeatedly gone to Gibson’s Malibu estate asking to pray with him after the release of “The Passion of the Christ,” was convicted in March of one felony count of stalking.

Gibson has said Sinclair wasn’t “overtly threatening,” but he worried about his family’s safety.

“My wife was upset and worried. She didn’t want to find him in the living room drinking tea,” Gibson said.

So, Mr. Kasch, does that register?

Marijuana possession charges against “Desperate Housewives” teen actor Cody Kasch will be dropped a year from now as long as he doesn’t get into any additional trouble, a judge has ruled.

Kasch, 17, who plays Zach Young on the hit ABC television series, was arrested on May 17 in Manhattan’s East Village after plainclothes police officers allegedly spotted him smoking marijuana in public.

The latest B.I.G. bang theory

Jury selection began Tuesday in Los Angeles in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of late New York rapper Notorious B.I.G.

The hip-hop star, also known as Biggie Smalls (actual name Christopher Wallace), was gunned down in March 1997 in L.A. as he was being driven home from a party.

There’s been widespread speculation that he was the victim of a gang hit, corrupt cops or a bicoastal rap rivalry. The suit charges that the LAPD covered up a former officer’s alleged involvement in the murder.

That poor woman and her weird son

Michael Jackson‘s mother says she feels sorry for the singer’s accuser and the boy’s mother.

Katherine Jackson was asked on NBC’s “Today” show Tuesday what she would say to the mother and son who accused Jackson of molesting the boy in 2003.

“It all depends on what mood I’m in when I see them,” she said. “And I feel sorry for them too, and from what I hear about their past I feel sorry for their future if they don’t change their way.”

Jackson was found not guilty of child molestation last week after a trial in which the boy and his mother were portrayed as grifters with a long history of trying to bilk money from celebrities.

The birthday bunch

Actor Ted Shackelford (“Knots Landing”) is 59. “American Idol” judge Randy Jackson is 49. Actress Frances McDormand is 48. Actress Selma Blair is 33. Singer-songwriter Jason Mraz is 28.