Police are looking for a man they say posed as a hotel employee and stole more than $40,000 in jewelry from a billionaire businessman and his wife who were in Los Angeles for the Academy Awards.
The suspect has targeted several upscale hotels in Los Angeles and Orange County, including Hotel Menage near Disneyland in Anaheim, where the sports teams and musicians were guests, Los Angeles Police Department Central Station investigators said.
Los Angeles police Det. Harvey Martin said that about 11:25 p.m. Friday, the man went to the couple’s room at the Four Season’s Hotel in Los Angeles and managed to get into the room.
After the man left, Jose Pepe Fanjul, who owns one of the nation’s largest sugar-growing and refining firms, and his wife discovered jewels, including diamonds, were missing, police said.
Martin said they plan to release a surveillance photo of the man in hopes that the public will help identify him.
Police say the man may be the same slick-haired con artist who used similar methods to rob more than $45,000 from an Israeli basketball team, salsa musicians, an Argentine rock group, and one of Mexico’s most popular soccer teams last year.
“We are kind of uncertain if it’s the same guy,” Martin said. “We are looking into it.”
The Anaheim burglary occurred between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009 at the Hotel Menage at 1221 S. Harbor Blvd. where members of the Argentine rock group Los Enanitos Verdes were staying, Anaheim police Sgt. Rick Martinez said at the time.
“This con artist was able to obtain four room keys belonging to the band,” Martinez said in October. “This guy is very smooth in his operation and very convincing,” Martinez said.
The man told hotel employees he was part of the rock band’s group and had fraudulent itineraries and promotional materials, such as CDs, Martinez said.
The man entered the rooms while the band was performing at the House of Blues. The victims reported the burglary around 2 a.m. Monday, Oct. 5, 2009 and were missing laptops, an iPhone and $4,000, Martinez said.
LAPD investigators believe the same man is involved in two downtown Los Angeles hotel thefts and at the Staples Center based on surveillance footage.
The man is suspected in the Aug. 29, 2009 theft at the Wilshire Grand Hotel where about 30 salsa musicians, who were scheduled to play at the Greek Theater, were staying, LAPD investigators said.
The man told a desk clerk he was part of the salsa group and needed key cards to the rooms. He gave the desk clerk a CD after he got the keys, said LAPD Det. Leanora Lindsey. Over $9,000 was taken from the rooms, she said.
On Sept. 22, 2009, the man targeted the Mexican soccer team Chivas de Guadalajara while they were staying at the Los Angeles Marriott Hotel Downtown. The man was wearing a Chivas jersey and greeted and hugged the soccer players as they got on a bus. He then went up to a desk clerk and convinced the clerk to give him room keys, according to LAPD investigators. About $10,000 was later reported missing from the soccer players’ rooms, Lindsey said.
The man’s next heist was on Oct. 20, 2009 at the Staples Center. The man breached security and got into the locker room of Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv, an Israeli basketball team, during their exhibition game against the Los Angeles Clippers, LAPD investigators said. The man robbed 11 players out of $26,000 and jewelry, Lindsey said.
Lindsey said the man is also believed to have burglarized the Marriott Hotel in Provo, Utah, targeting a Salvadorian soccer team. “It’s the same type of con he does,” she said.
The slick-haired con man is described as Latino, in his 30s to mid 40s, about 5 feet 6 inches tall, about 140 pounds with black hair, police said.
City News Service contributed to this report.
Read a previous story about the con man HERE.
Recent Disneyland Resort news:
Disney-area con man suspected of striking again is a post from: Around Disney
Recent Comments