Indictment: $2.7 million worth of jewelry taken in Beverly Hills smash-and-grab
Three Long Beach men have been charged in a brazen daylight smash-and-grab robbery of a Beverly Hills jewelry store in which a more than $2.6 million haul of merchandise was stolen.
An indictment returned Wednesday charges 31-year-old Jimmy Lee Vernon III, 37-year-old Ladell Tharpe, and 20-year-old Deshon Bell with conspiracy and interference with commerce by robbery for the March 23 smash-and-grab at Luxury Jewels.
The three men and an unidentified juvenile face charges of smashing through the glass display window of the Beverly Drive store with sledgehammers and destruction bars to steal at least $2,674,000 worth of jewelry, including 19 bracelets, seven pairs of earrings, four necklaces, a pair of obelisks, eight rings, and 20 watches. Two days after the robbery, Tharpe posted several images that included large stacks of money and a message praising his "robbery gang" to Instagram, according to the indictment.
A Department of Justice spokesman said the images of Tharpe's post were not available. His account, "blamp_camp_zavey," could not be found on Instagram.
Prosecutors say the trio and other co-conspirators drove in three vehicles to the Beverly Hills jewelry store for the smash-and-grab robbery. They abandoned the Kia, which had been reported stolen out of Long Beach four days earlier, and jumped into another car where Bell was waiting to drive them away from the scene, according to the indictment.
During the robbery, Vernon's cell phone fell out of his sweatpants pocket and was left behind to be recovered later by investigators, prosecutors said.
The four were arrested last month in connection with the robbery. Vernon is being held in federal custody without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 13. Tharpe is in state custody and is expected to be reminded to federal custody in the coming weeks. Bell has since been released after posting $15,000 bail, and is scheduled to be arraigned in federal court on Oct. 20.
The juvenile who was arrested was not included in the federal indictment, but was charged in Los Angeles Superior Court with commercial burglary.
If convicted as charged, the three men each face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each count.
