Man admits to taking part in $2.7M smash-and-grab robbery at Beverly Hills jewelry store
A Long Beach man has pleaded guilty to participating in a multimillion-dollar “smash-and-grab” robbery of a jewelry store in Beverly Hills in March 2022.
Jimmy Lee Vernon III, 32, pleaded guilty to felony robbery charges on Thursday; he’d been in federal custody since September 2022.
On March 23, 2022, Vernon was among a group of thieves that used heavy tools to smash the display case at Luxury Jewels of Beverly Hills while employees were present.
The brazen robbery was captured on camera and witnesses shared the video with KTLA. The footage showed several people wearing sweatpants and sweatshirts smashing the street-facing display windows and running off with handfuls of expensive jewelry.
One of the thieves, according to the United States Department of Justice, was Vernon.
In total, 20 watches, 19 bracelets, eight rings, seven pairs of earrings, four necklaces and a pair of decorative obelisks were stolen during the crime. The listed value of all items taken was around $2,674,600, the DOJ said.
Vernon and his accomplices ran from the store and took off in an Audi, leaving behind a stolen Kia that they’d driven to the scene.
Officials said it was ultimately Vernon’s own carelessness that was his undoing. Charging documents stated that he dropped his cell phone out of his sweatpants pocket while smashing the store’s windows and it was later recovered by investigators.
In addition to Vernon’s mistake, one of his accomplices posted several photos on social media that included large stacks of money with the caption “robbery gang.”
Vernon and his co-defendants were identified shortly after. Deshon Bell, 22, and Ladell Tharpe, 39, were arrested during an overnight operation in Long Beach in September 2022. Vernon was arrested that same day in Barstow.
Bell previously pleaded guilty to federal robbery charges and was sentenced in February to one year in federal prison. Tharpe has pleaded not guilty and is expected to face trial in October.
Vernon is due in court for sentencing on Oct. 10 and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
The crime was one of the most high-profile robberies in the Los Angeles area post pandemic and was a flashbulb moment for law enforcement agencies throughout Southern California.
The Los Angeles Police Department eventually issued warnings to citizens and tourists not to wear expensive jewelry in public due to the risk of becoming the victim of a “follow-home” robbery.
Smash-and-grab robberies like the one at Luxury Jewels eventually led to an increased onus on retail crimes by law enforcement and helped set in motion the establishment of statewide task forces to combat the rising problem.
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