A 39-year-old Long Beach man who was part of a group that stole more than $2.6 million during a Beverly Hills smash-and-grab robbery was sentenced to seven years in prison on Monday, March 31.
The smash-and-grab robbery occurred in March 2022, when defendant Ladell Tharpe and his three accomplices from Long Beach — 22-year-old Deshon Bell, 33-year-old Jimmy Lee Vernon III, and a minor drove to a Beverly Hills jewelry store in three separate vehicles. Upon arriving, the group used crowbars and sledgehammers in front of employees and customers to break the merchandise’s display cases, officials said.
The group stole at least 19 bracelets, seven pairs of earrings, eight rings, 20 watches, four necklaces, and a pair of obelisks valued at roughly $2,674,600, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. One of the vehicles, which was left behind at the scene, had been reported stolen four days before the robbery.
Only two days after the robbery, Tharpe posted photos captioned “Robbery Gang” with large amounts of cash on his Instagram. He was placed in federal custody in March 2023 and pled guilty in Sep. 2024 to one count of the Hobbs Act, or interference with commerce by robbery. He was also ordered to pay $2,674,600 in restitution during his sentencing on Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
In February 2024, Bell was sentenced to one year and a day in federal prison. Vernon, whose phone fell out of his pocket during the robbery and was recovered by investigators, was later sentenced to 80 months in prison. Both Bell and Vernon pled guilty to one count of Hobbs Act robbery and were ordered to pay $2,674,000 in restitution each, authorities said.
“Brazen criminal action that directly targets our small businesses in Los Angeles County will not be tolerated,” said Acting U.S Attorney Joseph McNally. “The consequences for such action are severe and penalized accordingly, and I want to thank our law enforcement partners for their exceptional and dutiful work during this investigation.”