Long Beach man who bragged about crime on Instagram pleads guilty to $2.6-million jewelry heist
There’s no instruction manual for how to commit the perfect crime, but Ladell Tharpe learned the hard way that he probably shouldn’t have bragged about it on Instagram.
Nor does it help when one of your crew leaves their phone at the scene of the crime like some sort of calling card.
Tharpe, 39, of Long Beach pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles Monday to taking part in a $2.6-million heist from a Beverly Hills jewelry store on March 23, 2022. That day, prosecutors said, several masked suspects armed with crowbars walked into Luxury Jewels on South Beverly Drive during business hours, then smashed display cases and grabbed jewelry as store employees and customers watched.
The thieves made off with 19 bracelets, seven pairs of earrings, four necklaces, a pair of obelisks, eight rings, and 20 watches, according to federal prosecutors.
Investigators say several clues at the scene and on social media led them to Tharpe and multiple other suspects, including Jimmy Lee Vernon and Deshon Bell.
A man charged with killing a New Zealand tourist outside Newport Beach’s Fashion Island previously pleaded no contest to a felony armed robbery charge, but his prison sentence was suspended.
According to prosecutors, investigators recovered a mobile phone at the jewelry store that surveillance footage showed had fallen out of Vernon’s pocket. Days later, Vernon told his probation officer that his phone number had changed.
The robbery crew’s brash smash-and-grab approach caught the attention of police in Long Beach, who contacted Beverly Hills to say they had a possible suspect — Tharpe, prosecutors said.
Tharpe’s name was also linked to one of the getaway cars used in the robbery, according to investigators. The license plate matched a vehicle that Tharpe had rented at an Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Long Beach.
Hours before the robbery, Tharpe recorded a video of himself and his fellow robbery crew members wearing the same clothes they were seen wearing in surveillance footage, but without their masks, court documents show.
The same video shows Tharpe walking up to a vehicle with tinted windows, which reflected his image, prosecutors said. The location was later linked to an address associated with Tharpe.
The suspects even discussed specific details about the robbery over Instagram. Weeks before the heist, Vernon and Tharpe talked about what type of getaway car they would use and the brand of police scanner they would need to buy.
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Days after the crime, prosecutors said, Tharpe posted a photo of stacks of cash on Instagram with the caption, “robbery gang.”
Tharpe, who has been in federal custody since March 2023, is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 6, 2025. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
Like Tharpe, both Bell and Vernon pleaded guilty to one count of of interference with commerce by robbery. Bell was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison and ordered to pay $2.6 million in restitution, according to court records. Vernon is scheduled to be sentenced in early December.
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