LOS ANGELES—A Beverly Hills man who ripped off jewelry, clothing, and accessories worth more than $1.64 million from a couple staying at a luxury hotel in the city and then traveled to Florida to sell the stolen goods was sentenced Aug. 1 to two years and three months behind bars.
Jobson Marangoni De Castro, 38, was also ordered to pay $1,641,617 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The defendant pleaded guilty in April in downtown Los Angeles to a single federal count of interstate transportation of stolen property.
De Castro tricked an employee of the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel into giving him a key to the couple’s room, and—while the victims were at dinner—stole all six of their suitcases. The bags contained jewelry, clothing, and accessories worth more than $1.6 million, prosecutors said.
The couple—residents of Brazil—had flown to Los Angeles and checked into the Peninsula to attend a fashion event, according to documents filed in Los Angeles federal court.
A week after the May 10, 2023 theft, De Castro traveled to Miami and messaged a buyer that he wanted to sell jewelry—a diamond necklace and luxury watch—and that he did not have papers for them because he had found them in a box belonging to his late mother, court papers show.
The jewelry matched the description of belongings stolen from the Beverly Hills hotel room, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
On May 18, 2023, the buyer wired De Castro $50,000 for the jewelry, which De Castro brought to the buyer’s store in Miami, federal prosecutors said.
The name De Castro provided to the buyer was “Jobs Marangoni,” the same name he used for his Uber account.
