BEVERLY HILLS—Jobson Marangoni De Castro, 37, was arrested Monday, August 21, for allegedly stealing more than $1.8 million in jewelry, clothing and accessories from Brazilian guests that were staying at The Peninsula Beverly Hills on May 10. He was found at the Los Angeles International Airport and charged with interstate transportation of stolen property. De Castro is currently being held with a bond as of Wednesday, August 23.
On the day the suitcases were taken, De Castro was said to have traveled to The Peninsula Beverly Hills via Uber. When he arrived at the destination, he convinced a hotel employee to give him a key to the victims’ room. When he walked into the room, he found one of the guests asleep and the other was away. De Castro left the room and traveled back and forth to the hotel using Uber, according to prosecutors.
On the previous day, he was also reported to have eaten at the hotel bar and charged his meal to the room where the victims were staying.
When the victims both left their room to have dinner, De Castro entered the room again and was said to have stolen six suitcases from the two guests who were in Beverly Hills for a fashion event. The items stolen included five Tumi suitcases worth about $5,000; a $1,000 Rimowa carry-on bag; a Flavia Vetorasso Diamond necklace worth $200,000; a Chopard L’Heure du Diamant watch worth $89,400; a white Chanel dress worth $14,000, and a combination of other clothing items and shoes worth around $285,000.
When the couple returned later that evening they discovered that their belongings were missing and notified hotel staff who reported the crime to law enforcement.
The items found in the suitcases were allegedly for sale. On May 17, De Castro, using the alias “Jobs Marangoni,” traveled to Miami and messaged a potential buyer on Instagram who later wired him $50,000 for the jewelry and a luxury watch.
According to the DOJ, De Castro told the buyer that he had papers for the items because he found them in a box who belonged to his mother. He delivered the items to the buyer’s store which was in Miami.
Investigators were able to track De Castro’s movements the day the crimes transpired using GPS data from his Uber trips and one of the suitcases still had two AirTags inside.
Officials discovered during their investigation that De Castro was currently being investigated for another theft that occurred at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
If convicted, De Castro would face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. The FBI and BHPD are leading this investigation.
By Christianne