‘Estate agent’ stole from stars, say police United States
A man posing as a wealthy estate agent stole millions of dollars’ worth of art, jewellery and wine from the houses of Hollywood celebrities, police in Los Angeles said.
Benjamin Ackerman, 32, allegedly also pretended to be a buyer to gain entry to mansions that were up for sale.
He would then return as a burglar with an understanding of the surveillance systems guarding the properties.
‘‘This guy is very sophisticated,’’ Jared Timmons, a detective from the Hollywood division of the Los Angeles Police Department, said. ‘‘In a lot of cases we would see tampered surveillance videos.’’ Sometimes the cameras had been ripped out, he said. ‘‘Other times the cameras would simply go black until several hours after the burglary occurred.’’
Timmons said that Ackerman had deployed a slick method for casing the properties of the wealthy, including the singers Usher and Jason Derulo.
‘‘When he showed up, he was dressed to the nines,’’ Timmons said.
‘‘He acted the part. He was very slick.’’ He described the method as ‘‘unique’’ in the annals of Hollywood break-ins. Sometimes Mr Ackerman would claim to be a member of an investment firm.
Police said the suspect appeared confident that he would not be caught.
But he made one mistake, they said.
Signing in for open house viewings of properties, he would use his real name. ‘‘It doesn’t appear that anyone checked this person out,’’ Timmons said.
When the police came across the name, they discovered that Ackerman had a criminal record. When they searched his home in Los Angeles and a storage unit he owned, they discovered about 2000 items that appeared to be from the burgled mansions.
The goods were understood to be worth millions of dollars in total. Some have been identified as the property of particular burglary victims but other items – including necklaces, shoes, tablets and bottles of wine – have been placed on a website in the hope that their owners might come forward or that they will be identified by members of the public.
Police said they had already identified 13 burglary victims, but added that there may be others.
Following his arrest, Ackerman was released on US$ 1 million bail and has not yet been charged.
– The Times