Jimmy Lee Vernon III, Hobbs Act, California 2022

A daring daylight smash-and-grab robbery at a Beverly Hills jewelry store on March 23, 2022, netted nearly $2.7 million in stolen merchandise, including 19 bracelets, seven pairs of earrings, four necklaces, a pair of obelisks, eight rings, and 20 watches.

Jimmy Lee Vernon III, 32, of Long Beach, pleaded guilty to one count of interference with commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act) in connection with the brazen heist. He has been in federal custody since September 2022.

According to court documents, Vernon used heavy tools to smash the display case at Luxury Jewels of Beverly Hills while employees were present, causing fear of injury to people inside the store. The stolen merchandise was valued at approximately $2,674,600.

Vernon and his accomplices fled the scene in a Kia vehicle, which had been reported stolen out of Long Beach four days before the robbery. Vernon’s cellphone fell out of his pocket during the robbery and was later recovered by law enforcement, according to an affidavit previously filed in the case.

Two days after the robbery, one of Vernon’s accomplices posted on his Instagram account photographs of large stacks of money and a message praising his ‘robbery gang,’ court documents state.

United States District Judge George H. Wu scheduled an October 10 sentencing hearing for Vernon, at which time he will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. Deshon Bell, 22, of Long Beach, pleaded guilty to one count of Hobbs Act robbery in December 2023 and was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison. Ladell Tharpe, 39, of Long Beach, has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and faces an October 8 trial date.

Assistant United States Attorneys Kevin J. Butler of the Violent and Organized Crime Section and Kevin B. Reidy of the Major Frauds Section are prosecuting the case. The FBI and the Beverly Hills Police Department investigated the matter.

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