‘Ringleader’ of Beverly Hills jeweler smash-and-grab robbery gets 7 years

LOS ANGELES (CN) — The purported ringleader of a gang who made off with $2.7 million in merchandise during a daylight smash-and-grab robbery of a Beverly Hills, California, jewelry store was sentenced to seven years in federal prison on Monday.

Ladell Thorpe, 39, of Long Beach, claimed he was only the lookout during the 2022 robbery and dodged the 100-month sentence that the government had asked for. Contrary to Thorpe's protestations, prosecutors with the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles claim he was the principal architect of the crime.

U.S. District Judge George Wu, however, reasoned that 84 months prison was sufficient given that last year he had sentenced Thorpe's co-lead defendant to 80 months.

"I've been loyal to a default to the wrong people — the wrong crowd," Thorpe said as he apologized to the court and to his family for his part in the robbery. "I'm not saying I wasn't wrong."

After the robbery, Thorpe posted pictures on Instagram of himself and the other robbers with stacks of cash and a note from the "robbery gang" that read “Ya Niggas Really Be Cool with Niggas Who Won’t Put You On To No Money Moves My Whole Team Work Together and Help Eachother."

He pleaded guilty last year to one count of of interference with commerce by robbery.

At his sentencing hearing, Thorpe claimed he had never received any of the proceeds from the robbery and denied that the stacks of money in the Instagram posts were from selling the jewelry.

His disavowals prompted Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Reidy to urge the judge to impose the 100-month sentence because Thorpe, who has a considerable list of prior convictions for car jacking, multiple burglaries and evading police, and had participated in the robbery while still on federal probation, appeared to deny his culpability.

"This was a culmination of a troubling criminal history in defendant's life," Reidy said. "The previous shorter sentences didn't have the intended effect."

The stolen jewelry was never recovered, and as his co-defendants were previously, Thorpe was ordered to pay $2.7 million in restitution.

The March 2022 robbery of Luxury Jewels of Beverly Hills was one of the boldest smash and grabs in the Central District of California's history, prosecutors said. In broad daylight, in a Beverly Hills shopping district teeming with people, the robbers used an axe to smash a jewelry store display case and grabbed all the jewelry the could carry.

They took about 19 bracelets, seven pairs of earrings, four necklaces, a pair of obelisks, eight rings, and 20 watches, none of which has been recovered.

However, the cellphone of one of the robbers fell out of the pocket of his sweatpants during the robbery, and the crew left one of their vehicles, a stolen Kia SUV, behind as they fled in an Audi that was parked in a nearby alley. Surveillance footage showed the Kia, the Audi and a Ford Mustang, which had been rented by Thorpe, cruising through Beverly Hills in tandem ahead of the robbery.

Using data from dropped cellphone and from the Thorpe's phone, investigators were able to track down the crew in Long Beach, California.

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