Hotel Thief Jailed

You know some shops just bloody deserve to get ripped off. Ok, I take that back, some shop staff are really dumb and attract con-artists. Case in point is Juan Carlos Guzman Beatencoft a 29 year old Columbian/Spanish man who robbed credit cards from a hotel and then used them to go shopping, for a €16,000 Rolex.

The defendant, known to Interpol as Juan Carlos Guzman Beatencoft (aged 29) from Columbia but claiming to be Alejandro Cuenca (aged 25) from Spain, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to entering a suite in the Merrion Hotel as a trespasser, and stealing a ruby ring, a passport, a wallet containing credit cards, US$3,500 cash and €250 cash on June 16, 2005.

He also pleaded guilty to using a stolen credit card in the name of Ms Robin Westbrook, to buy a Rolex watch, a nine-carat gold chain and 18-carat wedding ring at jewellers on Grafton Street and O'Connell Street on the same date.

The photograph on the American passport had been "professionally altered" but come on. "Ms Robin Westbrook" doesn't exactly sound like the typical name of a Spanish man. You would think someone would have been a little suspicious, or were they just blinded by the value of the sale?

However this guy was no Raffles. When he was arrested on immigration offences the following week he was wearing the Rolex and had many of the stolen items with him. He was jailed for 2 years today and could face extradition to the UK where he is wanted after escaping from jail 10 days before committing the crimes in Dublin.

[Via BreakingNews.ie]