Two Beverly Hills men are facing the possibility of spending Online Cigarettes Store USA more than three decades behind bars after they were arrested on suspicion of burglarizing the homes of celebrities including Usher and Adam Lambert.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said in a statement on Thursday that Jason Yaselli, 32, and Benjamin Eitan Ackerman, 33, stole more than $500,000 in goods from Beverly Hills homes between 2016 and 2018.
The statement said most of the burglaries happened at open houses. According to the criminal complaint, Yaselli, Newport box 100s menthol cigarettes a realtor, "encouraged Ackerman to steal luxury items from 14 homes, sell them and use the proceeds to make payments on Yaselli's credit card."Among the victims who were targeted in the scheme were musicians Usher and Adam Lambert, "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Dorit Kemsley, and former NFL linebacker Shaun Phillips.
The two men were each charged with 32 counts of money laundering, 12 counts of residential burglary, two counts Newport box 100s cigarettes of burglary with a person present, two counts of identity theft, one count of conspiracy to commit burglary, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
If convicted, they face the possibility of more than 31 years in a state prison.