LAPD Seeks Clever Cat Burglar Dubbed 'Rico Suave'

(March 11) -- Like something out of a Hollywood movie, debonair cat burglar "Rico Suave" has stayed one step ahead of Los Angeles police as he dons disguises to blend in with wealthy patrons at upscale haunts, only to slip away shortly after with cash and jewels.

He's targeted soccer players at the Marriott Hotel, musicians at the Wilshire Grand Hotel, basketball players at the Staples Center and a billionaire couple at the Four Seasons Hotel who were in town to attend the Academy Awards, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Los Angeles Police Department

A man suspected of being "Rico Suave," a debonair cat burglar who mingles with wealthy patrons at upscale haunts, is shown in surveillance video from the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.

"He has all the making of that rare breed of sophisticated cat burglar," Los Angeles police Lt. Paul Vernon told the Times.

Detectives are combing through surveillance tapes from venues of the various heists, and Vernon told the Times it "sounds very similar, based on physical appearance and MO, to the same guy we have been trying to find since October."

The burglar is tall, thin, with straight dark hair and black glasses. He speaks fluent Spanish and can meld into any situation. For example, he donned a costume similar to a salsa band's and when the musicians left the hotel to perform a concert, Suave obtained their room key from the front desk. On his way out and $9,000 richer, Suave handed the clerk a copy of the band's CD, the Times reported.

He used the same ruse to get into a hotel suite belonging to the Chivas soccer team, dressing in a team jersey and stealing $10,000. Next, he decided on a more upscale approach. Wearing a suit and clasping a clipboard, Suave roamed the Staples Center locker room area during an exhibition basketball game between the Los Angeles Clippers and Israel's Maccabi Electra. After the game, the guest team discovered $26,000 in cash and jewelry missing, the Times reported.

But the biggest haul was making off with more than $40,000 in jewelry from the suite of billionaire sugar magnate Jose "Pepe" Fanjul two days before the Academy Awards.

The Four Seasons, which welcomed Morgan Freeman, Robert Duvall and Adrien Brody to the Oscars and pre-Oscar events, also had an uninvited guest when Suave showed up in a suit and pretended to be a manager, according to The Times of London.

Suave, brazenly chatting with Fanjul and his wife in an elevator, later knocked on the door to their suite and said he had to fix the air conditioner. He was allowed inside and minutes later left with $40,000 in jewelry, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Police issued a photograph of Rico Suave today, taken in an elevator of the Four Seasons, hoping the public can help break the case.