Suspect Held in Rolls-Royce, Brooch Thefts

A new Rolls-Royce and a $76,000 brooch left in the car were stolen from the gated driveway of the home of film producer Jerry Weintraub, Beverly Hills police reported Wednesday.

The luxury car was recovered Wednesday afternoon in Long Beach, and “an unknown quantity of personal property and jewelry” was found in the car, which was parked in the 900 block of E. Pacific Coast Highway. A police spokesman said Louis Gordy, 26, of Beverly Hills, was arrested on suspicion of auto theft, receiving stolen property and possession of a controlled substance.

The Rolls-Royce Corniche was discovered missing at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday by Weintraub’s chauffeur, who had parked the convertible along the shrub-and-fence secluded driveway of the Hollywood mogul’s home in the 600 block of Doheny Road, said Detective Richard Schwab.

Schwab said Weintraub and his wife, Jane Morgan, the former singing star, had been driven to a Beverly Hills party from their Malibu estate. The chauffeur then drove to the Beverly Hills house, parked the car and returned from inside only to find the vehicle gone.

Schwab said the missing brooch is an oval art deco diamond, sapphire and ruby piece.

He described the car as silver sand (a silvery brown) over garnet (dark purple) with a tan convertible top. The recently purchased Rolls has no license plates, he said.

Rolls-Royces, though a common sight in Beverly Hills, are not often stolen simply because they are too easily spotted by police, Schwab said.

However, Weintraub’s car is the second Rolls to be taken in Beverly Hills in little more than a month. The car stolen earlier was quickly recovered abandoned in another part of the city. It had not been stripped or abused, the detective said, indicating that the suspect “could be somebody with a Rolls-Royce fetish who knows the area and just wants to drive the cars for a while.”