A woman accused of stealing more than $1 million worth of jewelry from a man’s Buckhead hotel room has turned herself in to police, authorities announced Saturday. And investigators say she may be linked to similar cases.
Atlanta police responded to a call about a jewelry theft early June 26 at the Westin hotel on Peachtree Road. The victim, a man from Florida, told officers a woman he met hours earlier broke into his safe while he was asleep and took his jewelry, according to an incident report.
The man said he met a woman named “Sasha” at a restaurant and bar before taking her to Tattletale Lounge. The two stayed at the strip club for about an hour before he invited her back to his hotel room, authorities said. He eventually fell asleep, but woke up a short time later to discover both his date and his jewelry were gone.
“When (the victim) woke up, ‘Sasha’ was not in bed and the shower was running,” one officer wrote in the report. “When he went to the bathroom, it was empty and his safe was open.”
The man’s missing jewelry included six chains, five bracelets, a Rolex watch and two charms, he told police.
The man said he remembered locking the safe and that he wasn’t sure how someone got into it. He also told officers he may have been drugged, telling police “he has never slept that hard,” according to the report.
Police checked with hotel security, who told them the two were seen in the lobby about 3 a.m. The door to the victim’s hotel room was opened again two hours later, authorities said.
Credit: Atlanta Police Department
Credit: Atlanta Police Department
An Atlanta investigator noticed similarities between the Westin jewelry heist and other cases he was working, police said. He showed the victim a photo lineup, and the man reportedly identified 23-year-old Shirley Reyes-Azambuya as the “Sasha” he had invited back to his room.
Warrants were issued for Reyes-Azambuya’s arrest, and she turned herself in at the Fulton County Jail on Wednesday, authorities said. She faces three counts of felony theft by taking and is being held on $160,000 bond, online records show.
As of Saturday afternoon, none of the missing jewelry had been recovered.
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