JULY-AUGUST 2005
www.celtic-connection.com
Page 13
World Travelling Con man Re-Captured in Dublin
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DUBLIN - A thief who is rated as one of the world's most notorious conmen was arrested in Dublin after he burgled one of Dublin's most exclusive hotels.
Colombian-born Juan Carlos Guzman-Betancourt (29), was arrested in Dublin city centre after walking out of an open prison in Britain on June 6. The prisoner was reportedly given leave for a dental appointment but never returned.
JUAN CARLOS Guzman-Betancourt
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He was arrested by gardai probing a burglary at the five-star Merrion Hotel on Upper Merrion Street, where cash, jewellery and credit cards were stolen after a man tricked his way into a room.
The son of a Colombian diplomat, Guzman-Betancourt is reputed to have stolen at least £150,000 (E225,000) of jewellery, cash and other goods in Britain alone. His worldwide six-year crime spree is thought to have netted him as much as E750,000.
Fluent in several languages, his methods involve donning designer suits and gaining entry to hotel rooms by passing himself off as a guest. In the past he has repeatedly
hijacked the identities of wealthy guests, including an Arab billionaire.
Also known by the name Gonzalo Zapater Vives, he has used no less than 10 different aliases and is thought to speak several languages.
Southwark Crown Court heard how he employed various confidence tricks, such as posing as a well-dressed hotel guest who has lost his room keys and forgotten the safe codes to deposit boxes.
Guzman-Betancourt is from a middle-class Colombian family but reportedly ran away from home at the age of 17, apparently by stowing away on board a cargo plane from Bogota to Miami.
Since then, he has been deported from the United States several times and once reputedly crawled through an air vent at New "fork's JFK airport in an escape attempt. In London, he has targeted top hotels such as the Mandarin Oriental, the Dorchester, the Four Seasons and the Savoy.
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