A hotel worker may be served some jail time after stealing a very expensive accessory from Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal.
Rafael Nadal borrowed a watch from watchmaker Richard Mille to wear while playing at the French Open, which Nadal won for a record seventh time on Monday. The watch wasn't just a regular Swatch or Timex. It came with a price tag of about $375,000, so it became an issue of grand theft when the watch went missing from Nadal's Paris hotel room.
Nadal left the watch on his bedside table of his suite at a five-star luxury Paris hotel after his win on Monday. When he woke up on Tuesday, the expensive timepiece was gone.
Police led an investigation and were baffled after finding that there was no evidence of forced entry into the suite. They then suspected it was an inside job. They soon discovered that the room was entered by a hotel worker who used a magnetic key card to access the room and steal the watch.
Police arrested a 38-year-old hotel bar employee at his home in the southern Paris suburb of Corbeil-Essones on Tuesday night. The man confessed to letting himself into Nadal's room and stealing the watch. He then led police to the expensive watch that he hid in a grassy area beside a railway track near his home.
The Daily Mail reported that A police spokesman said: 'The man has made a full confession and been charged with theft. He will appear in court at a later date.'
Nadal doesn't seem to upset over the incident. He told the Telegraph, "The French police did a good job," Nadal said. "I have nothing to hold against the hotel. They have always treated me well when I have stayed there over the past eight years and I will be come back next year."
The specific hotel where this incident occurred is not named in reports.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
