A man from Grasse is the latest to appear in court in Monaco for taking advantage of one of the Principality’s top hotels. The individual in question reserved a room at the Hermitage and ran up a bill over several days totalling €1,411.
Armed with his brother’s ID, a bankcard and a mobile phone, the culprit temporarily fooled the concierge by leaving in his care a “valuable” painting that turned out to be a worthless fake. Unable to debit the bankcard, the concierge consulted Google and discovered that Eric Piedoie had committed a string of crimes in France, in particular for counterfeiting 68 works of a famous sculptor, Cesar Baldaccini, for which he was given four years in jail.
Questioned in court about the debit card, he said that if the hotel had asked him he would have been happy to pay in cash. However, the defendant’s brother had brought a criminal complaint in France over the theft of his identity by his brother, a fact that didn’t help the case of the accused.
Prosecuting, Cyrielle Colle called into question the efficiency of the hotel registration process in the Principality, and asked for nine months jail for the guilty guest. The tribunal agreed, and Mr Piedoie was condemned to spend considerably longer in Monaco than he had originally planned.
READ ALSO: New Year’s Eve thieves booked into Monaco’s top hotels
READ ALSO: Robbery, hostage at Hotel de Paris Thursday, Nice-Matin reports