Stars’ jewelry stolen at Aladdin

Jen Lawson

Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2003 | 11:23 a.m.

Some of hip hop artist Nelly's bling bling is gone gone.

While Nelly, whose real name is Cornell Haynes Jr., was attending the NBC Radio Music Awards at the Aladdin, someone slipped into his hotel suite and stole diamond and gold jewelry reported to be worth $1 million, police said.

Grammy-winning singer Michelle Branch's room was also burglarized, Sgt. Tim Shalhoob of Metro's tourist safety unit said. Computer equipment and jewelry valued at about $4,500 was stolen from her room.

"Right now it's kind of a whodunit," Shalhoob said. "The stars were very cooperative and very upset. They took the time to go over our painstaking questions."

While Haynes claimed his jewelry was worth $1 million, Shalhoob said detectives are waiting for his representatives in Los Angeles to send them appraisals to confirm the value.

The computer equipment stolen from Branch's room include a laptop computer and personal digital assistant.

"Who knows what was on them, maybe her next hit song," Shalhoob said.

Haynes, 29, is a Grammy-nominated rap star whose song, "Hot in Herre" is a radio favorite. Branch, 23, a singer-songwriter, released her second album, "Hotel Paper," this summer.

After spending about six hours at the hotel last night, the detectives handling the investigation, Derrell Flenner and Darren Flatin, came back and said Haynes "was a really nice guy ... an absolute gentleman."

The burglaries occurred sometime between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Detectives are analyzing video surveillance footage to see if they can come up with a description of the person or people who committed the burglaries.

Branch and Haynes were both staying in tower suites one floor apart. There was no sign of forced entry into either suite, Shalhoob said. The doors could have been left ajar or jimmied open.

"We believe the rooms were randomly picked," he said. The rooms occupied by Haynes and Branch were the only ones reported burglarized so far, but detectives are going back out to the Aladdin today to find out if others were hit.

All employees were interviewed and cleared of any suspicion, Shalhoob said. They were "highly cooperative," he said, and allowed police to search them and their vehicles.

The property that was stolen was not secured in safes.

Tyri Squyres, spokeswoman for the Aladdin, said the investigation is ongoing and declined to comment any further.

Haynes' spokesman could not be reached this morning. Officials with Branch's record company, Warner Brothers, said they don't know anything about the incident.

Anyone with information about the burglaries can call Crime Stoppers at 385-5555 or the tourist safety unit at 229-3204.