Four arrested as Italian police release video of Charles Leclerc €2 million watch thieves

Thomas Maher
Charles Leclerc adjust his earpiece. Montreal, June 2022.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc adjusts his earpiece inside of the team's garage. Montreal, June 2022.

Four people have been arrested by Italian police, following an investigation after Charles Leclerc had a luxury watch stolen from his wrist last year.

Charles Leclerc was in the Italian seaside resort of Viareggio in the run-up to last year’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix when he was approached by two people, wearing motorcycle helmets, who asked the Ferrari driver for a selfie.

Leclerc duly obliged for the picture but, after they had already left, the Monegasque realised his Richard Mille RM67 ‘Leclerc’ bespoke watch had been removed from his wrist.

Italian police have since arrested four people wanted in connection with the theft.

How was Charles Leclerc’s watch robbed?

A statement from the Italian Carabinieri in Viareggio explained that three men and one woman were arrested after an investigation, reviewing numerous video surveillance pictures and the questioning of various witnesses.

Through the investigation, the two people on the scooter, which was “registered in the name of a figurehead”, were identified, with the police revealing a further two subjects were involved in the theft, who were nearby in a rented SUV. The couple were hypothesised to have provided support to the two scooter riders, by preventing Leclerc from pursuing in the immediate aftermath of the crime.

Once Leclerc was off the scent, the subjects left the town to drive to Naples.

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The investigation revealed that there were ‘serious and concordant’ elements to a similar theft in Forte dei Marmi on the same evening, with a young couple out walking being threatened and beaten in an attempted theft of a €40,000 watch. The victims of the attempted theft managed to keep hold of the watch with help from passers-by coming to their defence.

The press release also outlines that two of the arrested suspects were allegedly involved in another watch theft in August 2021, when a French tourist had his €80,000 watch ripped from his wrist following being threatened with a pistol – said pistol being discovered to be loaded with blanks.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office has arrested all four suspects, with house searches uncovering two valuable watches which have been seized, as well as cash totaling €23,000. It is not yet known whether one of the discovered watches belongs to Leclerc.

Meanwhile, the Carabinieri have also released a video showing Leclerc stalking the streets in his Ferrari as he tried to locate the thieves.

Charles Leclerc Ferrari

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