Puerto Rican singer Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez—who is known by his stage name "Daddy Yankee"—was robbed of $ 2.3 million worth of jewelry and diamonds on Tuesday night, he claims.
According to Spain's La Vanguardia newspaper, a thief posing as the artist allegedly broke into his Melia Valencia hotel room in Valencia and called a hotel employee to open a safe containing $2.3 million (€2 million) of diamonds and jewelry. The lookalike then allegedly took the items and left the building, according to the newspaper.
Rodríguez returned to the room later that day and immediately instructed the hotel to alert authorities after he discovered that the items were missing along with $2,500 in cash.
Shortly after that, the National Police arrived at the hotel and launched an investigation, checking security footage, identifying all the employees who had entered the room and reviewing all guests staying at the hotel.
A forensics team inspected the room to check for fingerprints, DNA or any other evidence that could lead to the thief or thieves. But their results indicated that the criminal had left no traces.
The Melia Valencia hotel confirmed to Las Provincias that the robbery took place but refused to provide any further information, citing the ongoing police investigation.
Although Valencia has a relatively low violent crime rate compared to other Spanish cities, it still experiences petty crime including widespread bicycle thefts, according to Salus Security Services.
Rodriguez is a 41-year-old singer, songwriter, rapper, actor and record producer from San Juan, Puerto Rico. He coined the word "Reggaeton" to describe the new genre of music and is known as the "King of Reggaetón" among his peers.
In 2004, he released his internationally acclaimed song "Gasolina," which launched the reggaetón genre onto the global stage. Since then, he has put out several more albums, selling 20 million records through his career.
Rodriguez collaborated with Latin pop singer Luis Fonsi to release the 2017 hit single "Despacito," which immediately became a global phenomenon, reaching number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 list.
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