Former Vanity Fair Editor Punch Hutton lays bare trauma of falling victim to Hollywood 'super thief' who stole $215k of valuables from her LA mansion - who then had cheek to call her UGLY over text

The former deputy editor of Vanity Fair has laid bare the trauma of falling victim to a pair of Hollywood super-thieves who claimed more than $215,000 of valuables from her LA mansion - and then had the cheek to call her 'ugly' over text. 

Punch Hutton, 52, is among the celebrities who was targeted by highly-skilled burglar Benjamin Eitan Ackerman, 37, and his real estate agent accomplice Jason Emil Yaselli, 32, during a two-year grand theft conspiracy spanning 2016 and 2018. 

The dynamic pair targeted the homes of Real Housewives star Dorit Kemsley, Usher, Adam Lambert, Linnea Stalberg and Michael Gores, claiming more than $5.5 million worth of jewelry, designer purses, shoes and artwork. 

Hutton lost a laundry list of prized possessions - including her 'beloved' engagement ring, her grandmother's ruby-and-diamond ring, diamond earrings, a Chanel watch, and several Chanel purses, while her husband John Hodges had his Rolexes taken. 

The former magazine heavyweight fell foul of the thieves at her Hollywood Boulevard home in December 2017, and after battling years of ensuing paranoia and trauma, Hutton has penned a highly personal recollection of the inside story in Vanity Fair. 

The former deputy editor of Vanity Fair has laid bare the trauma of falling victim to a pair of Hollywood super-thieves who claimed more than $215,000 of valuables from her LA mansion - and then had the cheek to call her 'ugly' over text

The former magazine heavyweight fell foul of the thieves at her Hollywood Boulevard home (pictured) in December 2017, and after battling years of ensuing paranoia and trauma, Hutton has penned a highly personal recollection of the inside story 

Ackman (pictured) targeted the homes of Real Housewives star Dorit Kemsley , Usher, Adam Lambert , Linnea Stalberg and Michael Gores, claiming more than $5.5 million worth of jewelry, designer purses, shoes and artwork

Hutton said she first moved to Hollywood Boulevard in northern Los Angeles, nestled between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, with her filmmaker husband John Hodges and kids on New Year's Eve 2016. (Pictured: Hutton and Hodges in NYC)

Hutton shared how the life-changing incident happened just months after she found a lower-level intruder hiding in her closet, along with texts the thieves exchanged about targeting her. 

Hutton said she first moved to Hollywood Boulevard in northern Los Angeles, nestled between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, with her filmmaker husband John Hodges and kids on New Year's Eve 2016. 

She'd just left her job as deputy editor at the beauty magazine and saw the sundrenched 1920s Mediterranean style mansion as 'a symbol of my new chapter'. 

But just months later, she'd have medics tending to her with a heart monitors after suffering a panic attack following months of sleeping with a hammer beside her bed. 

'We planted bougainvillea and installed two period sconces that flanked our front door,' Hutton wrote in Vanity Fair of the early days of their move. 

'The enormous palm tree in the front yard was lit from below, and when I’d arrive home after dinners at the Tower Bar, the sight of it always caught my breath.'

Hutton paints a picture of frequent dinners out with friends, 'sipping Chardonnay during the week' and spending time with her kids and golden retriever in their extensive gardens and pool. 

The magazine editor encountered their first intruder in the form of a man in her closet at 3am. 

'A tall man, dressed in black with a hood over his head, approached the foot of my bed,' Hutton recalled. 

'He stared at me and I stopped breathing. He lifted an index finger to his lips and I nodded when he whispered, “Shh.” 

'He slipped out of the room, but I knew he was still in the house because I didn’t hear the wobbly floorboard that groaned every time someone walked across it. 

'I smelled my sweat. I didn’t scream—I can’t; I’ve had a paralyzed vocal cord since infancy. In the darkness, I called out, “You need to leave. I’m calling 911.”'

Benjamin Eitan Ackerman appearing for sentencing before Judge Mark S. Arnold in Los Angeles Superior Court, was sentenced to 31 years in prison for jewelry and art theft in Los Angeles homes on November 1, 2023

Punch Hutton, 52, is among the celebrities who was targeted by highly-skilled burglar Benjamin Eitan Ackerman, 37, and his real estate agent accomplice Jason Emil Yaselli, 32, during a two-year grand theft conspiracy spanning 2016 and 2018

Text messages which would later be unearthed in court show how Ackerman bragged about stealing her possessions and sent Hutton's Instagram handle to his accomplice Yaselli

Hutton paints a picture of frequent dinners out with friends, 'sipping Chardonnay during the week' and spending time with her kids and golden retriever in their extensive gardens and pool in the months before her life was turned upside down

Punch Hutton, 52, is among the celebrities who was targeted by highly-skilled burglar Benjamin Eitan Ackerman, 37, and his real estate agent accomplice Jason Emil Yaselli, 32, during a two-year grand theft conspiracy spanning 2016 and 2018

Hutton had the idyllic family life in the home with her husband, kids and golden retrievers before the thieves targeted their Hollywood mansion 

Hutton had the idyllic family life in the home with her husband, kids and golden retrievers before the thieves targeted their Hollywood mansion

LAPD rushed over to the property and told her it was probably a 'hot prowl' - a quick bust-in by a local looking for something he could sell in exchange for drugs, most likely entering via the construction site next door. 

Hutton said the incident left her so shaken that she took to sleeping with a hammer underneath her bed in the case of any future invasions, and relisted the property for sale. 

But the incident, which saw the burglar leave empty-handed, turned out to be a mere foreshadowing of a much more sophisticated break-in which was the result of months of planning by two seasoned conspirators. 

On December 3 2017, a Sunday, Hutton and her film-producer husband Hodges hosted one last open-house showing from 1-4pm. 

Text messages which would later be unearthed in court show how Ackerman bragged about stealing her possessions and sent Hutton's Instagram handle to his accomplice Yaselli.

'Well just when you thought the day was done ;),' Ackerman said in a text message to Yaselli beside a photograph of his haul from Hutton's home, at 5.28pm that day. 

Yaselli wrote back: 'That’s you right now!!!!' to which Ackerman replied in the affirmative, and Yaselli wrote: 'ANIMAL'. 

Ackerman said he'd 'been watching this house for a while', adding: 'Told ya I'm good'. 

He then encouraged Yaselli to 'look up punchhutton on ig (Instagram)' before Yaselli replied a minute later, after seemingly having a peruse: 'Ugly'. 

Hutton said 'there was more' in this vein, but she didn't include any further messages. 

She admitted that she was 'bothered' by the insult, though her husband encouraged her not to care what the criminals thought. 

Hutton had cops come round for a second time, and as they analyzed her home 'it became difficult to breathe' and 'things got fuzzy'. 

She suffered a panic attack so severe that medics were called to place a heart monitor on her chest.  

Prosecutors later determined that Ackerman and Yaselli were linked to 14 residential burglaries between 2016 and 2018 - but it was Hutton's case that provided a key piece of evidence to secure their convictions. During this same period, these types of burglaries appeared to spike according to Beverly Hills PD data

John Hodges and Punch Hutton attend Book Release Party for VICKY WARD's New Book 'THE DEVIL'S CASINO' at Four Seasons Restaurant on April 7, 2010 in New York City

Deputy Editor at Vanity Fair Punch Hutton attends the 2014 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Graydon Carter on March 2, 2014 in West Hollywood, California

Celebriity jewel and art thief Benjamin Eitan Ackerman appearing before Judge Mark S. Arnold was found guilty by the jury in Los Angeles Superior Court of burglary charges

Jason Emil Yaselli

The thieves stole Chanel bags from Hutton and others - pictured is one of the bags seized from his home

Ackerman pleaded no contest to a series of multiple burglaries including the homes of Usher and Adam Lambert

Benjamin Eitan Ackerman appearing for sentencing before Judge Mark S. Arnold in Los Angeles Superior Court, was sentenced to 31 years in prison for jewelry and art theft in Los Angeles homes on November 1, 2023 in Los Angeles

Prosecutors later determined that Ackerman and Yaselli were linked to 14 residential burglaries between 2016 and 2018 - but it was Hutton's case that provided a key piece of evidence to secure their convictions. 

During this same period, these types of burglaries appeared to spike according to Beverly Hills PD data. 

There were 18 burglaries recorded in the premium neighborhood in the month of November 2023 - the latest for which the department has shared data. 

Monthly data each November for the past 10 years indicates there was a spike around 2018 - at the peak of Ackerman and Yaselli's activity. 

The pair targeted 10 open houses, and three were the homes of Ackerman's friends, while the final one took place at a property where his friend had been house-sitting. 

Hutton also attested that she saw 'crime ramping up in LA'. 'The longer we were there, the more stories we heard about home burglaries,' she wrote. 

It was later revealed that Ackerman had attended Hutton's open house under a fake name, and unlocked a window in the master bedroom. 

He returned hours later, and entered by jumping over their backyard fence and hoisting himself onto the roof, before dropping through the open window. 

Ackerman sent the messages to Yaselli from inside this room - and Hutton later  spotted fingerprints, a handprint, and a shoe print beside the window. It was this which police eventually linked to Ackerman's DNA. 

He was arrested in January 2019, and sentenced to 31 years behind bars for masterminding burglaries of the rich and famous in November. 

Ackerman looked to the floor as he walked into the courthouse in prison uniform and handcuffs before Hutton and others read victim impact statements. 

After his arrest in January 2019, investigators seized over 2,000 stolen items stashed in his home and a storage unit. 

He allegedly teamed up with Yaselli, who was also arrested though the status of his criminal case is unclear, to trick their way into lavish mansions and scope them out. 

Prosecutors say Yaselli encouraged 'slick' Ackerman to target a total of 14 mansions, before selling the stolen items and using the profits to pay off Yaselli's credit card. 

Each month, Ackerman deposited between $5,500 and $20,000 into Yaselli's account, prosecutors said. 

Their alleged scheme saw Ackerman pose as a realtor to gain a closer look at the homes, which LAPD detective Jared Timmons described as him 'dressed to the nines.' 

'He acted the part - he was very slick,' Timmons added. 

Ackerman left residents of the ritzy community terrified, with musician Lampert's luxury three-bedroom Sunset Strip home also hit after it was put on the market for $3.35 million. 

Jason Emil Yaselli

Similarly to Hutton, Ackerman found the listing online, but returned to the home and stole items on more than one occasion. 

Ackerman was known as a skilled thief, and his victims often did not realize they had been targeted until they later found valuables missing. 

Paradigm Talent Agency boss Michael Gores and Logitechs entertainment and talents boss Linna Stalberg were also left out of pocket by the devious thieves. 

The thief's skillset also saw him able to disarm surveillance videos and cameras with malfunctioning settings. 

'Cameras would simply go black until several hours after the burglary occurred,' Timmons said. 

Twelve LAPD officers raided his home in September 2018, and discovered a 15-camera indoor-outdoor surveillance system. 

Designer clothing and handbags were found organized by brand, including labels such as Balenciaga, Chanel, Fendi, Givenchy, Hermès and Louis Vuitton. 

Goyard wallets, Cartier, Patek Phillipe and Rolex watches were also recovered as well as diamond encrusted Gucci hair clips and hundreds of bottles of expensive wine. 

Rabbi Karen Fox was also among those to give a victim impact statement at Ackerman's hearing, after her home was hit in the summer of 2017. 

The thief was notably the son of their close family friend, before he stole a number of high-priced items from her including a family heirloom partially sold generations ago to help her family flee the Nazis. 

Ackerman had previously attended Shabbat and Passover dinners with his family at the property, so was familiar with the layout. When he stole from the elderly couple, he had been asked by them to watch their property while they flew to New York to meet their new-born grandchild. 

The rabbi kept the remains of the gold necklace with other heirlooms in a safe in her bedroom, as well as several other pieces of jewelry.

Ackerman took a menorah-shaped brooch and a standing bass that the couple's son owned, which was recovered by police. 

When he struck, Ackerman texted Yaselli to brag that the couple had 'left their safe unlocked', before adding 'I'm inside, going through with it'. 

He took his time going through their property because he knew when they would be back, telling Yaselli 'I'm sure there's cash in here too'. 

The heirloom necklace was never recovered, and Fox told a court in March that it had represented 'our family's survival story, a Jewish survival story'. 

Jason Emil Yaselli being arrested in 2019

Benjamin Eitan Ackerman listens to opening statements in Los Angeles Superior Court during his trial 

The victims who lost the most in the raids are believed to be Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Dorit Kemsley and her husband Paul. 

The couple were rolled while they were away from their sprawling $12.5 million mansion, with Ackerman taking home artwork, jewelry, a large and expensive wine collection, wallets and handbags worth more than $2.5million. 

Officers recovered more than 150 items, including 43 purses and handbags, 30 bracelets, 25 necklaces, and a Social Security card.

They also found framed photos, of Fay Dunaway, Mick Jagger, David Bowie and Clint Eastwood by Terry O'Neill. 

It is not clear how Ackerman knew the couple were away from the property, but he previously admitted 'watching' other properties before he targeted them in the sting.

Hutton said Ackerman did not take 'responsibility for his actions' or 'show empathy for his victims' - even those he knew personally. 

She also revealed that at his sentencing, she asked him out of curiosity: 'Was it worth it?' She didn't disclose his answer.   

'When it was all over, I decided to drive past our old house on Hollywood Boulevard one last time,' Hutton wrote in Vanity Fair.

'It had undergone a modest facelift, but the palm tree and the sconces were the same... I coaxed memories, testing myself to see if any love remained for what I had once called my dream house. 

'But all I saw were nightmares. I drove away, relieved to have this chapter behind me.'