Keep your valuables at Home!

By Stephen Palkot Thursday, November 1, 2007 5:34 PM CDT

What started as an idyllic destination wedding last weekend became a nightmare for a Fort Bend County family after more than $100,000 in cash and property was stolen from more than a dozen guests in what looks like an elaborate heist.

Judge Thomas Culver III, who presides over the 240th District Court in Richmond, traveled to Tulum, Mexico, for the wedding of his daughter, Courtney, to Mark Schaefer. They and about 70 others comprised the majority of guests at the Eurostars Blue Hotel, where all went according to plan until Saturday evening.

Tulum is located near what is called the Mexican Riviera, about 60 miles south of Cancun.

Culver said a member of his wedding party first reported the disappearance of belongings from a safe in his hotel room, after the wedding and during the reception. In time, it became apparent that thieves had taken cash and belongings from the room safes of at least 20 people in the wedding party. It seemed the perpetrators knew to conduct the heist during the hours of the wedding, said Culver, and they were able to pull it off without leaving traces of forced entry into either the rooms or the safes themselves.

All told, Culver said about $100,000 in cash and valuables were reported missing by wedding guests.

Culver said he brought the theft to the attention of the hotel's front desk, who were not sympathetic - and when he complained to a regional manager for the hotel, he and dozens of other victimized guests were met with outright hostility.

A report was filed with the police department in Tulum, but Culver said the investigation was hasty and, again, met with hostility.

Culver said the hotel's regional manager threatened him and other complainants with criminal charges for making false claims, and a federal investigator who was called by the manager did not take any action to investigate.

Culver said he and all the wedding guests were able to leave the hotel Sunday morning, earlier than planned, after a Houston-based travel agent was able to seek the assistance of a Mexico-based counterpart. Culver's daughter and son-in-law stayed in Cancun through Wednesday, when they flew home early out of safety concerns.

Culver said his initial concerns were for the safety of himself, his family and wedding guests, but now he would like to see a real examination of the strange events of Saturday evening.

To that end, he has been in contact with the American vice consul who is based in the Mexican town of Merida, and he has even been in contact with former Democratic State Sen. Ken Armbrister, who now works in the office of Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Culver said the vice consul in particular should be able to apply some pressure on government officials in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, where Tulum is located.

“Obviously, the first thing that I would hope would happen would be a legitimate investigation into this major crime. This was not an isolated theft from a single room at a cheap hotel. This was a planned, executed, major crime.”

As for the Eurostars Blue hotel, an e-mail inquiry to the Barcelona office of Eurostars, which has 35 hotels according to its Web site, was not returned. Culver said he, too, has not received any responses after contacting the corporate offices.

A Houston-based travel agent said he is looking to enact a “stop-sell” for the hotel, which is a process whereby travel agents are warned not to send travelers there.