Like so many of her peers across the Westside, local resident Sinta Jimenez has rented out her house on Airbnb in the past to make some extra money. She’s never had a problem until she returned home Sunday and discovered she had lost more than $6,000-worth of items.
As somebody who has rented her home out on the popular platform before, Jimenez said she had no idea she would run into trouble with Danielle Duvale when she allowed the “online influencer” to book her apartment while away on a monthlong trip.
“She was staying in my house from September to October so she was here for a month,” Jimenez said in an interview Tuesday when she recounted what life has been like since returning from her travels. “I arrived late Sunday evening around 9 p.m. and we noticed pretty much right away that things were missing.”
Half of a dining set, books, blankets and a Yves Saint Laurent handbag worth more than a $1,000 were all taken — and that’s not even the half of it, according to Jimenez, who said she first noticed that all of the clothes in her closet smelled like body odor.
“I’m a trusting person so I thought maybe she hung up her clothes next to mine…. There could’ve been a reason for my clothes smelling bad but then, as I started trying to do laundry — and all the things you do when you come home from a trip — I started noticing nearly $6,000 of our things were missing and we’re still tallying everything up,” Jimenez said.
So, the longtime creative tried to use her contacts in the arts scene to find the alleged thief, but no one had any information or knew any recent projects she was undertaking.
“If you see her Instagram, the whole time she is posting new clothes and nice houses so I guess the scam is she (rents) Airbnb in nice neighborhoods like Santa Monica and Beverly Hills, and then I would not be surprised if she has been stealing from them as well,” Jimenez said. “I don’t even know how to get in contact with other Airbnb hosts because it’s private information but she stole six grand; She stole kimonos that I like from Japan that I’ve had for years and stuff like that. She stole intimate apparel; She stole jackets that belonged to my daughter; She even took some cups from a set — not the whole set — half….I mean, that’s literally my hat she’s wearing on her social media and nobody would know she stole it,” Jimenez added.
“So, we filed a report with the Santa Monica Police and they came over last night after my partner had tried to call her and ask her to return the items before we involved the police. She was totally in denial and hostile,” Jimenez said, mentioning Duvale has since blocked her on Instagram.
“I’ve basically come to realize that no one is going to help with this unless we find her. I was researching the protections that Airbnb offers through insurance and things like that — and it looks like they aren’t always willing to replace items even though they advertise, ‘Come join this great community. We’ll protect your home up to a million dollars,’” Jimenez said. “But I guess this woman will continue to scam unless we find out something about her like where she works.
“The reported behavior has no place on Airbnb, and we are working with the host to initiate a claim through our $1 million Host Guarantee," an Airbnb spokesperson said Tuesday night. "We’ve suspended the booking guest’s account and stand ready to support the Santa Monica Police Department in their investigation.”
SMPD confirmed receipt of the report but had no additional comment at press time.
