By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A man accused of looting the SoHo penthouse suite actors Kirsten Dunst and Simon Pegg shared during a 2007 film shoot said he was only tagging along to keep his drug-dealing buddy company, he testified Wednesday.
The accused thief, James Jimenez, 36, said he was doing a favor for alleged accomplice Jarrod Beinerman by going on a 4 a.m. run to Manhattan from their Coney Island home.
When their cab arrived at the SoHo Grand, Jimenez didn't know why they were there but dutifully accompanied his friend into the hotel, he claimed.
"He told me to wait outside and came out with a white bag," Jimenez testified, adding that he had gone to the penthouse floor but had not entered the suite.
"While he was on his cell phone talking, he passed me this bag and said, 'Here hold this,'" he added, referencing the NoBu take-out bag containing the actors' belongings that surveillance camera footage showed Jimenez carrying as he left the building.
Assistant District Attorney Patricia Stolfi asked if Beinerman and Jimenez then returned to Brooklyn where they sat on a bench and divvied up the stolen goods, including a Balenciaga handbag, Marc Jacobs wallet and $2,000 in cash.
"I went home, I didn't sit on no bench," Jimenez responded.
Beinerman has already pleaded guilty to clearing the SoHo Grand hotel suites of the celebrities' belongings, although this is a retrial for Jimenez, whose September 2009 trial resulted in a hung jury.
Beinerman pleaded guilty and is serving prison time for the theft.
