Thursday 16 June 2022 05:22 PM American tourist mugged in Barcelona denies lying to cops about value of stolen ... trends now
The American tourist who had his expensive watch stolen in a caught-on-camera Barcelona mugging has spoken exclusively to DailyMail.com to deny lying to Spanish police about how much the timepiece is worth, saying he doesn't remember how much he paid for it and that he is being unfairly treated as 'the bad guy'.
Seth Bernstein, 46, was mugged in Barcelona in front of four of his five children on June 2 as they walked down a street outside their five star hotel.
He filed a police report in which Spanish police say he claimed it was worth $800,000.
On Thursday, those same authorities revealed their suspicions that he had lied, after the watchmaker Hublot confirmed the piece was in fact worth closer to $45,000.
He may now be on the hook for charges for lying, with a Spanish judge set to review the police report and incident.
Now, Bernstein is speaking to DailyMail.com to insist that he never told them the watch was worth $800,000 and that he doesn't remember how much it cost.
Seth Bernstein, 46, was mugged in Barcelona in front of four of his five children on June 2 as they walked down a street outside their five star hotel. He is shown with his wife Marie and their children. He told DailyMail.com he is being unfairly treated as a criminal when he is the victim of a crime
He says he bid for it at a charity auction six years ago for his 40th birthday, then insured it along with his 'many' other watches, but that it's unimportant to him.
He maintains that the Spanish police was 'rude' to him from the beginning and that he was never considered a victim when he should have been.
'I am the victim here, I was mugged in front of my children on what was supposed to be a happy vacation.
'My kids are hysterically crying. What did I do wrong? I had my watch stolen.
'It's like I'm the bad guy here,' he said from Sweden, where he is rounding out his European vacation with his wife's family.
Bernstein says he is most angry with Spanish police for issuing surveillance footage of the mugging, in which his terrified kids appear.
Bernstein was walking down the street with his kids on Tuesday June 7 when the mugger approached him from behind. He says
