California man gets life sentence for conspiring to kill barber in Scottsdale

A California man was sentenced to natural life in prison for his role in the 2022 killing of Ilya “Mike the Barber” Shimonov in Scottsdale, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office announced Monday.

The sentencing announcement came after 45-year-old Robert Celifie was found guilty by a jury on Aug. 25 of conspiracy, premeditated first-degree murder and first-degree burglary.

“This defendant may not have been the one who pulled the trigger, but through his actions he condemned this victim to death just the same,” Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in a news release.

Shimonov ran a mobile barbershop out of a converted school bus. On Jan. 3, 2022, he was shot nine times inside the bus, which was parked outside an Old Town Scottsdale hotel, just after he finished a haircut. He died of his injuries.

“My kids mean the world to me, and Ilya was my oldest boy. When this horrible event happened, my world collapsed, and I don’t think it will ever be the same,” Shimonov’s mother, Bella, told reporters Monday. “I just really, really from the bottom of my heart wanted to thank everyone who took part of this event and brought those responsible to justice.”

What led to the California man’s conviction and sentencing?

During the investigation, authorities realized that Shimonov’s cell phone was missing. Police got a tracking order, which showed the phone had been at the scene at the time of Shimonov’s murder then was driven directly to Las Vegas, where it stopped at multiple locations.

Investigators contacted the Las Vegas Police Department, which was able to get surveillance video and images identifying a white car and individual that were at each of the locations at the same time the phone. The car was later identified through an automatic license plate reader as a white Mercedes registered to Celifie, who lived in Los Angeles but had a girlfriend in Las Vegas and ties to Arizona.

On Jan. 10, 2022, Celifie was stopped while driving overnight from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. While being interviewed, Celifie told police that he was driving from Nevada to California with his girlfriend at the time of the murder, which his girlfriend corroborated and authorities confirmed through video and records.

He added he had rented his car to Chaze Cable and initially said he didn’t know where Cable took it. He later admitted Cable had gone to Arizona but wasn’t sure why.

Authorities ended up searching the Nevada home of Celifie’s girlfriend and found a Canik 9mm semi-automatic handgun, which was later identified as the murder weapon.

With the help of the Texas Department of Public Safety and Texarkana (Arkansas) Police Department, Cable was arrested and his apartment was searched. They found a sweatshirt matching the one that the individual was wearing in the surveillance footage and images at each of the locations Shimonov’s phone was tracked to.

Investigators also searched Celifie’s phone and found Signal messages between him and Cable discussing what Shimonov’s mobile barber shop looked like, where it would be located and the fact that they needed to get his phones.

“This [case] was the most extensive as far as the evidence gathering. Scottsdale went to five states. They executed 48 search warrants,” prosecutor Richard Dusterhoff told reporters during a news conference. “We couldn’t have had the success that we did in getting justice in this case without all the work, not only by Scottsdale but all the other departments.”

Cable was tried in connection with Shimonov’s murder in 2025, was found guilty of the same charges and also received a natural life sentence.

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