Employee Credited With Chasing, Identifying Jewelry Store Robbery - OzarksFirst.com
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Greene County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed charges Friday against one of the three men believed to be responsible for robbing a Springfield jewelry store Thursday.
Prosecutors filed robbery, burglary and tampering charges against 31-year-old Mark Pitts for his alleged role in taking more than $100,000 worth of Rolex watches from Maxson’s Jewelry in south Springfield.
According to a probable cause statement filed with the charges, Pitts told Springfield Police he and his two accomplices planned to come from Michigan to Springfield to rob the store.
Perhaps none of these suspects would be in custody if one of the jewelry store employees had not taken matters into his own hands.
“Josh is our hero,” said Maxson’s Co-Owner Jane McElvaine. “He was able to run down one of the people and the police picked him up. We don't train them to go chase people; he just did it on his own."
"It was pretty crucial in the case, chasing him seeing him being able to identify the suspect," said Springfield Police Lt. Culley Wilson.
McElvaine has been in the jewelry business for a quarter-century, and knew something was wrong when one of the robbers opened the door, but refused to shut it behind him.
"Josh tried to push him out,” McElvaine said. “And the other two came in and they smashed our cases with mallets."
Those three robbers made it out with 11 Rolex watches, valued at more than $100,000
Two of them took off in a getaway car, a 2000 Dodge Stratus stolen from Target earlier Thursday.
Luckily, for Springfield Police, it is all on camera.
"Are we going to be able to identify the other suspects from the video, I’m not really able to say yet because I just don't know yet,” Wilson said. “We're looking at it. Hopefully, it'll help us in the long run."
All employees at Maxson's are trained to handle these incidents, but they can only be so prepared for men who knew exactly what they were doing.
"It's a random thing that happened” McElvaine said. “We've been here 22 years at the store, and that's the first time that's happened."
Pitts is in the jail on a $200,000 bond. Springfield Police believe this case is similar to several other jewelry store robbery cases around the country, and they are working with federal authorities and other local law enforcement to see if other agencies are familiar with the suspects.
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