Update: Accused jewelry thief arrested | Local News ... - Gloucester Daily Times
A Gloucester police detective’s dogged persistence has led to the arrest of a man wanted for stealing $20,000 in jewelry, possibly with the intent of heading out of the country with his ill-gotten gains.
“It’s awesome; it’s the mighty Quinn,” jewelry store owner Donna Soodalter-Toman said of Gloucester police Detective Thomas Quinn’s work in tracking down the suspect. “You figure as time goes by, the theft, people would forget about it, but he was so relentless. He put out all the stops to catch this guy.”
Robert Elliott, 55, whose last known address is 15 Maple St., Apt. 2, in Dexter, Maine, had a Canadian visa application in hand when he was arrested by Pennsylvania state police late Thursday afternoon on an outstanding warrant out of Gloucester. Bail was set at $75,000.
Elliott had been on the run since October, when Gloucester police identified him and issued the arrest warrant for the jewelry theft.
Elliott is facing a felony larceny charge, accused of stealing six pieces worth with a wholesale value of $8,259, and almost triple that at retail, from Soodalter-Toman’s store DIVA — an acronym for Donna’s Incredible Variety of Adornments — on Main Street in July. He also faces charges in similar thefts of several thousand dollars worth of jewelry from shops in Quincy and South Portland, Maine, as well as a 2008 warrant out of Gardner.
He was caught after Quinn, who had been chasing down leads in the search for Elliott, received information that the suspect was in New York or Pennsylvania. He asked that the warrant for Elliott, issued in October, be expanded from New England to those states, and Pennsylvania state police made the arrest.
“Donna’s extremely happy,” Quinn said of Soodalter-Toman. “Her surveillance system — which is very good — was instrumental in identifying him.”
The suspect spent some two hours inside the store, Soodalter-Toman and store associate Janice Lesniak said at the time of the theft. Elliott reportedly told the women his name was John Coffey, a character in the 1999 film, “The Green Mile,” and said he was looking to buy jewelry to replace pieces for his wife that had been stolen from his home.
Elliott was arrested in Wycox, Pennsylvania, while picking up a package that contained an application for a visa for Canada, Quinn said. “So it was lucky we caught him.”
“He’s been on the run since the warrant was issued,” Quinn said. “I’ve been collaborating with the Massachusetts State Police Fugitive Unit, the Essex County DA’s detective unit, and police from Dexter, Maine, where he used to live. I’ve been trying to track him since was the warrant was issued.”
While Soodalter-Toman said it is extremely unlikely she will ever get the jewelry back — “He probably fenced it the next day” — she’s delighted the suspect was caught.
“We were lucky. It wouldn’t have mattered how good my surveillance camera was if (Quinn) didn’t circulate the guy’s photo,” Soodalter-Toman said. “He would come by to give us updates, keeping us in the loop. He was crossing all the t’s, dotting all the i’s.”
Quinn said it is unclear when Elliott will be returned to Gloucester, though the Pennsylvania district attorney is working with Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett’s to have him extradited here to face the Gloucester charges.
“We have first crack at him since he was arrested on my warrant,” Quinn said. “We will have him extradited and we do want him.”
Andrea Holbrook may be contacted at 978-675-2713 or aholbrook@gloucestertimes.com.
