More details released about huge jewelry heist - Aspen Daily News
A woman who is a suspect in the brazen theft of three pieces of jewelry worth $95,000 from an Aspen business is wanted on felony charges in 17 jurisdictions in 14 states.
That’s according to the active arrest warrant for one of the five suspects who descended on the jewelry store on Sept. 12. The names of the suspects and other information are not being published at the request of the district attorney’s office, so as not to jeopardize the ongoing investigation.
Police were called around 2 p.m. for a theft in progress at the downtown business. An employee, describing two female suspects as “gypsy-like,” said some of the suspects distracted her while two others opened up cases holding the jewelry, the warrant application says.
Stolen were a pendant containing sapphires, rubies, emeralds and diamonds set into 18-karat yellow gold, an item with an estimated worth of $45,240; a pair of South Sea pearl earrings that also contain sapphires, a diamond and 18-karat white gold that’s worth $28,000; and another set of earrings worth nearly $22,000.
Aspen police detective Ritchie Zah, in an interview in September, said the employee caught the male suspect earlier trying to steal a bracelet, which she snatched away as she confronted him.
Zah said an argument ensued between the employee, the suspect and an older woman, also a suspect, with the two taking umbrage and making a scene before leaving the store. Police canvassed the area but could not find the group.
Zah wrote that he sent photographs of the suspects to the Jeweler’s Security Alliance, “an independent crime-analysis group that supports law enforcement in the identification and investigation of high-dollar jewelry thefts,” the warrant application says.
An employee of a West Coast jewelry store contacted Zah to say that a similar group of people visited his store in August. As in Aspen, two younger women entered and tried to distract employees while a heavier-set woman entered after them and also tried to distract staff. Then, an older couple entered but “employees refused to open any cases, so the quintet left shortly after,” the filing says.
During this encounter, the shop received a call from another jewelry business nearby warning about them. An employee of the latter business told Zah they followed the group.
The worker said “the quintet stood outside [the store] and then went in in separate groups,” Zah wrote. “[She] said that it was not subtle and seemed planned.”
Video surveillance from that encounter showed similar resemblances to the people wanted for the Aspen theft, the warrant application says.
Zah also contacted a detective who specializes in crimes “committed by members of the ‘gypsy’ community.” The officer, who has assisted law enforcement both nationally and internationally on cases involving the said community, identified the older man as one of the main suspects and said he was on probation. This officer also arrested the suspect’s wife, another suspect in the Aspen crime, a few years ago “for providing a false name and being wanted on felony charges in 17 jurisdictions in 14 different states,” Zah wrote.
And an East Coast probation officer told Zah that he believed the male suspect was one of the people in both the West Coast and Aspen stores.
Zah obtained from AT&T cell-phone records showing the man’s locations based on cell-tower coordinates. That information allegedly shows him traveling from California to Grand Junction and up Interstate 70 toward the Roaring Fork Valley and into Aspen.
The arrest warrant filed in district court is only for the man, who is wanted on a felony theft charge.
Warrant for alleged trail incident issued
In other police news, an arrest warrant has been issued for the man who allegedly broke into vehicles, stole credit cards and illegally bought items at a valley store.
The suspect, who, again, is not being named at the request of prosecutors, seemed out of place at the trailhead early this winter, says the arrest affidavit by Brad Gibson, chief of investigations at the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office. The alleged victim told deputy Kyle Ryan that she felt “he was not there for a hike,” the affidavit says.
Two days later, one of the car owners told Ryan that her credit card had been used in Glenwood. The store provided Gibson with video surveillance, and he sent screen shots of the suspect to DA’s investigator Lee Mamuth, who coordinates information sharing with area investigators.
A Garfield County Sheriff’s investigator quickly informed Gibson about the name of the person he believed had used the card in the store, and a Rifle police officer reiterated the same thing about the person’s identity, the affidavit says.
The suspect is wanted on felony charges of identity theft and criminal trespass.
