Michigan jewelry store heists linked to ‘smash-and-grab’ robberies across 12 states - MLive.com
PORTAGE, MI -- A blood stain left on a smashed jewelry case helped investigators link a 2018 Portage robbery with at least 35 other jewelry heists around the country.
By testing the DNA of the blood, FBI agents report they identified one of three men who on Aug. 30, 2018, entered the Portage Helzberg Diamonds, 6108 S. Westnedge Ave., and demanded employees drop to the ground.
Investigators believe the 35 robberies span a dozen states and were orchestrated by “Detroit-based robbery crews," according to a complaint filed Oct. 16 in U.S. District Court - Western District of Michigan.
Other jewelry store robberies linked to the Detroit-area suspects included additional incidents in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri and Louisiana, according to court documents .
The suspect in the Portage case is accused of planning, recruiting, casing stores, robbing or acting as a secondary lookout in other smash-and-grab jewelry store robberies in Lansing, Saginaw, Kalamazoo and Fort Wayne, Indiana, and was arrested on Oct. 17, according to court documents. If convicted, the defendant could face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison or a $250,000 fine.
The alleged robber is being held on bond and is scheduled for a pretrial and arraignment hearing on Nov. 15, according to court documents. MLive is not naming the defendant, pending arraignment.
The suspect admitted to FBI investigators that he cut his hand during the Portage robbery, according to court documents.
Security camera footage and witness accounts describe one man standing at the door as lookout while two others smashed a glass display case full of diamond rings and loose diamonds at the back of the store with a small, handheld sledgehammer, according to court documents.
One man reached his arm into the small opening and tried to grab the jewelry. The second man quickly grabbed the sledgehammer and smashed the jewelry case directly over the hand of the other man, whose arm was still squeezed through the small opening of the shattered display case, according to court documents.
Both men continued to shatter and peel back the tempered glass sheet until they eventually tore it completely off the display case and threw it to the ground. At that point, they both frantically collected jewelry, stuffing into a drawstring backpack and their pockets, according to court documents.
During an interview with the FBI, the suspect arrested last week also implicated other subjects involved in the Portage robbery and admitted to recruiting two others to participate in smash-and-grab robberies. He also admitted to robbing another jewelry store in Lansing by himself, according to court documents.
