Muskingum County, Ohio – On December 10, 2024, the Muskingum County Prosecutor’s Office issued a press release announcing that three suspects have been sentenced for their role in a series of burglaries at jewelry stores. The press release is below. Click here to read additional information about the suspects’ arrest. The three suspects are pictured above.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Multi-State Multimillion-Dollar Jewel Thieves Sentenced to Prison
Three thieves running a multimillion-dollar, multi-state jewel theft ring were sentenced to prison for their crimes.
On December 5, Pedro Garcia, 44, of Los Angeles, California, appeared in Muskingum County Court of Common Pleas for sentencing.
Judge Kelly Cottrill sentenced Garcia to serve 14 years in prison.
Rafael Flores Hernandez, 39, and Reyes Higuera, 51, were sentenced on December 9. Hernandez will serve up to 16½ years in prison. Higuera will serve up to 14 years behind bars.
At earlier hearings, Hernandez, Higuera, and Garcia all pleaded guilty to felony engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and felony aggravated theft.
Hernandez and Higuera are illegal aliens from Mexico and have been deported from the United States multiple times. Garcia is a legal resident from California.
The thieves’ multimillion-dollar crime spree case began in May 2023 in Illinois when they broke into a jewelry store. The bandits smashed jewelry cases and used large plastic totes to haul away the jewelry.
Garcia and the other thieves robbed more jewelry stores between May 2023 and August 2024 in Illinois, Maryland, Kentucky, North Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, and Georgia. Each robbery lasted about two minutes.
Forsythe County, Georgia Sheriff’s Department Detective Caleb Martin was assigned the case, conducting a dogged one-man nationwide manhunt for the crew.
Determined to see the bandits brought to justice, Det. Martin worked tirelessly along with the Jewelers’ Security Alliance, an industry safety association, to track down details of other thefts, watch surveillance videos, and coordinate intelligence from other agencies.
His efforts were rewarded by being appointed to a Federal Bureau of Investigations task force allowing him to continue his investigation of the bandits.
Over the next several months, Martin contacted multiple law enforcement agencies and warned them that the trio was targeting stores in their area, but the thieves remained on the loose until they came to Zanesville.
In July, Martin contacted the Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office about the theft ring. The Sheriff’s Office took immediate action, using advanced technology to track the thieves and monitor their whereabouts.
Over a two-week period, officers from the Sheriff’s Office and Zanesville Police Department began intensive surveillance of their movements, locally and in Columbus.
A tracker was installed on the suspects’ car. Detectives informed the local business, whose franchises had been repeatedly targeted by the trio. Officers began watching the jewelry store, waiting for the thieves to strike.
Finally, around 4:00 a.m. on August 1, the three robbers broke into their target. During this break-in, they were caught in the act. Working with other law enforcement agencies, officers from the Zanesville Police Department and Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office were waiting nearby and moved in to capture the trio of bandits after they had smashed jewelry display cases and loaded more than $170,000 of jewelry into their totes.
The three men are suspects in more than twenty similar jewelry store smash-and-grab thefts in the Southeast and Midwest United States.
In total, Garcia and the crew stole more than $3 million of jewels.
Muskingum County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney John Litle says cooperation between local and out-of-state law enforcement agencies made it possible to help keep the community safe by catching Garcia and the other thieves.
“It was a real pleasure to work on this case and see the ‘all hands on deck’ cooperation between local and out-of-state law enforcement, in order to catch these thieves,” Litle said. “Everyone involved in this case went the extra mile to protect not only our local businesses; but businesses nationwide.”
Litle says the imprisonment of the jewel thieves should send a message to other criminals thinking about coming to Muskingum County.
“Once again, Judge Cottrill’s sentences demonstrate that Muskingum County is not the place to commit crime,” Litle said.
Click here to see the source of the press release.