Posts in category: Smash and Grab

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — A Florida man is facing felony charges after a violent jewelry store robbery at University Square Mall led to a multi-agency pursuit that ended in Pinellas County.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said authorities arrested Mahlique Booth, 28, on June 26 after he allegedly posed as a customer at a jewelry store before attempting to steal a necklace. Investigators say the situation turned violent when the store owner confronted him.

During the struggle, Booth is accused of assaulting the owner, shattering a display case and fleeing with about $50,000 worth of jewelry, according to the sheriff’s office.

Deputies tracked the suspect vehicle with help from HCSO’s Aviation Unit, following it into St. Petersburg as the pursuit intensified.

Aerial video captures the urgency of the chase as deputies worked to contain the suspect. As the pursuit moved into a neighborhood, deputies warned each other to prepare for a possible stop.

Cul-de-sac at the end of Murphy. Get ready.”
Moments later, the situation escalated as the driver maneuvered unpredictably.

“He’s trying to come towards you. Watch out,” an HCSO deputy said. The chase ultimately came to a halt at a dead end. “Dead end of Murphy Avenue at the cul-de-sac,” the deputy said as authorities closed in on Booth.

Booth was taken into custody without further incident in St. Petersburg, according to HCSO. He is charged with robbery and criminal mischief.

Article provided by CBS 12 News, click HERE to view.

Wayne, NJ – Two Paterson men who Wayne police said were among a group of armed robbers who smashed display cases and fled with an undisclosed amount of merchandise from Massola Jewelers three days ago are in custody, Detective Capt. Dan Daly confirmed.

Ex-con Terrance D. Drakeford, 33, and one of his fellow robbers, Wyzier Peterson, 28, were involved in a crash while being pursued by a police officer in Haledon moments after the 7:25 p.m. smash-and-grab robbery on Tuesday (June 16th), Daly told The DeMarco Report.

Drakeford was injured and tried to run after their Chevy Malibu crashed on West Broadway, the captain said this morning (Friday).

He was quickly captured by Haledon and Paterson police, Daly said.

Paterson police arrested Peterson near his home yesterday, the captain said.

Both men are both charged with a trio of first-degree counts — two for robbery and one for conspiracy — as well as weapons offenses, burglary, theft, criminal mischief, receiving a stolen vehicle and possession of burglary tools.

Meanwhile, the search for as many as three other robbers continued.

Drakeford — a former outreach worker for the Paterson Healing Collective anti-violence group — got five years in federal prison after he was arrested and later pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy and distribution charges in the city’s notorious 4th Ward.

He remained in federal custody from then until his release three months ago, federal corrections records show.

Paterson police arrested Drakeford for simple assault just two weeks ago, but he was immediately released under New Jersey’s bail reform law, The DeMarco Report has learned.

It was one of a number of local police arrests of Drakeford over the past decade or so on charges that have included illegal drug possession, obstruction, resisting arrest and receiving stolen property.

Records show Peterson was arrested for aggravated assault in Monroe Township (Middlesex County) in 2015 and on drug-related counts in Paterson between early 2019 and this past May.

Family-owned Massola Jewelers has sold, repaired and customized jewelry in Wayne for more than four decades.

Store owner George Massola said five robbers smashed their way in through the front door of his business and swarmed through the showroom, smashing display cases and grabbing whatever they could.

A witness on the street apparently got photos of the robbers and a stolen Hyundai Tucson that police said they used in addition to the Malibu.

The Tucson sped east on Preakness Avenue and out of sight, investigators said. A Haledon officer stopped the Malibu on West Broadway, Daly said. He noticed that Drakeford was bleeding and Paterson tried to hide his face with his arm, the captain said.

“Within moments the Malibu fled the stop,” Daly said. The Haledon officer found it crashed and abandoned a few blocks away, he said. Inside it were sledgehammers, jewelry, gloves and broken glass, the captain said. The stolen Tucson was found parked and unoccupied a few blocks away, he said. Drakeford (mugshot left) and Peterson (right) remain held in Bergen County’s jail, The duo — both of whom are listed as U.S.-born American citizens — aren’t expected to be released anytime soon given the gravity of the crimes.

Article provided by Jerry DeMarco @ Tapinto.net, click HERE to view article.

Petaluma, CA (KRON) — An investigation is underway after a masked man wielding a hammer walked into a Petaluma jewelry store last Monday, shattered the glass display and fled with an unknown amount of jewelry, according to police. No injuries were reported to employees.

The Petaluma Police Department said officers responded to Joyeria Angelica, located at 610 E. Washington Street, just after 1 p.m. on June 15 for a report of a robbery.

“The suspect did not say anything, and no weapon was mentioned or seen other than the hammer,” said Petaluma police in a news release.

The suspect is described by police as a man with a thin build, wearing a brown baseball hat, black sunglasses, black facing covering, blue surgical gloves, blue jeans, and white tennis shoes. At the time of the incident, police said he was wearing a sweatshirt with “G.O.A.T. in the font of red, blue, yellow, and white.”

Article provided by KRON4 News, click HERE to view.

If you have any information regarding this incident or information on this criminal, please contact the Jewelers’ Security Alliance at jsa2@jewelerssecurity.org or 212-687-0328.

WEST COVINA, CA – Suspects donned in black hoodies, masks and gloves escaped with an undisclosed amount of jewelry from a store at Plaza West Covina June 14. 

A call initially came in of possible shots fired at Don Roberto Jewelers, 1556 Plaza Dr., around 5:03 p.m. A caller even reported seeing a weapon, but once officers arrived, they quickly learned a smash and grab robbery occurred, according to Sgt. Rick Hawkins of the West Covina Police Department.

Hammers were used to smash through up to  six display cases.

Initially, three suspects entered. Two more suspects followed suit. The five suspects fled into a black vehicle that was driven at high speed west on the I-10 freeway.

The type of vehicle used for escape was not immediately known.

No one was injured during the robbery.

Article provided by SCVcitywatch.com, click HERE to view.

If you have any information regarding this incident or information on these criminals, please contact the Jewelers’ Security Alliance at jsa2@jewelerssecurity.org or 212-687-0328.

Concord, CA– On May 13, 2026, a Jewelry store at the Sun Valley shopping center experienced a smash & grab theft incident. Upon approaching the kiosk, two of the four hooded and masked suspects began smashing into the two showcases before starting to select and conceal various jewelry items into bags. The other two suspects also began selecting and concealing items into the bags they were carrying. Within 1 minute, the suspects fled the scene where they entered an awaiting vehicle containing a 5th Suspect/Getaway driver. It should be noted there have been additional smash and grab incidents in the Northern California area.

Suspect(s) Description:

Suspect #1 – Wearing all grey hooded sweatsuit, black tennis shoes, black mask, black gloves and carrying black backpack

Suspect #2 – Light skinned, possibly white or Hispanic male, thin build. Wearing black hooded sweatsuit with white shirt hanging out of back, black shoes, black mask. Carrying light colored backpack

Suspect #3 – Light skinned, possibly white or Hispanic, thin build. Wearing all black hooded sweatsuit with white shirt hanging out from behind, black mask, black gloves

Suspect #4 – Seemingly smallest in stature of group, wearing all black hooded sweatsuit, black mask, black gloves, black tennis shoes

Suspect #5/Getaway Driver – Unknown

If you have any information regarding this incident or information on these criminals, please contact the Jewelers’ Security Alliance at jsa2@jewelerssecurity.org or 212-687-0328.

Austin, TX– Video captured a group of alleged thieves fleeing a Texas outlet following a jewelry heist that one expert called “mob-style.” Click HERE to view video and related article provided by Fox News.

On Tuesday at around 12:47 p.m., officers responded to a report of a robbery in progress at Marc Robinson Jewelers at the Round Rock Premium Outlets, an outdoor shopping mall near Austin, police said.

Store employees told police that a group of suspects entered the jewelry store wielding hammers and began breaking glass display cases and stealing jewelry.

Employees told police that the group of thieves used pepper spray on an employee and a bystander before fleeing with a “large amount of stolen jewelry.”

Video obtained by FOX 7 captured the group fleeing the store in the aftermath of the attack.

All suspects were seen wearing masks and gloves as they fled the scene.

Police located the vehicle, a blue Hyundai Sonata, the suspects were described as fleeing in, at a nearby apartment complex.

The vehicle, police said, was stolen out of the Humble, Texas, area. The recovered vehicle was taken for processing, and the case remains active.

International Crime Free Association Executive Director Timothy Zehring told FOX 7 that this was “mob-style execution.”

“The modus operandi that the FBI and the Jewelers Security Alliance talk about, first, is the mob-style execution of these crimes. You’re generally looking at between 10 and 30 masked suspects that charge into the store, sometimes with weapons, but there are massive losses in under 60 seconds,” he said. “The price of gold has skyrocketed lately and so these crimes are very lucrative.”

Zehring said these crimes are preventable by implementing a layered security approach.

“Bollards are a great way to prevent people from smashing in. The next thing is shatter-resistant glass and film that you can put over glass even if you don’t replace the glass. Think of window tinting on your car. If they put this film on the glass, even if the glass breaks, it holds intact so they can’t get in,” Zehring said.

If you have any information regarding this incident or information on these criminals, please contact the Jewelers’ Security Alliance at jsa2@jewelerssecurity.org or 212-687-0328.

Perth Amboy, New Jersey– Police are searching for the brazen suspects who robbed a jewelry store in Perth Amboy, New Jersey on Wednesday.

NewsCopter 7 was over the scene on Madison Avenue, where authorities say the wild incident played out.

Robbers had just smashed the front window of a jewelry store and were on their way out with garbage bags full of jewelry in hand.

Screams can be heard from the mother and daughter who own the store in video obtained by Eyewitness News.

Jessie Sanchez is a close friend who owns a salon across the street.

As the robbers tried to make it into their getaway car, there was one thing they did not account for; they weren’t getting away without a fight.

“She fought with them like a man,” Sanchez said. “She’s a brave woman. Stephanie is a brave woman, but I feel so sad for her mother. Her mother fell away. She fell. It was too much.”

The two fearless women tried to pull the robbers out of the getaway BMW as they hit reverse, sideswiping a parked car. The mother and daughter kept hanging on even as the robbers peeled off, leaving the mother on the ground.

Other business owners tried to do whatever they could to help. Someone even kicked the moving vehicle.

“One of my workers, she got out from here and then she tried to stop the car and then I was behind her trying to grab her but there is a point that you get so nervous, you get so frustrated that you turn back you know. Because you don’t know if those people have guns,” Sanchez said.

The robbers were as bold as they come. Not only did they hit SD Jewelry on Madison Avenue in broad daylight, but they did it right under the cops’ noses. There is a police substation right across the street.

Detectives began their investigation into the afternoon smash and grab that targeted a family run business, leaving a whole neighborhood rattled.

A mother and daughter put their lives on the line trying to protect their livelihood.

Officials say officers pursued the vehicle out of town, but multiple suspects remain on the loose.

They say no weapons were pulled out, and no one was injured. It’s unclear what the suspects got away with.

Article provided by ABC News 7 via AOL.com, click HERE to view article and video news feed

If you have any information regarding this incident or information on these criminals, please contact the Jewelers’ Security Alliance at jsa2@jewelerssecurity.org or 212-687-0328.

Tigard, OR– “There were initial rumors that the noise was gunfire but that IS NOT the case,” Tigard police said on X. “No shots were ever fired and no one was hurt.”

The two suspects fled the scene in a dark-colored sedan, according to Tigard police, who said in an email to KGW that the car headed north. Detectives are working to identify the robbers.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office told KGW that deputies were asked to assist Tigard police and that one deputy spotted the suspect vehicle on Highway 217 North and initiated a pursuit. The chase moved into downtown Portland, where Portland police assisted, and continued onto Interstate 5 North.

“The suspect vehicle crossed into Washington State at which point we terminated the pursuit,” the Washington County Sheriff’s Office told KGW. The sheriff’s office said it had no information on whether Washington State law enforcement located the suspects.

Tigard Police Department told KGW they were not aware of any arrests as of Saturday evening.

To view the article provided by KGW8 News, authored by Sabinna Pierre, click HERE.

If you have any information regarding this incident or information on these criminals, please contact the Jewelers’ Security Alliance at jsa2@jewelerssecurity.org or 212-687-0328.

Ryan Kentrell Montgomery, 37, has been handed a two-year federal prison sentence for his role in the St. Patrick’s Day 2023 smash-and-grab at Heller Jewelers in San Ramon, a takeover-style robbery that netted about $1.1 million in Rolex watches and other high-end pieces. Court filings and local coverage say the sentence caps a multi-year federal investigation that leaned heavily on digital breadcrumbs and physical evidence to tie suspects to the daylight heist.

How investigators tracked the crew
According to investigators, a stolen Rolex outfitted with a hidden GPS chip quietly did much of the early heavy lifting. The tracker allegedly let law enforcement follow suspects’ movements and connect a specific vehicle to the Heller Jewelers robbery. Phone and iCloud records then helped map out what prosecutors describe as coordinated movements on and around March 17, 2023. Those details surfaced in coverage from National Jeweler and earlier reporting in Rolex GPS chip cracks $1.1M heist.

Arrests, pleas and earlier sentences
Four of the five defendants eventually pleaded guilty and were sentenced in 2024 to prison terms that ran from roughly three to three and a half years, even as investigators kept pulling on threads to understand the broader network behind the daytime takeover. Local reporting notes that the group was rounded up after an August 2023 series of arrests and a related Oakland raid that turned up weapons and other evidence tying the crew to the crime. As reported by Danville San Ramon.

Montgomery’s sentence and prosecutors’ view
Federal prosecutors told the court that Montgomery’s own phone records put him at or near Heller Jewelers during the robbery and that additional digital evidence linked him to other members of the crew. A federal judge in Oakland imposed a two-year term today, following arguments that laid out how the data trails allegedly connected Montgomery to the $1.1 million hit. The Mercury News detailed the hearing, prosecutors’ position and the judge’s decision. As reported by The Mercury News.

A wider Bay Area trend
The Heller case is part of a broader wave of coordinated smash-and-grab attacks that has hammered jewelers across the Bay Area in recent years. Heller Jewelers was hit again in September 2025, and a separate June 18, 2025 smash-and-grab at Kumar Jewelers in Fremont left that store with an estimated $1.7 million loss, underlining how organized crews have zeroed in on high-end display cases across multiple cities. See reporting in the Los Angeles Times and NBC Bay Area for the 2025 incidents.

Restitution and next steps
Court records show that the earlier defendants were ordered to pay restitution to Heller Jewelers and will remain under supervised release once they finish their prison terms. Prosecutors have said the investigation required coordination among federal and local agencies and could still lead to additional charges as remaining leads are worked. Those requirements and potential next steps are outlined in court filings and sentencing notices reviewed by local outlets. As reported by Danville San Ramon.

Content of article sourced from Hoodline- San Francisco.

Honolulu, HI– police are searching for a suspect after a robbery at a jewelry store in Kakaako on Wednesday afternoon.

The Honolulu Police Department said the incident happened around 12:35 p.m. at 1181 Kapiolani Blvd., where a man entered the store and threatened employees before smashing display cases and taking jewelry.

Police said the employees were not injured.

The suspect fled the scene before officers arrived, and no arrests have been made.

Witnesses described the suspect as a white man about 6 feet 6 inches tall and 250 pounds, with a slim build, wearing a white shirt and pants, a black beanie and a surgical mask.

If you have any information regarding this incident or information on this criminal, please contact the Jewelers’ Security Alliance at jsa2@jewelerssecurity.org or 212-687-0328.