Two subjects are facing charges for their involvement in a series of smash and grab robberies in the Midwest. On November 12, 2017, a man who identified himself as Demetrius asked a jewelry store associate what time the store closed. The subject then exited the store and entered the passenger side of a BMW X5 with no visible license plate and tinted windows. Police responded to this incident after receiving a suspicious person report.
On that same day, after visiting the jewelry store, Demetrius was observed on surveillance footage purchasing sledgehammers from Home Depot. On November 13, 2017 there was a robbery of a jewelry store in Novi, MI. Minutes before the robbery, a man who identified himself as Demetrius Knight was in the store and on his phone.
Investigators were also able to identify Devon Vince Palazzola-Haney as an individual who sold stolen diamonds to a jeweler in Dearborn Heights, MI. On January 4, 2018, Palazzola entered a jewelry store in North Olmstead, OH. He was on his phone while he was in the store. As soon as Palazzola exited the store, five men entered the store and smashed display cases with hammers. They stole jewelry and then fled from the store.