Two suspects charged in 2019 Halloween day robbery after being tracked by JSA

March 26, 2021 - Salt Lake City, UT

Salt Lake City, UT – On March 26, 2021, 29-year-old Jerome Welton McWilliams and 33-year-old Darnel Batts were charged with aggravated robbery. The two men are accused of committing a robbery at a jewelry store in Salt Lake City, UT on October 31, 2019.

In that incident, the suspects expressed interest in purchasing several pieces of jewelry. While McWilliams looked at rings, the charges say he told Batts “go out to the car to get a bag that contained 20 G’s because he was going to buy his girlfriend some rings.”

Upon Batts returning with a duffel bag, McWilliams grabbed the owner who was helping the men and pushed him against a wall. McWilliams then ordered the owner to open all of the display cases so they could take everything. McWilliams removed handgun from his waistband and pointed it at the owner’s face.

The suspects eventually escaped with $70,000 worth of jewelry.

“A week after releasing the pictures, the New York City-based group Jewelers Security Alliance ” a private organization that specializes in jewelry-related crimes and tracks them nationwide ” contacted Salt Lake police to inform them that they “immediately recognized the suspects as being involved in a series of eight different robberies out of California over the past four months,” the affidavit states.” – source

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