WEST HARTFORD–Six suspects have been indicted in the October 2014 robbery of Lux Bond & Green in West Hartford.
On October 8, 2014, a group of men used mallets to smash the jewelry and watch store’s windows before grabbing whatever merchandise they could. The scheme is known as a smash-and-grab.
Witnesses saw the group drive away in a gray van, which crashed into three cars as it fled. The van was latter found on Ellsworth Road; neighbors saw the suspects ditch the van and then get into two separate cars before driving off.
On February 26 a grand jury returned an indictment charging six individuals with committing the armed robbery. Ernie Thomas Evans, Darrick Adams, Brandon Mayes, Bria Jackson, Shaquita Wyatt and Bria Stanford are all from the Detroit metropolitan area and are in their 20s.
In all, 17 individuals from the Detroit area have been charged in a series of about 40 smash and grab robberies of jewelry stores in at least six states in 2014. Three separate federal indictments have been filed in the last month charging the defendants with conspiracy to interfere with (interstate) commerce by robbery. The states in which the stores were robbed include Connecticut, Michigan, New York, Maryland, North Carolina, Mississippi and Nebraska.
Sheriff Michael Bouchard of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, who also worked on this investigation as a member of the FBI Oakland County Gang and Violent Crime Task Force, stated, “Clearly as evidenced by this case, criminals do not recognize jurisdictional boundaries. Therefore, it is imperative for all agencies to work together to defeat complex criminal activity.
The indictments reveal that the robbery crews planned and executed six robberies; the scheme involved going to jewelry stores that sell Rolex watches and other jewelry while they were open for business; the robbers would then smash the Rolex display cases with sledgehammers and flee with thousands of dollars worth of merchandise. The robbers escaped in waiting, usually stolen vehicles and went back to Michigan with the stolen items.
“These crimes, committed during business hours, are serious because of the danger and trauma they create for the victim customers and sales clerks,” U.S. attorney Barbara McQuade said. “These defendants travelled around the country to commit their crimes in hopes of dividing and conquering witnesses and investigators, but with the collaboration of law enforcement agencies across the country, those schemes have been thwarted.”
The Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company and an industry-wide group of businesses came together to offer a $45,000 reward for information leading to arrests in the cases.
The other individuals indicted in connection to the crime spree include Elijah McKinney, Darius Ellis, Kordaryl Cross, Latrina Williams, Lorenzo Daniel Terry, Anthony Jerome Browner, DaJuan Cortez Marcellus, Brandon Phillip Wilkerson, Marquis Wade Cheatham, Darien Savon Thompson and Britnei Rodgers.
Here are images taken by Fox CT on October 8, 2014:
