SAN JOSE — 6 young men have been arrested in link to a string of smash-and-grab jewelry shop robberies in San Jose previous slide and are suspected of very similar crimes elsewhere in the Bay Spot and Northern California, police introduced Monday early morning.
Robbery detectives with the San Jose Police Division, doing work with other legislation-enforcement companies in the location, recognized six gentlemen in between the ages of 18 and 20 they contend dedicated numerous robberies of jewellery merchants in between Oct and January, police explained.
The team “used sledgehammers and tools to crack open glass show circumstances and take hundreds of dollars’ really worth of jewellery,” according to investigators. In some cases, they allegedly carried guns and pepper spray, and immediately after the thefts ran to waiting around vehicles to flee, police explained.
Final Thursday, San Jose and Daly City law enforcement served arrest and lookup warrants in the case.
Five of the guys have been charged with felonies by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office: Michael Earle, 18, whose stated residences are Menlo Park and Oakland Charles Evans, 19, of San Leandro Andrew Maravilla Lopez, 20, of Hayward Maurice Sweet, 19, of Pittsburg and Noah Tekle, 19, of San Leandro.
Earle, Maravilla Lopez and Tekle are getting held devoid of bail in the Elmwood men’s jail, according to jail data. Evans and Sweet are being held at the exact facility in lieu of respective bail amounts of $200,000 and $100,000. A sixth particular person arrested, a 20-12 months-old Newark resident, has not been billed.
San Jose police and the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said the group has been tied to large-profile smash-and-get jewelry keep robberies together with ones documented Oct. 29 at Eastridge Shopping mall and Jan. 3 at the La Placita Tropicana buying middle on Tale Road.
In the Jan. 3 instance — which was captured on security movie — authorities say a group utilised yellow and black hammers to break show situations, and that a single of the suspects strike a woman worker on the head with one of the hammers.
Prosecutors also say the team tried using unsuccessfully to steal jewellery Nov. 5 from a keep in Valley Reasonable in which they claimed couldn’t break via safety glass, and they fled right after security guards chased them.
All of the thefts transpired in the midst of a spate of group-oriented retail burglaries and robberies across the area.
“These coordinated crimes terrified people into considering there was no law, no get,” District Legal professional Jeff Rosen reported in a assertion. “Make no oversight: there are equally. Police and prosecutors all in excess of the Bay Region are functioning with each other to arrest and prosecute the persons accountable for these robberies.”
The look for warrants led to the seizure of multiple guns including what law enforcement explained as two assault weapons with prolonged publications, 1 of which was modified for automated fire. They also noted confiscating molds and applications they believe that was utilized to assemble, create or modify firearms. The gun recoveries led to two other folks, not linked to the robberies, becoming arrested for unrelated weapons crimes.
Other law enforcement organizations involved in the circumstance included departments in Antioch, Concord, Merced, Palo Alto, Pittsburg, San Mateo and Roseville, as perfectly as the U.S. Marshals Company.
Anybody with facts about the robberies can speak to SJPD Theft Detective Amanda Estantino at 408-277-4166 or depart a suggestion with Silicon Valley Criminal offense Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at svcrimestoppers.org.