Four members of a robbery crew investigators say is responsible for a smash-and-grab jewelry heist in San Ramon have been arrested and charged in federal court.
That robbery at Heller Jewelers last March was caught on camera as the suspects made off with more than a million dollars in jewelry.
“They were in and out of the store in roughly one minute time, so it was very quick and very violent action and robbery that took place within a matter of a minute,” said San Ramon Police Department Chief Denton Carlson.
The men made off with $1.1 million dollars in jewelry, including 38 watches -- one of which was a Rolex outfitted with a GPS chip.
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“We started receiving updates that the watch was traveling into the Oakland area and into the San Leandro area. It was traveling around and then it became stationary for a while,” said Carlson.
He said the GPS tracker helped them uncover critical leads. According to the 45-page federal affidavit, investigators served several search warrants. They found evidence that two of the suspects went to a casino to launder the illegal proceeds from the heist.
The affidavit includes photos of one of them showing off cash.
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And in a surprising twist, investigators say they uncovered evidence one of suspects was receiving information about the investigation from a law enforcement insider. One text message he got reads “& for all this info gon cost you.”
Chief Carlson acknowledges the investigation is far from over.
“There are some people, I will be honest, there are some people that are still unidentified that participated in the robbery, but as of now we haven’t been able to identify,” he said.
Shoppers said they are glad police have arrested at least some of folks investigators say are responsible.
“I think that’s great, anything the police can do to stop this and get it to slow down this trend. I think it’s awesome thing,” said shopper Jim Lowe.
