Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Westerville Robbers Retrieved

NBC 4: Six suspects were arrested in New Jersey Tuesday and $1 million in jewels were recovered after an alleged aggravated robbery last Friday night. The six New Jersey arrests and the connection to an alleged smash-and-grab robbery were confirmed by Westerville police close to 1:10 p.m. Tuesday.

Westerville detectives, working with numerous law enforcement agencies, arrested the six in a hotel in Wayne, N.J., Monday morning. One million in jewels also were recovered in the same hotel, including rubies, opals, diamonds and gold.

The arrests were a result of a combined effort of Westerville detectives, FBI, LAPD, NYPD, Wayne Twp. police and the Passaic County sheriff’s department. All of the suspects were being detained in the Passaic County Jail, in New Jersey, pending identification and a court appearance.

An Indiana jeweler was looking for Easton Towne Center Friday, April 3, after he left a gem show at the Ohio Exhibition Center, according to Westerville police. The jeweler ended up in the Fazoli’s parking lot at 807 S. State St., Westerville and sent his wife and daughter inside while he attempted to figure out his GPS.

A silver Chrysler 300 pulled into the parking lot and blocked in the jeweler’s vehicle, police said. At least three men smashed out the windows of his SUV and grabbed two cases of jewelry from inside.

The jeweler, a licensed handgun carrier, fired a weapon and struck the passenger side of the vehicle. Police arrived at the scene and began searching for the suspects. Less than three hours after the incident, police found the suspected vehicle in Westerville. Detectives identified one suspect as 22-year-old Julio Angel Casiano Ruiz, of California.

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