6 Plead Guilty In Connection With $3.7M Jewelry Robbery

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Six Los Angeles men accused in the multi-million dollar robbery of a jewelry merchant pleaded guilty in United States District Court Thursday.

NBC 4 reported with the FAST FACTS.

All of the following was taken from an official release from the United States Attorney’s Office.

Each of the following suspects pleaded guilty one count of conspiracy to interfere with interstate commerce (Hobbs Act), which is punishable by as much as 20 years imprisonment.

The following men entered guilty pleas:
- Donald Jose Bonilla-Canales, 34, a.k.a. Carlos Alvarez-Guttierrez
- Yhariel Allesandro Roverando-Mondragon, 37, a.k.a. Jose Ray Amaya
- Oscar Ferero, 27, a.k.a. Oscar Alex Foredo
- 35-year-old Bernardo Sanchez-Perez
- Fernando Patino Cruz, 23, a.k.a. Julio Angel Casiano-Ruiz, aka Giovanni Rodriguez
- Kevin Ismael Miranda, 29, a.k.a. Jefferson Pinzon.

William E. Hunt, acting United States attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Keith L. Bennett, FBI Special Agent in Charge and Westerville Police Chief Joseph Morbitzer announced the pleas entered before U.S. District Judge Gregory L. Frost.

A vendor who had been attending a jewelry show at the Ohio State Fairgrounds April 3, 2009, stopped at a Westerville restaurant.

While he was sitting in the car, a vehicle pulled behind him and boxed him in.

A masked suspect shattered the victim’s driver-side window, and two other suspects broke the back window of the vehicle.

Two suspects reached into the back seat and grabbed two black suitcases containing the victim’s jewelry.

Three days later, Westerville police detectives, with the assistance of FBI agents and Passaic County sheriff’s deputies, arrested six men at a hotel in Wayne, N.J., and recovered the jewelry with an appraised value of $3,723,184.

The six suspects have been in custody since their arrests.

Frost was to set a date for sentencing.

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