Customers Robbed of $40,000 in Waffle House Jewelry Heist
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iStock/Thinkstock(ATLANTA) — In a brazen stick-up job, two men allegedly pulled off a daring robbery that netted $40,000 in jewelry in, of all places, a Waffle House in Atlanta.
Three men from Philadelphia were eating breakfast just before 6:30 a.m. at the 24-hour restaurant when they were approached by a duo carrying semi-automatic handguns, police said.
One suspect approached diner Raheem Jefferson and, pushing the muzzle of the gun into the man’s ribs, said: “Don’t move or say anything. I’ll shoot you right here. … Give me your watch and gold chain,” according to police.
The Atlanta robbery is the latest in a string of similar holdups at Waffle House restaurants throughout the South in recent weeks. Police said they didn’t know whether they were connected.
The suspects in Atlanta allegedly took a Rolex Submariner watch valued at $12,000 and an iPhone valued at $500 from Jefferson.
They then allegedly shook down the other diners at the table, Vincent “Cash Out” Robinson and Derrick Johnson.
Robinson was relieved of a gold chain and a diamond-encrusted medallion valued at $6,000 and a Rolex “covered in diamonds,” according to police, valued at $20,000.
Johnson was merely relieved of his $500 iPhone.
The suspects fled the restaurant on foot, according to Atlanta Police Department spokeswoman Kim Jones.
Police are waiting to obtain and analyze video taken by closed-circuit cameras from inside the restaurant, Jones said. Police have not named a suspect and are hoping the video will give them their first workable leads.
Last week a man carrying a semiautomatic weapon allegedly robbed an Orange County, Fla., Waffle House, making off with $300 from the register, according to police. He has not yet been apprehended but is believed to have hit more than three other restaurants in the area.
In July, off-duty police officers apprehended a man dining at a Waffle House in Atlanta after he allegedly tried to hold up the cashier.
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