Arrest Made in Daring NYC Jewelry Store Heist
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iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — New York investigators have arrested a Harlem man in connection with the armed robbery of a jewelry store in the city’s busy Diamond District that netted more than half a million dollars.
The Nov. 11 heist occurred around 2:30 p.m. as the Veterans Day Parade passed by less than a block away.
The NYPD told ABC News that the man in custody is a store employee who was allegedly the “inside contact” for the robbers. The men pictured in images distributed by police are still being sought.
“They had a great knowledge of the situation,” said Nick Casale, an ABC News consultant and former member of the NYPD, said last week. “They cased this place prior. They came in boldly. They came in comfortably.”
Police said one man posed as a delivery man and was let into the eighth-floor Standard Jewelry Shop. Four workers were inside at the time, including owner Daniel Mikhaylov.
“Suspect No. 1 pulls out a gun and demands the jewelry in the safe to be placed into a bag that he was carrying,” said Deputy Chief William Aubrey. “A fifth employee returned during this time and was struck by suspect No. 1 in the head with a gun.”
Police said the second man involved in the robbery waited outside as a lookout. The worker who was struck in the head — Mikhaylov’s father — was in stable condition.
Mikhaylov told ABC News that 90% of the shop’s inventory — including Rolex watches, some diamonds, and Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry pieces — had been stolen. He said that the pieces were not insured because the shop did “business among friends.”
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