A similar robbery in December spanned Bethlehem and South Whitehall Township.
Four Lehigh Valley men trailed two Connecticut jewelry store employees for a month before kidnapping them and using them to steal more than $4 million in watches, jewelry and loose diamonds, according to authorities and court records.
The suspects, who authorities say used pillow cases and duct tape to bind the employees, face federal kidnapping, robbery and firearms charges.
Authorities would not comment on the local crime
except to say the investigation into the four charged is ongoing.
Timothy Forbes, 31, William Davis, 25, and Jeffrey Houston,
26, all of Allentown, and Kasam Hennix, 39, of Easton, are in custody
for the April 11 robbery in Connecticut, federal officials there announced
today.
The four and Christopher Gay, 27, of Bronx, N.Y., broke in about 9 p.m.
to an apartment in Meriden, Conn., wearing masks and gloves, authorities said
in a news release. Two were armed with hand guns, according to the release.
The apartment was owned by a parent company of several Connecticut jewelry stores, according to court records. The assailants bound the four occupants with duct tape and covered their heads with pillowcases, towels and jackets, an FBI affidavit says.
Two of the victims were employees of Lenox Jewelers in Fairfield, Conn. While inside the home, two suspects told one of the victims they had been following the employees for a month, according to records.
Three of the men then forced the employees into one of the victims' cars and drove to Lenox, according to records.
At the jewelry store, the employees were directed to unlock the store, deactivate the alarm system and allow the men access to the vault, according to records.
The men stole numerous Rolex watches, jewelry and an undetermined amount of loose diamonds, valued in all at between $4 million and $5 million, according to court records. They then drove from the store, leaving the two employees behind and bound.
Tracking the suspects
A neighbor of the apartment told police he saw two men at the apartment about a week prior and took down information from a license plate registered to New Jersey-based Ride Share Systems, records say.
The car was rented through Dollar Rent a Car in Allentown, authorities said. One of two cellphone numbers left for contact information was found to have made calls to Forbes' phone.
Before the crime, the men were near Lenox, Harstans Jewelers and the apartment, authorities said, citing cellphone records.
On April 4, cellphone records suggest Forbes, Gay and Houston traveled between Lenox, Harstans and the apartment in a "dry run" of the robbery, authorities said.
Cellphone records also put Davis and Houston at Lenox during the time of the robbery and Gay near or at the apartment, authorities said.
Forbes has been in held in Pennsylvania since his arrest on unrelated charges earlier this month. Davis, Houston, Gay and Hennix were arrested Wednesday.
Police seized jewelry, high-end watches and about $60,000 from Davis' home, as well as more jewelry, watches and about $50,000 from Gay's Bronx hotel room, authorities said.
All four are charged with kidnapping, Hobbs Act robbery and use of a firearm in relation to a violent crime. The first two charges each carry up to 20 years in prison upon conviction.
Local
police involved
In the local robbery, three armed men showed up Dec. 29 at the home of a
Bixler's Jewelers store employee on Kenny Drive in Bethlehem, police said.
They took him to the store at 3900 Hamilton Blvd. in South Whitehall Township, forced him to open the safe and took Rolex watches and other jewelry.
Thomas Carson, a U.S. Department of Justice spokesman in Connecticut, declined to link the two crimes.
"The investigation is ongoing," he said. "That's all I can say."
Patty Hartman, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Justice in eastern Pennsylvania, said the documents in the Connecticut case speak for themselves.
Police in Bethlehem and South Whitehall Township did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Authorities thanked Allentown and Bethlehem police and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for assistance.
Lehigh Valley Editor Rudy Miller contributed to this report.