Two New Jersey men were part of a heist gang that smashed into a Hartsdale diamond store three months ago and stole more than $1.7 million in watches and other valuables, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.
Kevin Williams, 26, and Byron Wilson, 24, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judith McCarthy in federal court in White Plains on Tuesday, March 25, following their arrests for Hobbs Act robbery and conspiracy. She ordered that they be kept without bond. They could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
The daring heist took place on December 16 at 11:07 a.m. at Tarrytown Jewelers in the Westchester Square mall on North Central Avenue.
According to a criminal complaint filed by Greenburgh police Det. Daniel O’Malley, a member of the FBI’s Westchester Safe Streets Task Force, four men exited a stolen Jeep Grand Cherokee, broke the front window with sledgehammers, and then broke display cases to steal more than 70 Rolex watches, diamond rings, necklaces, and earrings before returning to the car and driving away.
A female bystander cowered behind one of the robbers as he destroyed a display case, according to a photo included with the lawsuit.
By 11:24 a.m., the Jeep had crossed the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge. Law authorities used surveillance cameras and license plate readers to track the car down to Wilson and Williams’ house in Irvington, New Jersey.
According to the complaint, an investigation discovered that Wilson’s and Williams’ cell phones were in the vicinity of Tarrytown Jewelers on the morning of the crime and later met at a home in Newark, where cell phone images showed the two men flaunting bundles of cash.
In the meantime, Williams’ phone was in the Diamond District in midtown Manhattan; however, the complaint does not specify if he was accused of fencing the stolen jewelry there.
According to the lawsuit, both phones were also present during robberies at jewelry stores in Nassau County last summer and fall. Wilson is facing grand larceny and burglary charges in connection with a burglary at a jewelry store in Woodbury, New York, in August, according to the Nassau District Attorney. Court records indicate that he was apprehended three days after the Hartsdale robbery.