Saxon's theft part of national ring

A grab-and-run theft at Saxon’s Fine Jewelers in the Old Mill District in late May is one of 11 heists pulled off by a cross-country crime ring over the last year, authorities announced Wednesday.

Five men have been arrested and charged, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Kerin said investigators are tracking down additional known co-conspirators. The thefts, in Oregon, California, Nevada, Tennessee and Florida, netted nearly $2 million in diamonds.

The stolen jewels are believed to have been sold to a jeweler in Philadelphia.

On Wednesday, Michael Young, 39, of Davenport, Fla., and Ernest Remor, 36, of Spring Hill, Fla., appeared before a federal judge in Portland on a federal indictment on one count of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property and three counts of interstate transportation of stolen property. Both men are being held in federal custody.

Remor is believed to be one of two men involved in the May 20 theft at Saxon’s in Bend, along with Jack Cannon, 25, of Madison, Ga. Cannon and two other co-defendants, Trey Adams, 27, of Charlotte, N.C., and Victor Lupis, 25, of Monroe, N.C., are being held by federal authorities outside of Oregon.

The modus operandi

Kerin said it is not believed that all five men were involved in each of the seven thefts discovered so far. Nearly all the thefts were similar, however.

According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court, each theft began with a member of the group visiting the targeted store, often accompanied by a woman to give the appearance of a couple shopping for wedding rings. The man would often correspond with the store by e-mail or leave the number for a disposable cellphone.

“This initial visit allows the group to case the store, identify a specific employee to target on the day of the theft, and to induce the store to, if necessary, order larger more expensive diamonds to meet their needs,” the complaint reads.

On the day of a theft, members of the group were assigned different jobs to ensure a clean getaway. The man posing as a customer would persuade an employee to allow him to examine diamonds, which he would grab and then run from the store. Outside, a “pinpointer” would communicate with the thief whether he should walk or run to the getaway vehicle, which was a vehicle stolen prior to the theft.

The getaway driver would transport the thief to a safe location, where the conspirators would abandon the stolen vehicle and switch to a “wash vehicle,” a vehicle that is not stolen and was not at the scene of the heist.

A few days after the theft, the stolen diamonds would be delivered to Philadelphia for sale to the jeweler, and the proceeds would be distributed to members of the group.

In the incident at Saxon’s, a man believed to be Cannon visited the store about two weeks before the theft. Cannon asked to speak with an employee who was not working at the time and left a card with his name and phone number, a number police later learned was assigned to a disposable cellphone purchased at the Bend ShopKo. Bend detectives obtained surveillance video from the ShopKo of the man who purchased the phone, who is believed to have been Remor.

On the day of the theft, the man who had entered the store left with a diamond ring and loose diamonds with a retail value of $151,200, climbing into a van waiting outside. The van, stolen one day earlier in Tigard, was abandoned a few blocks away; the getaway driver and the man who had stolen the diamonds were seen running from the van.

‘Very professional’

Saxon’s co-owner Ron Henderson said the thieves did not arouse any suspicions on their visits to the store prior to the theft.

“Not at all. They’re very professional and did their homework, knew what they were talking about,” Henderson said. “That’s probably why they’ve done so well, because they were very organized in their effort.”

Kerin said the Portland Police Bureau deserves credit for unravelling the crime ring following a theft in December 2010 at Margulis Jewelers. An anonymous tip pointed police toward Lupis, who was located in North Carolina and arrested. In an interview with police on May 10, Lupis admitted his involvement in the Portland theft and provided information about who was involved in the theft ring and how it operated.

“It was really great police work, and once they realized it was a national theft organization they brought in FBI,” Kerin said. “Just a great collaboration of law enforcement to really make this case.”

Henderson said Portland police, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service kept him informed of the investigation, and had good things to say about the role of Bend police in connecting the Saxon’s incident to the larger criminal network.

“They told us the Bend Police Department and the detectives did a phenomenal job, they emphasized that more than once,” Henderson said. “We’ve always felt that way, and to hear another law enforcement department comment on that, they said the detectives here were able to provide a number of pieces of information that helped corroborate what had been happening in other areas and helped lead to their eventual arrest.”

Kerin said the investigation is ongoing, and that additional arrests are likely and additional thefts may still be identified.