A man accused of stealing more than $3 million worth of gold and jewelry from a Tampa store was arrested thousands of miles away in California.
Back on April 27 of 2019, the manager of Marcelo’s Fine Jewelry closed his store, locking the doors and activating his alarm. Tampa Police say later that evening, an unknown suspect(s) turned the power off and pried open the front door, cut through a metal door and gained access to a room with four large safes.
The suspect then allegedly used a torch cutting instrument to cut and pry open one safe, stealing gold and jewelry totaling over $3 million. Back on April 27 of 2019, the manager of Marcelo’s Fine Jewelry closed his store, locking the doors and activating his alarm. Tampa Police say later that evening, an unknown suspect(s) turned the power off and pried open the front door, cut through a metal door and gained access to a room with four large safes. The suspect then allegedly used a torch cutting instrument to cut and pry open one safe, stealing gold and jewelry totaling over $3 million.
However, investigators found several used water bottles inside the stores on the counters. Employees said those bottles were not there when the store was closed. Crime scene technicians analyzed one crushed water bottle found at the scene, which they say became critical evidence in the case.
The DNA results on that water bottle came back as a match from a case in Los Angeles from a few months earlier. That case involved a high profile celebrity residential burglary case where jewelry was also stolen.
In the LAPD case, a burglary tool was entered as evidence and DNA was retrieved. The DNA from the burglary tool matched the DNA from the crushed water bottle, but there was no name attached yet… WFTS News