Easton Man Charged in $4 Million Connecticut Jewel Heist

An Easton man is one of five people accused of kidnapping two people in Connecticut last month and getting them to help them steal millions in goods from a nearby jewelry store.

Kasam Hennix, 39, along with three Allentown men and one man from the Bronx, were all charged by federal authorities Thursday, according to the U.S. Attorney and Fairfield Patch.

The two victims were employees of Lenox Jewelry in Fairfield, and were living in a company apartment in the town of Meriden.

Prosecutors say the men—Hennix;Timothy Forbes, 31, William Davis, 25, and Jeffrey Houston, 26, of Allentown, and Christopher Gay, 27, of the Bronx—forced the workers to drive them to the store.

The men repeatedly spoke to the victims, one of them mentioning “they had been following the victims for months,” the documents said.

They made off with jewelry, watches and loose diamonds valued between $4 and $5 million, after which they fled in a BMW, leaving the victims bound inside. 

The jewelry store workers were then able to untie themselves and call 911. 

A number of state and local officials were able to track down the suspects using phone records that pinpointed calls in and around the incident. 

Forbes was later tied to the case after being arrested in Pennsylvania on burglary charges, while the other four men were taken into custody on Wednesday. Officials allegedly found jewelry, high-end watches and roughly $60,000 in cash in Davis’ apartment, while police also allegedly discovered more jewelry, watches and $50,000 in cash in Gay’s Bronx hotel room. 

All five men face federal kidnapping, robbery and firearms offenses, which are punishable to up to 20 years in prison. They all remain in federal custody.