McLean Robbery Linked to $4.6M Jewelry Ring

Seven people were charged Tuesday for their alleged involvement in a multi-state jewelry ring that stole millions of dollars from traveling salesman in violent and carefully planned encounters, including one MK Gallery Jewelry Store in McLean and at the Vienna/Tysons Hilton Inn.

The Washington Post reported that the final robbery reported locally occurred in November 2011 outside of the McLean’s MK Gallery store on Curran Street in downtown, where robbers took $250,000 in jewels and $4,500 in cash from a salesman, according to court records.

Authorities believe the ring, which court documents link to 17 total robberies in Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and North Carolina over the past several years, also has ties to South American jewelry theft groups, said Neil MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Members of the ring face charges ranging from conspiracy to commit money laundering to conspiracy to obstruct, delay and affect commerce by robbery, which carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted, according to court documents. 

The group, described in court documents as largely Colombian nationals, planned out elaborate attacks with surveillance, weapons and getaway cars to target traveling salesmen, who often carry briefcases filled with up to $500,000 worth of jewelry, gems and precious metals at a time.

After each robbery, members of the ring allegedly traveled to New York to sell the stolen goods to businessmen, who resold it or melted it down, the documents said.

In a statement, MacBride said members of the ring, many of them based in or around Richmond, would conduct surveillance on jewelry stores, identify vulnerable employees and follow them to their homes. The attacks that followed were often violent, documents say: After being robbed of $400,000 worth of jewelry in March 2010, one salesman in Henrico County, Va needed 20 staples to close wounds to his head and another 10 to close cuts on his hands.

"In most of the alleged robberies, several men would suddenly appear as the victims approached or entered their car, punch out the car’s windows, threaten the victims at knife-point, and steal the victims’ merchandise.  In addition, the thieves would puncture the victims’ car tires and steal their cell phone to reduce the chance of pursuit or apprehension," MacBride said. “This group did their homework. We allege they were dangerous, patient, extremely mobile and struck swiftly."

Authorities identified the leader of the ring as Alexander Cuadros-Garcia, 37, of the Richmond area.

The Vienna/Tysons Hilton Garden Inn, located on Boone Boulevard off of Old Courthouse Road, was the first in the area to be targeted by members of the ring.

According to court documents, two traveling jewelry salesmen were returning to the hotel around 8:15 p.m. one night in August 2010. The salesmen said they made “cold calls” to the Direct Jewelers Outlet located at 101 E. Broad Street in Falls Church and May Jewelers located at Tysons before heading to dinner. When they returned,  they saw two men — wearing all dark clothing and what looked like a white mask or bandanna — get out of a dark SUV and approach them.

One salesman, already out of the car, realized something was wrong and ran toward the parking garage yelling for help. When he got to the garage, he threw the black computer bag on his shoulder — containing $15,000 worth of jewelry — under a car, according to the document. It was not stolen. The thieves did make off with $300,000 of jewelry carried by the second salesman. One of the victims told authorities they may have been followed from one of their jewelry store visits earlier in the day, but never saw vehicles following them.