Their modus operandi was smash and grab — an organized crew of diamond bandits who terrorized jewelers across the country, the FBI says.
They pulled off more than 30 heists in 11 states, records show, though the FBI eventually caught up with the main culprits — all from Detroit — with some help from social media.
The feds found an Instagram account with a peculiar handle, “doitfor_diamond,” which one suspect says was named after his deceased sister Diamond. But the feds say multiple smash-and-grab members also used this Instagram account — and it helped them connect the dots.
In a criminal complained filed in U.S. District Court this week, the FBI detailed how a local group coordinated a string of robberies that targeted Jared jewelry stores in Michigan, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina and New Hampshire.
According to the FBI, the robbers used sledgehammers to bust the glass display cases, then made off with diamonds and other jewelry by the bag-load. Typically, the FBI says, two groups would drive to the robbery location from Detroit in two separate vehicles: one in a “clean” car that was either properly registered or lawfully rented, and one in a “burner,” or stolen, vehicle that could be immediately ditched after the robberies.
After abandoning the stolen car, the crew would travel back to Detroit in the clean vehicle.
It was a lucrative scheme, records show. The feds seized more than $1.5 million in diamonds during their investigation, though the probe is ongoing.
To date, 10 Detroit men have been charged in the scheme, including three new suspects: Antonio Jones, Deshawn Bates and Chance Reed.
In an affidavit filed in federal court, an FBI agent explained what led the agency to these Detroit suspects. According to the filing:
On June 18, 2019, three Detroit men were arrested while attempting a smash and grab robbery at a Jared’s Jewelry store in Collierville, Tenn. A local detective had noticed suspicious activity at the shop and arrested the three suspects while the robbery was in process.
According to court records, the detective had seen a car backing in and out of parking spots at a lot adjacent to the jewelry store, got suspicious and continued to watch the vehicle.
As a mall security vehicle drove by, the detective noticed the same car move to another spot, and eventually pull into the parking lot of Jared’s. It then backed into a spot outside the front door of the jewelry store.
A man got out and sprinted into Jared’s while a driver stayed inside. The license plate was covered by a gray shirt.
The detective called for backup.
When officers arrived, the driver waiting in front of the store was arrested.
Meanwhile, inside the jewelry store, a caper was underway. Employees were on the ground as two suspects ran out another door.
But extra police officers lay in waiting and arrested them.
The suspects were later identified as Deshawn Bates and Antonio Jones, both of Detroit, who allegedly terrorized those inside the store.
According to the police report, witnesses inside the store said that Bates and Jones had demanded everyone get to the back of the store and onto the floor. They then stole two iPhones from two employees and ordered them to open the display cases containing loose diamonds and rings.
The suspects yelled “two minutes” and “hurry” as they removed diamonds from the display cases and stuffed them into bags, court records show. And when they observed the cops outside, the suspects forced a store employee to open a side emergency door so they could escape.
Their plan was foiled as police were waiting outside and arrested them — and they had ditched their bags of jewels. Police found one bag of diamonds behind the counter. The gems were worth about $181,400.
A second bag filled with $131,600 worth of diamonds was located behind an adjacent building, near where Bates and Jones had fled. Near the diamonds were a set of gloves that police said matched the gloves observed on the suspects during the robbery.
Following their arrests, each suspect was read his Miranda rights and reportedly provided a statement to police where they allegedly confessed to driving to Tennessee from Detroit to steal diamonds and sell them for money, according to the FBI affidavit.
Specifically, according to records, Reed advised the police that he would sell the diamonds when he returned to Detroit.
Jones, Bates and Reed are currently jailed pending trial on state charges in Tennessee. They also now face federal conspiracy charges in Michigan, where seven of their alleged accomplices have already been indicted for their alleged roles in the smash-and-grab operation. Out of the 10 suspects charged so far, one pleaded guilty to his role in November and was sentenced to just over five years in prison. Another defendant, Tristan Murphy, is scheduled to plead guilty to his role in the scheme on Thursday before U.S. District Judge Mark A. Goldsmith.
The FBI has been investigating this string of jewelry store robberies for nearly three years, relying on local law enforcement, confidential witnesses and social media photos and comments to connect the dots. For example, following the June 2019 arrests of four smash-and-grab suspects in Florida, another suspect took to the “doitfor_diamond” Instagram account and posted an image that referenced “losing soldiers.” It read:
“We been taking so many losses with our brothers. Not even the money. We just losin soldiers. But y’all can’t count us out.”
The profile picture on that Instagram account is of defendant Kai Rivers, whose lawyers are trying to keep the jury from seeing the “doitfor_diamond” handle on the Instagram account, and the photo of their client’s diamond tattoo. They want that evidence thrown out at trial, arguing it will create unfair prejudice against their client, who created his Instagram handle to honor his deceased sister.
“There is a real risk that jurors will assume that Rivers picked this tattoo and Instagram handle because he is so obsessed with diamonds,” defense lawyers argue in court documents. “This is a stranger-than-fiction scenario. The government does not dispute that Rivers had a sister named Diamond and that the Instagram name and tattoo relate to her.”
The government, however, is fighting to keep the Instagram handle and tattoo in trial, arguing both help show that the account in fact was used by Rivers, may have been used as a business account by other smash-and-grab members, and that he was connected to other suspects. Prosecutors may also use the Instagram account to show that the location of Rivers coincides with the locations of the smash-and-grab robberies.
In court documents, the FBI has alleged that Rivers used Instagram to vent about his accomplices’ arrests.
“The screenshot seems to reference the recent arrests by indicating the group is ‘losing soldiers,'” an FBI agent wrote in court documents.
Five defendants are scheduled to go to trial in June, including the alleged mastermind, Darrell Reed, who is accused of coordinating the robberies and ordering his accomplices to return the diamonds to him in Detroit, where they would be sold on the black market.
According to court documents, Darrell Reed was already facing drug charges in a separate case before the feds caught up to him for his alleged jewelry theft operation. Court records show that Reed was facing conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine when he started coordinating smash-and-grabs.
On Dec. 14, 2017, Darrell Reed was released on the condition that he doesn’t break any laws.
Nineteen months later, he was charged with robbery conspiracy.
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