Three men involved in a multi-state crime spree that stole millions of dollars worth of jewelry were sentenced in Muskingum County Common Pleas Court.
Pedro Garcia, 44, and Reyes Higuera, 51, were both sentenced to up to 14 years in prison. Rafael Flores Hernandez, 39, received a 16 1/2-year sentence. All three men pleaded guilty to felony charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and aggravated theft.
The crime spree began in May 2023 when the men broke into a jewelry store in Illinois. Over the next year, Garcia and his accomplices committed a series of robberies across Illinois, Maryland, Kentucky, North Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, and Georgia.
Their crime wave came to an end in August 2024, when they were arrested in Muskingum County while attempting to rob a jewelry store. Officers from the Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office and Zanesville Police Department caught the men in the act, as they smashed display cases and loaded over $170,000 worth of jewelry into bags.
In total, Garcia and his crew stole more than $3 million in jewels during their crime spree.
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