CrimeDec 11, 2024
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‘Black Bin Crew’ Robbers Get 14-16 Years in Prison
The three men, who got their nickname because they’d toss the jewelry they stole into black plastic bins, were arrested back in August.
Last week, a judge in Zanesville, Ohio, sentenced the three men known as the “Black Bin Crew” to 10-plus years in prison each, the Muskingum County Prosecutor’s Office said. (Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock)
Zanesville, Ohio—Three men wanted in a string of jewelry store burglaries spanning seven states will spend between 14 and 16 years in prison, the Muskingum County Prosecutor’s Office announced last week.
Rafael Flores Hernandez, 39, of Mexico, 44-year-old Pedro Garcia of Los Angeles, and Reyes Flores Higuera, 51, of Mexico, became known as the “Black Bin Crew” because they used black plastic bins or totes to stash the jewelry they stole, officials said.
They were arrested in August while in the midst of burglarizing a jewelry store in Zanesville, Ohio.
According to the Muskingum County (Ohio) Prosecutor’s Office, Hernandez, Garcia, and Higuera all pleaded guilty to felony charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and aggravated theft.
On Dec. 10, Muskingum County Judge Kelly Cottrill sentenced Hernandez to 16 1/2 years in prison in the state of Ohio, while Garcia and Higuera each got 14 years behind bars.
According to prosecutors, the trio’s crime spree began in May 2023 when they broke into a jewelry store in Illinois, smashed up the cases, and threw the jewelry in what would become their signature black bins.
The Jewelers’ Security Alliance warned of the crew in a December 2023 crime alert after they broke into a jewelry store in Suwanee, Georgia, early on the morning of Nov. 17.
The three men smashed the store’s showcases with a pickaxe, and stole high-end watches, engagement rings, and necklaces.
(Jewelers, JSA noted in the alert, should always store all of their merchandise out of sight overnight; whatever doesn’t fit in the vault should be locked up in a closet or drawers.)
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Rafael Flores Hernandez, 39, of Mexico, 44-year-old Pedro Garcia of Los Angeles, and Reyes Flores Higuera, 51, of Mexico, became known as the “Black Bin Crew” because they used black plastic bins or totes to stash the jewelry they stole, officials said.
They were arrested in August while in the midst of burglarizing a jewelry store in Zanesville, Ohio.
According to the Muskingum County (Ohio) Prosecutor’s Office, Hernandez, Garcia, and Higuera all pleaded guilty to felony charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and aggravated theft.
On Dec. 10, Muskingum County Judge Kelly Cottrill sentenced Hernandez to 16 1/2 years in prison in the state of Ohio, while Garcia and Higuera each got 14 years behind bars.
According to prosecutors, the trio’s crime spree began in May 2023 when they broke into a jewelry store in Illinois, smashed up the cases, and threw the jewelry in what would become their signature black bins.
The Jewelers’ Security Alliance warned of the crew in a December 2023 crime alert after they broke into a jewelry store in Suwanee, Georgia, early on the morning of Nov. 17.
The three men smashed the store’s showcases with a pickaxe, and stole high-end watches, engagement rings, and necklaces.
(Jewelers, JSA noted in the alert, should always store all of their merchandise out of sight overnight; whatever doesn’t fit in the vault should be locked up in a closet or drawers.)
Following the Suwanee robbery, Detective Caleb Martin with the Forsyth County (Georgia) Sheriff’s Office took an interest in the case, conducting what the Muskingum County Prosecutor’s Office described as a “dogged, one-man nationwide manhunt for the crew.”
Martin worked with JSA to track down details of other thefts, watch surveillance videos, and coordinate intelligence from other agencies.
In July 2024, he contacted the Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office about the “Black Bin Crew,” and officers with the sheriff’s office and Zanesville Police Department began surveilling the trio, even placing a tracking device on their car.
Police also kept an eye on the local jewelry store they believed the crew would attempt to rob.
Around 4 a.m. on Aug. 1, the crew struck and officers, who were waiting nearby, moved in to arrest them.
The prosecutor’s office said Hernandez, Garcia, and Higuera had smashed the store’s showcases and had more than $170,000 worth of merchandise in their black bins when they were arrested.
All told, the three men are suspected of perpetrating more than 20 similar jewelry store smash-and-grab thefts in seven states across the Southwest and Midwest: Illinois, Maryland, Kentucky, North Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, and Georgia.
Each burglary lasted about 2 minutes and they made off with more than $3 million in jewelry total, the prosecutor’s office said.
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