Riverside police have arrested two individuals who are suspected of making off with nearly $200,000 in gold jewelry during a smash-and-grab theft at a local mall.
Adan Martinez Carvajal, 23, of Upland and Melchor Roquin Cabalar, 22, of West Covina allegedly targeted a JC Penney jewelry counter in the Galleria at Tyler Mall shortly after 11 a.m. last Wednesday.
Riverside police officer Javier Cabrera said the suspects walked directly to a glass display case and used a sledgehammer to shatter it. They then allegedly reached inside the case and took as much gold jewelry as they could carry before fleeing the premises.
A police helicopter dispatched to the area within a few minutes of the smash-and-grab located Carvajal and Cabalar allegedly dumping the jewelry into a trash receptacle in a residential neighborhood a short distance from the mall. The pair were apprehended by patrol officers nearby shortly thereafter.
The suspects were arrested and booked into the Robert Presley jail in downtown Riverside Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of grand theft, burglary and conspiracy. Both posted $10,000 bonds before the start of the weekend and were released.
All of the jewelry, estimated to be worth about $170,000, was recovered from the trash receptacle and from inside the alleged getaway vehicle.