Brazen smash and grab artists flee from Police, citizen pitches in to
help in capture…
http://www.wnbc.com/news/2313442/detail.html

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Homeowner Helps Nab Suspected Jewelry Thief
Group Allegedly Robs Store In Broad Daylight

POSTED: 1:11 p.m. EDT July 5, 2003

WAYNE, N.J. — Police in Wayne have an alert homeowner to thank for nabbing a suspect in a jewelry store robbery.

The unidentified homeowner was tinkering in his basement around dinnertime Thursday when he heard noises upstairs. He climbed the steps and discovered an intruder on the main floor who said he was looking for something to drink.

The homeowner threw the stranger out, then followed him outdoors. Within moments, the two men were tussling on the ground when a police officer arrived and succeeded in cuffing the man.

Less than an hour earlier, police say, the man and an accomplice drove a stolen pickup truck to the Preakness Shopping Center in Wayne, smashed a jewelry store display window with a sledgehammer and grabbed handfuls of gems in a brazen daylight armed robbery.

Kevin Lofton, 33, of East Orange, then allegedly broke into the home in an attempt to hide, said Wayne police spokesman Sgt. Mark McGrath.

Two other suspects, Lofton’s alleged accomplice and a third man whom police say trailed the other two in a second vehicle, remained at large Saturday.

Police said the robbers pulled their pickup into the strip mall parking lot at 5:50 p.m., shortly after closing, at Anthony & Co. Jewelers. They smashed the window, grabbed the gems and sped away.

“It’s hard to believe. They did it in broad daylight in full view of shoppers,” Capt. John Reardon told The Record of Bergen County.

An off-duty patrolman, Donald Davidson, pursued the suspects to Randall Carter Elementary School, using his vehicle to block their exit. But the suspected thieves veered around and jumped a curb.

Police from four jurisdictions joined the chase, and the pickup was found abandoned in woods bordering a neighborhood. Police began a house-to-house search.

Around 6:20 p.m., they heard shouting from a nearby yard.

“The homeowner and one of our officers managed to wrestle the man to the ground,” Reardon said.

Lofton is being held on $50,000 bail.

Police could not immediately determine the value of the stolen jewels, pending completion of an inventory.