Robbed For A Wolf Ring

By Author: Kim Vassart
Total Articles: 1
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Five people suspected of involvement in the armed robbery of a sumptuous ring in New-York were sent back to correctional facilities. Among them: a thug, a jeweler, and a friend of the victim.

On January 17, after two and a half years of investigation, five people suspected of being involved to varying degrees in the theft of Danielle's precious jewelry were referred to the Paris criminal court. Among them, an offender, a student, a jeweler, and even a close friend of the victim. All of them have been indicted for criminal acts. But in her order, the examining magistrate explains that she finally retained "by opportunity" criminal charges: theft in a meeting, criminal conspiracy...

On May 22, 2017, Danielle is having dinner with her best friend, Tew S., and their respective children in her posh apartment in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. An almost daily ritual for these two inseparable people. Around 11 p.m., the dishes have just been cleared when the intercom rings. Danielle's nine-year-old son thinks it's the delivery of yet another "express" order on Amazon. He opens the door.
The victim had tried to ...
... hide her wolf ring in the dog's basket.
Two men in black then burst in, masked and wearing motorcycle helmets. One displays a Glock pistol, the other a tear gas canister. "Sit down on the floor! "they threaten. They ask, "Where's the trunk?" Danielle is slapped. Her 17-year-old son is left with the gun pointed at his head. In the confusion, the mother tries to hide her precious ring in the dog's basket. It was a lost cause. The criminals took the jewel and two Audemars Piguet watches worth 180,000 euros. Ten minutes later, they rush into a gray BMW X5 and disappear into the streets of Paris.

The police officers of the Paris PJ's brigade de répression du banditisme (BRB) are convinced that the thieves were well "tipped off". The exploitation of the building's video surveillance reveals that the duo went to Danielle's apartment without any hesitation. What's worse, they looked away as the camera passed by! The investigators are therefore leaning towards the possibility of complicity in the victim's entourage.

Deceived by a "big brother" and his best friend

Danielle's companion is thus presented by the investigators as a "courtesan" who lives in her brackets. A suspected time since he is known for thefts and swindles, he is finally put out of the way. On the other hand, one of his acquaintances is of interest to the police: Mohamed C., a delinquent with a reputation as a "big shot and debt collector". This 41-year-old man had been introduced to Danielle because she was looking for an "older brother" who could put her elder brother, in the midst of a teenage crisis, back on the right track.

Curiously, Mohamed C. is driving around... in a vehicle identical to the one used by the thieves. But there is more troubling. The suspect had numerous telephone contacts with a certain Tew S. in the weeks preceding the robbery, first with their official lines and then with dedicated telephones. This is Danielle's famous friend, who was previously considered a victim. On the evening of the robbery, this forty-year-old already convicted of younger scams had been spared any violence.

Monitored and listened to by investigators, Tew S. and Mohamed C. give themselves away over the telephone. In a discussion with a friend, Tew S. accuses Mohamed C. of being one of the robbers. Mohamed C., for his part, struggles to sell a "precious stone", of which he has no certificate, for a price of between 900,000 and 1.7 million euros. He presents himself in turn to his interlocutors as a diplomat or a son of Guinean dignitaries who have inherited this jewel.

Not very brilliant jewelers

He uses two middlemen to find a buyer. First to Jordan B., an unscrupulous professional jeweler. Convinced of the fraudulent origin of the stone, the latter even plans to steal it during the transaction! "He's going to sell the stone to a guy, there's a guy who comes with the dough [...] We lift the guy up and send him to the pipe breaker," he boasts in a wiretap. "A delirium", he will defend himself in custody.