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View Winners → Crime Aug 22, 2023
Joshua Matthew Lewis. | Photo courtesy of the Corona Police Department
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Corona police arrested two suspects and are seeking three more men allegedly involved in a smash-and-grab robbery at a jewelry store, police said Monday.
On Sunday at 2:57 p.m. the Corona Police Department responded to a robbery at Daniel’s Jewelers at 2785 Cabot Drive, police said. According to store employees and witnesses, four males wearing hooded sweatshirts and facemasks entered the store and pepper sprayed an employee.
The group of robbers smashed numerous display cases with hammers and loaded a trash can with jewelry before running to a getaway vehicle that was parked around the corner from the store.
Witnesses described the vehicle as a white Chevrolet Malibu with no license plates, police said.
Employees estimated the stolen jewelry amounted to a loss of more than $100,000, according to police.
About 10 minutes after the smash-and-grab, a Corona police officer located a car matching the description of the suspect vehicle that was traveling on the westbound 91 Freeway near Main Street, police said.
“The officer attempted to stop the car to investigate, but it fled,” Corona Police Department Cpl. Tobias Kouroubacalis said in a statement. “Officers pursued the vehicle westbound on the SR-91 freeway to Gypsum Canyon Road, where it exited and continued to flee on streets in the cities of Yorba Linda, Placentia, Brea, and Fullerton.
“The suspect vehicle became disabled when a Corona Police Officer performed a Pursuit Intervention Technique (PIT) maneuver near E. Commonwealth Avenue and State College Boulevard in the City of Fullerton,” Kouroubacalis continued. “Five suspects ran from the vehicle. An adult suspect was apprehended immediately.”
Officers from the Brea, Fullerton and Buena Park police departments then responded to assist with setting up a perimeter and to help search for the remaining suspects, police said.
Officers found a juvenile suspect hiding in a dumpster at a nearby apartment complex.
“Three suspects remain at large and are described as thin black male adults in their late teens or early 20s,” Kouroubacalis said.
Police arrested for conspiracy and robbery Joshua Matthew Lewis, 24, of Inglewood, and a 17-year-old male juvenile from Compton. Lewis was being held in the Riverside County jail, and the teen was transported to the County Juvenile Hall.
Police said a trash can containing jewelry was recovered from the suspect vehicle, but it was “unknown if any jewelry is still missing until a complete inventory can be completed.”
Police also noted that volunteers with the Corona Police Department’s Trauma Intervention Program were called to the jewelry store to provide counseling resources to the employees.
The investigation is ongoing, and investigators said anyone with information on this robbery, including anonymous tipsters, should call Detective Lisa Larios at 951-279-3662.
