NH police name all suspects in Kay Jewelers robbery

UNDATED (WHDH) -- The following is a press release from the Tilton, NH Police Department.

TILTON POLICE PRESS RELEASE

Kay Jewelry Store Armed Robbery at Tanger Outlets

September 1, 2012

On November 4, 2011 at approximately 5:50 pm hours armed suspects wearing “scream” mask entered the Kay Jewelers at Tanger Outlets in Tilton NH. The suspects then violently ordered all the customers and store employees on the floor at gunpoint. Once everyone in the store was put on the floor, the suspects then began smashing all the glass jewelry display cases open with hammers and removing jewelry from the cases. At times one suspect puts the weapon to the head of the employees which terrorized both the employees and customers, some of which were children. After taking all the jewelry from the glass cases they smashed open, the suspects then exited the store and fled on foot to a waiting vehicle.

The violent jewelry store robbery sparked a ten month investigation which would take thousands of hours of investigation to put together. Tilton Police Detectives would follow dozens of tips and leads over the last year in an attempt to determine who the masked suspects were. The case would eventually lead Tilton Detectives to a ring of robbery suspects from Southern California who came to New Hampshire from the Los Angeles area to commit the Kay Jewelers robbery. The suspects, some of which already had long felony records for armed robbery in California, came to New Hampshire with a plan to commit multiple robberies before returning to LA.

Detectives conducted multiple interviews and collected several pieces of evidence (including DNA) which eventually confirmed the suspects not only robbed Kay Jewelers on November 4, 2011, but also Hannoush Jewelers on October 18, 2011 and the Northeast Credit Union on December 19th, 2011. Working with Manchester Police, FBI and US Marshalls, Investigators would begin making arrest related on one or all of the robberies over the next six months. The most recent arrest was on July 20th, 2012 in California after one of the Kay Jewelers Robbery Suspects fled back to Los Angeles. Working with the FBI, LAPD and Long Beach PD fugitive units, investigators arrested the final suspect and brought him back to New Hampshire.

Arrested for these robberies were the following individuals:

Walter Williams, age 44, 1317 W. Arbutus Street, Compton CA. - Has since pled guilty to the armed robbery of Kay Jewelers Robbery, Hannoush Jewelers and the Northeast Credit Union. (Sentencing hearing is scheduled for November 26, 2012)

Delano Nelson, age 49, 4071 Muirfield Road. Los Angeles CA. – Was also arrested in LA on July 20th for the armed robbery of the Kay Jewelers. (On August 17th, 2012 he was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury for the Kay Jewelers Robbery and Hannoush Jewelers).

Katie Falls, age 29 – Arrested as the getaway driver Pled Guilty to the Kay Jewelers Robbery

Shylo Johnson, age 25 – Pled guilty for the Bank Robbery and Kay Jewelers Robbery

Prince Sage, age 27, - Pled guilty to the N.E Credit Union Bank Robbery on June 6, 2012 and his sentencing hearing is scheduled for September 12, 2012

It’s been a long road to get here, but I am so relieved to get this robbery gang in custody, I don’t believe they would have stopped had they not been caught and they certainly were a danger to the public.

I can’t thank the FBI enough for all their assistance with this case over the last ten months. They teamed up with us all most immediately and stayed by our side though the whole case. Also, thank you to all the other agencies from New Hampshire and California who worked so hard to help us. Last but not least, I want to say a special thanks to my Detectives who put so many long days and nights into this case to put it together. It was probably one of the most challenging cases of their career and they handled it like true professionals.

Chief Robert Cormier

Tilton Police Department, NH.