Busted: Four men, one woman indicted in robbery of Husar's House of Fine Diamonds

WEST BEND -- A Wisconsin grand jury indicted five individuals from the Detroit area on Tuesday, September 22nd for their alleged role in the robbery of Husar's House of Fine Diamonds on N. Main Street in West Bend -- and officials say additional suspects haven't yet been caught.

Officials say the four men and one woman entered Husar's just before 4:00 p.m. on Monday, December 29, 2014.

West Bend police say the suspects were armed with hammers they used to smash a display case. Officials say the suspects then removed numerous watches and fled the store in a minivan.

"This whole group has been targeting Rolex dealers in particular. That's what they wanted. That's what they were in here for. They came in, they did their thing and they were out very fast," Michael Husar, co-owner of Husar's House of Fine Diamonds said.



Witnesses told police they saw the suspects enter a tan minivan and take off. West Bend police recovered the minivan a short time later in a nearby parking lot.

A federal criminal complaint filed in this case says the minivan was stolen from a Park and Ride in West Bend earlier in the day.

Two sledgehammers were recovered from the vehicle, according to the complaint, along with a watch display pillow, and a women's Rolex watch with the tag still attached.

The minivan was swabbed for DNA, and a stain, suspected to contain blood was swabbed and submitted to the Wisconsin Crime Lab for testing.

We're told there were about 25 people in the store at the time of this crime. Nobody was hurt.

"Basically our inventory was pretty emptied out by the time they were out the door in 32 seconds. They're very professional. They knew exactly what they were doing and how they were going to do it," Husar said.

The robbery at Husar's was one of several related robberies of jewelry stores through the U.S. For the past two years, according to the complaint -- with the majority of the persons believed responsible for committing those crimes living in or near the Detroit area.

The robberies involved African-American suspects entering high-end jewelry stores and then using hammers and sledgehammers to break open jewelry cases and steal jewelry, diamonds and Rolex watches.

"Jewelry stores throughout the United States were being victimized from the East Coast to the West Coast," Lt. Richard Lucka with the West Bend Police Department said.

The five individuals now indicted in this case include:

They are charged with one count of Hobbs Act robbery.

All the suspects are from the Detroit area.

Acting United States Attorney General Gregory Haanstad says Shelton, Hall and Mandeville-Nelson are currently in federal custody -- and Hayes and Rahman remain at large.

A federal criminal complaint indicates an employee told investigators she had been in the store earlier on December 29th, prior to the robbery, when a young African-American male entered the store, indicating he was "looking for a late Christmas gift."

The complaint says the employee noticed he had tattoos on the backside of both of his hands -- one reading "NO REGRETS."

Later, when the suspects arrived to conduct the robbery, the complaint says one of the first suspects who entered the store said he was "looking for a late Christmas gift."

The complaint says an audit of the loss as a result of this robbery was conducted, and it was determined that a total of 30 Rolex watches were stolen, worth approximately $300,000.

After the robbery, officials obtained a federal court order to obtain cell tower records in an attempt to obtain cell phone activity that would show cell activity near Husar's. Records showed multiple calls made around the time of the robbery near the business -- with telephone numbers with area codes from the Detroit area.

One of the cell phone numbers was determined to belong to a Detroit woman who was federally indicted in Michigan on multiple Hobbs Act robbery charges for her role in other jewelry store smash and grab robberies.

The complaint indicates investigators were able to determine this woman is the girlfriend of Trayvon Shelton.

An investigation determined that on February 19th, Shelton, his girlfriend, and several others were observed in two vehicles in the Cincinnati, Ohio area.

Both vehicles were stopped by officials after one of the vehicles was spotted parking behind a jewelry store.

The complaint indicates an individual inside one of the vehicles told officials he/she has been involved with a group that takes trips across the country -- indicating he/she has been present for seven or more robberies by this group.

A West Bend detective requested a photo of Shelton from the FBI in Detroit -- and compared that with a surveillance image from the Husar's robbery. The detective determined the individual in the surveillance image appeared to be Shelton.

Additionally, the complaint indicates a Detroit FBI agent was able to identify Gawain Mandeville-Nelson as one of the individuals seen in the surveillance video -- indicating Mandeville-Nelson is a person he was familiar with. That FBI agent indicated Mandeville-Nelson was currently incarcerated in Virginia for his role in a jewelry store smash and grab robbery that took place after the Husar's robbery.

Mandeville-Nelson is the person who came into the Husar's store prior to the robbery, inquiring about a "late Christmas gift," according to the complaint. He was identified as that person with help from that Detroit FBI agent and when investigators took at look at booking photographs showing the tattoos on his hands.

The complaint says Charles Hall was indicted after DNA was tested at the Wisconsin Crime Lab. The swab collected form the stain in the minivan matched Hall.

Meanwhile, officials say several more people are thought to have been involved in this case.

"We know for sure there were nine, but there could be more -- so we'll continue to investigate," Lt. Lucka said.

If convicted, each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison on the Hobbs Act robbery count.

Monitor FOX6 News and FOX6Now.com for updates on this developing story.