Jewelers Row businessman charged with fencing high-end goods taken from suburban homes
A Jewelers Row businessman was arrested Friday on charges of allegedly fencing loot stolen by a sophisticated burglary ring that targeted high-end suburban homes, making off with property valued at more than $1.5 million.
A Jewelers Row businessman was arrested Friday on charges of allegedly fencing loot stolen by a sophisticated burglary ring that targeted high-end suburban homes, making off with property valued at more than $1.5 million.
Wasim Shazad, 48, of East Norriton, operated out of Vasim Jewelry at 83 S. Eighth St. in Center City, as well as a nearby storefront on Chestnut Street and a business listed on Sansom Street.
Four men were arrested and charged in July with committing six of 15 burglaries in Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware Counties dating back to August 2015. They will soon be charged with the remaining burglaries, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office said.
Among the crimes listed in the affidavit of probable cause are three that yielded large hauls.
The largest came from a Kennett Square home on Jan. 27, 2016, when they took more than $630,000 in items, including jewelry, designer shoes, and designer purses.
On April 19, the burglars hit a gated home in Villanova and stole $237,000 in jewelry and cash from a safe they hauled away using a wheelbarrow.
On May 20, they entered a home in Bryn Mawr and found a man asleep. They tied his hands with a telephone cord and his feet with a necktie, then threw a safe from a second-floor window in an attempt to break it open. The burglars made off with more than $500,000 in jewelry and high-end purses.
A detective contacted a local business that buys and sells expensive purses and tracked down a Louis Vuitton beige Vernis leather shoulder bag and a rare Chanel Boy Cordoba leather shoulder bag belonging to the victim's wife.
In Philadelphia, Shazad allegedly bought stolen watches and other jewelry from the burglary ring and then sold them to Jewelers Row businesses.
He was arraigned Friday in Montgomery County, where the case will be prosecuted, and his bail was set at $250,000.
The other defendants are Kebbie Ramseur, 39, Jerrel Jaynes, 40, and Ralph Curtis Mayrant, 39, all of Philadelphia, and Shron Linder, 39, of Upper Darby. All five are suspects in burglaries in Cherry Hill and Delaware, prosecutors said.
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