Man receives 10 years for jewelry heist in Arlington Heights

Stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry resulted in a 10-year prison term for a Chicago man Friday.

Cook County Judge Thomas Fecarotta sentenced Eliu A. Alverio, 43, after Alverio pleaded guilty to vehicular invasion on Nov. 28 in downtown Arlington Heights.

Four other individuals also have been charged in the case.

The heist occurred as a salesman from New York was leaving Keswick Jewelers, 69 S. Evergreen St., with a backpack filled with rings and bracelets valued at $800,000.

Alverio and an accomplice smashed the front passenger's-side window, grabbed the backpack, then drove off.

Unbeknownst to the jewel thieves, police investigators were watching the theft unfold after trailing Alverio from Glenview, where they'd seen him break into another vehicle, prosecutors said.

The officers recovered the jewelry and made arrests after stopping the getaway car a short distance away.

Alverio could be eligible for parole in five years.