Diamond heist plot leads to charges, authorities say
Three Elk Grove Village men have been indicted in a plot to steal millions of dollars worth of diamonds from a New York City jeweler, according to charges filed this week in federal court.
Zbigniew Oziemski, Marek Stanislawczyk and Pawel Wladyslaw Wrobel are accused of conspiring to rob between $2 million and $7 million worth of diamonds and other valuables from the Brooklyn, N.Y., residence of a person believed to be in the retail diamond business, with the intent of transporting the stolen jewels to an unidentified buyer, the indictment reads.
The plot was hatched in mid-August at the home of Stanislawczyk where the three defendants met with an individual, who actually was an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, instructing him to rent a minivan in Chicago with New York or out-of-state license plates to be used in the robbery, the charges allege.
According to an affidavit by FBI special agent Jeremiah Giron, the confidential informant had been providing authorities with information about numerous criminal activities by various individuals since September 2010, documents show.
According to court documents, Oziemski was expected to travel from Poland to Chicago on Aug. 18 to participate in the robbery. On Aug. 20, the defendants and the informant drove from Chicago to Linden, N.J., to carry out the planned robbery, the documents allege.
The defendants determined the original plan to rob the jeweler after he left his home was too risky and decided instead to break into the jeweler’s home and steal the diamonds and other valuables, according to documents.
The defendants and the police informant were then supposed to meet with a buyer, identified as “Alex” in court documents, to sell the stolen diamonds before returning to Chicago and splitting the proceeds, documents show.
The three defendants were arrested on Aug. 21 in New Jersey in the hotel where they were staying with a plastic bag containing three sets of plastic gloves and a crowbar. The informant had recorded all their conversations dealing with the planning and execution of the heist, according to documents.