3 Arrested, $1 Million in Jewels Recovered in Gem Courier Holdups

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies broke up a gem courier robbery ring, arresting three suspects and recovering more than $1 million in jewelry, authorities said Saturday.

Mark Dimasi, 22, and his brother, Phillip Dimasi, 21, of Upland and Socrates Moore, 19, of Victorville were booked at the Crescenta Valley sheriff’s station on charges of attempted murder, conspiracy and robbery, Deputy John Ashley said.

The suspects are blamed for at least four robberies since Aug. 16, when three men robbed a courier at the Santa Anita Mall in Arcadia. Other robberies occurred Aug. 22 at the Glendale Galleria shopping mall and Aug. 28 at the Orange Mall in Orange.

The most recent robbery occurred Sept. 6, when robbers followed a 34-year-old courier from the Glendale Galleria to a San Diego hotel, where they shot and wounded him before robbing him of about $1 million in gold rings, authorities said.

Acting on an anonymous tip, authorities arrested the Dimasi brothers at their Upland home and later arrested Moore at a relative’s house in Pomona.

Authorities said nearly all of the $1 million in jewelry stolen in the latest robbery was recovered from a Glendale jeweler who bought the rings from the suspects.

In the Aug. 16 robbery, gunmen confronted a jewelry courier leaving his car at the Santa Anita Mall. The robbers took the man’s two briefcases, which contained the man’s personal property.

In the Aug. 22 Glendale Galleria robbery, assailants confronted a courier on his way to Zales Jewelers and made off with about $6,000 in gold ring settings, $30,000 in jewelry and a camera.

In a robbery at the Orange Mall, gunmen robbed a 31-year-old female gem appraiser of $6,400 worth of appraisal equipment.

The Sept. 6 robbery in San Diego occurred at the Radisson Suites Hotel. After a brief struggle, the robbers shot the courier in the chest and made off with two duffel bags filled with $1 million in gold rings, hundreds of loose diamonds and other stones. The victim survived.

Ashley said the Dimasi brothers admitted their involvement in the robberies and identified Moore as their accomplice. Mark Dimasi and Moore were being held without bail. Phillip Dimasi was being held on $500,000 bail.