Fugitive in Record Bay Area Jewel Heist Turns Himself In

The last remaining fugitive in this city’s record-setting jewel heist quietly turned himself in Monday, nearly three years after he and his brother allegedly pulled off a job so full of twists that authorities contend it is still not fully solved.

The $6-million take of diamond- and ruby-studded brooches, earrings and bracelets from Lang Antique & Estate Jewelry was quickly linked to brothers Dino and Troy Smith, whose previous Bay Area criminal escapades and legal victories were well known to authorities.

Arrested months after the 2003 job was George Turner, a childhood friend of the Smiths, who had a bag of jewels in his possession with the tags still affixed. He pleaded guilty but has yet to be sentenced.

Dino Smith, 47, was apprehended in 2004 in New York and last year was sentenced to 23 years in prison. He was living under an alias and kept a detailed journal that appeared to implicate store owner Mark Zimmelman as the mastermind of the heist.

But younger brother Troy “Devin” Smith, now 45, had remained at large, at one point sending an outraged letter to “America’s Most Wanted,” decrying the show’s depiction of the brothers as violent.

On Monday, he walked into the San Francisco County Jail with a lawyer. He was 30 pounds heavier, said Police Inspector Dan Gardner. Tips had placed him in Costa Rica, Las Vegas and elsewhere.

“We put in many man-hours and traveled a lot of miles,” Gardner said. “One man was found guilty, one has pleaded guilty. It’ll be interesting to see what the third one does.”

The younger Smith is being held without bail and is to be arraigned today in San Francisco Superior Court on charges of robbery, false imprisonment, burglary and conspiracy.

Thieves tunneled into the Lang jewelry store through the wall of a vacant restaurant on April 6, 2003, disabled the alarms, then waited for morning, when they forced employees to empty the safes.

Prosecutors and police maintained at Dino Smith’s trial that it was an inside job -- directed by Zimmelman. Zimmelman has not been arrested or charged, but the theory, based in part on Dino Smith’s journals, contributed to Dino Smith’s conviction on conspiracy charges.

Zimmelman, who knows the brothers and testified against them years ago after buying stolen jewels from Dino Smith, maintains his innocence.

“If there was any substance to it, a) I would have been arrested, and b) the largest insurance company in the world would not have paid me,” Zimmelman said Monday. “I have been grilled and double-grilled, well done, and passed a lie detector test with flying colors.”

Assistant Dist. Atty. Jerry Coleman said he is not handling the potential case against Zimmelman, which is under review by his superiors. But cooperation by Troy Smith could potentially advance that case, he said.

“It’s still an open question, and perhaps Dino’s brother, Troy, will play a role in ending that question,” Coleman said. “At least the last little brick in the wall has now appeared.”

The brothers are well known to San Francisco authorities for high-profile trials in the 1990s: one for a plot to kidnap and rob a flamboyant San Francisco club owner known as “Dr. Winkie,” and another for the home-invasion robbery of the widow of a Nicaraguan drug lord.

They were convicted in both cases, but their convictions were overturned -- one for police misconduct, the other for attorney misconduct.

The brothers were retried and convicted in the home-invasion robbery, but they were not retried in the kidnapping plot.

Both were released from prison in 1998.