A Douglas County jury today convicted a Detroit man of a brazen smash-and-grab at a jewelry store.
Marquis DeShawn McDonald, 27, was found guilty of all counts. He faces a mandatory sentence of 96 years in prison if habitual criminal counts are proven at a May 29 hearing.
On Aug. 20, 2015, McDonald and three accomplices entered the Park Meadows shopping center in Lone Tree to scope out the Ben Bridge jewelry store. The men had traveled from Detroit with others who were part of a robbery ring.
Two of the men entered the jewelry store about 7:00 p.m. with sledgehammers and destroyed a watch case, stealing or damaging 11 Rolex watches worth more than $284,000. The men ran out of the store, but the accomplice didn’t have the stolen getaway car where it was expected to be.
Passersby and witnesses led law enforcement to the fleeing men, all four of whom were apprehended in the mall’s vicinity shortly after the robbery.
McDonald’s three accomplices have pleaded guilty to various charges and already been sentenced.
McDonald was found guilty of racketeering under the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act; theft; conspiracy to commit theft; criminal mischief; and aggravated motor vehicle theft.
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