Smash-And-Grab Thieves Arrested In OC After Stealing $100K+ From RivCo Jewelers

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Two Los Angeles residents were arrested in Orange County Tuesday on suspicion of pepper-spraying a jewelry store employee and stealing $100,000 during a smash-and-grab robbery in Corona on Sunday, authorities said.

Corona Police officers were sent to a Daniel's Jewelers on 2785 Cabot Drive at 2:57 p.m. in response to a robbery.

According to authorities, four men wearing masks entered the store and used hammers to smash several display cases before loading jewelry into a trash can and running into a nearby vehicle. The getaway car was described as a white Chevrolet Malibu with no license plates, authorities said in a statement Monday.

Police chased the suspects' vehicle on the 91 Freeway and off Gypsum Canyon Road and eventually drove through Yorba Linda, Placentia and Brea before officers used a PIT technique to stop the car on East Commonwealth Avenue and State College Boulevard in Fullerton.

Once stopped, authorities arrested two suspects and found a trash can full of stolen jewelry in the car. Three of the five suspects remain at large and were described as black men with thin builds likely in their early '20s.

Two of the five suspects in the car were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy and robbery. One suspect was identified as Joshua Matthew Lewis, a 24-year-old man from Inglewood.

The second suspect was only identified as a 17-year-old male juvenile from Compton.

No further information was immediately available.