Carmel Jewelry Robber Pleads Guilty In $1 Million Heist

SALINAS - A Los Angeles man pleaded guilty Thursday in Salinas to six counts of armed robbery for taking more than a $1 million of jewelry from a store in Carmel, Monterey County prosecutors said.

James Johnson, 55, and an associate went in to Hesselbein's Jewelers on Feb. 8, 2013, dressed in PG&E uniforms. They claimed they were at the store to investigate a gas leak.

The two robbers led the store's owner and three employees into a back room where the robbers pulled out handguns, ordered the four on the floor and bound them with duct tape and zip ties.

Two customers who came in the store while Johnson and his associate were inside also were forced to the back room, prosecutors said. Then Johnson took more than $1 million in watches and rings as well as some of the belongings of the victims.

The robbery went unsolved for more than a year until Johnson's DNA was found on a roll of duct tape left in the store, according to prosecutors.

Police also found a partial fingerprint of Johnson's on a clipboard.

A victim was unable to identify Johnson not by his face but by his voice from a recorded interview, prosecutors said.

Johnson will be sentenced on Sept. 29. He faces 15 to 25 years in prison.

-Bay City News, image via frankieleon/Flickr