Crime & Safety
ICYMI: Kennesaw Diamond Thief Going to Prison
Osniel Labrada-Guillen was linked to the 2010 crime through DNA acquired after a recent arrest in Florida, police said.
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A Cuban man has been sentenced to prison for his role in a sophisticated diamond heist in Kennesaw in 2010, the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
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Osniel Labrada-Guillen pleaded guilty to one count of burglary on Thursday and was given a sentence of 7 years in prison and 13 years on probation, and was ordered to pay $1.6 million in restitution. Guillen’s lawyer told Judge Henry Thompson that the defendant had no ability to pay the restitution, and added that his client was likely facing additional charges from the federal government and the State of Indiana.
On the evening of Jan. 13-14 2010, Guillen, in a group of thieves, cut a hole in the roof of Diamonds R Forever on Wade Green Road in Kennesaw. He then entered the business, cut the phone line and alarm system, cut into the safe, and made off with $1.6 million worth of loot.
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Police discovered some of the loot and a used Wendy’s bag inside a plastic bin in Kennesaw. Inside the Wendy’s bag, police found a plastic spoon which was swabbed for DNA evidence. Genetic material was discovered, but there were no matches in any law enforcement databases.
Two years later, another jewelry store in Indiana was burglarized. There, police recovered a ski mask used by the suspect and matched DNA inside the mask to the DNA recovered from Kennesaw. The suspect remained unidentified, however.
In March of 2014, Miami police arrested Guillen during a traffic stop. He posted bail and was released, but not before police obtained a sample of his DNA. Running his genetic information through a database, authorities were able to link him to the two unsolved burglaries in Kennesaw and Indiana and notified the GBI Crime Lab in September of 2014.
Guillen was arrested on Dec. 28 and has been held in the Cobb County jail without bond since then. He was indicted on two counts of Violation of the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by a Cobb County grand jury in January.
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