Owings Mills Jewelry Store Heist Leads to Prison Sentence

An armed robber and kidnapper was sentenced to seven years Wednesday for his role in an Owings Mills jewelry store heist in 2013.

Peter Aleksandrov Magnis, 28, of Hydes, admitted he was part of a scheme including several other suspects that involved befriending an employee of the jewelry store and putting a GPS on his vehicle, then kidnapping him so they could rob the business, according to the U.S. Attorney.

The armed suspects bound and blindfolded the employee and put him in the trunk of his own vehicle after posing as police and pulling him over, the U.S. Attorney reported.

Magnis and another suspect took the employee to the jewelry store before 4 a.m. on Jan. 16, 2013, and threatened to kill his family if he did not cooperate or if he reported the incident to police, according to the U.S. Attorney.

While some of the suspects acted as lookouts, two others went into the store and stole jewelry, stones and watches totaling an estimated $500,000, the U.S. Attorney reported.

Then the suspects put the employee in the trunk of his car and took him to a remote location, where he kicked his way through the back seat of the car to escape, the U.S. Attorney said.

One of the suspects sold some of the stolen jewelry for $29,000 to an FBI informant on Jan. 18, 2013, and the following day sold additional jewelry and stones in Brooklyn, N.Y., for more than $100,000, the U.S. Attorney reported.

The FBI, Baltimore County Police Department and Baltimore County State's Attorney were involved in the investigation into the jewelry heist.

These individuals were also charged, have pleaded guilty in the robbery conspiracy and are awaiting sentencing, according to the U.S. Attorney:

• Stanislav Yelizarov, 26, of Pikesville
• Marat Yelizarov, 27, of Pikesville
• Grigoriy (Greg) Zilberman, 25, of Owings Mills
• Aleksey Sosonko, 35, of Owings Mills
• Igor Yasinov, 26, of Baltimore
• Sorhib Omonov, 27, of Baltimore

Officials said Magnis will be on three years of supervised probation upon his release from prison after the seven-year sentence.

When authorities searched the vicinity of Magnis' residence, they found a bag of guns buried within 20 feet of his property, officials said.

In the bag were six firearms, two of which had been stolen during a home invasion in Reisterstown on July 22, 2012, according to the U.S. Attorney, who said four suspects in the jewelry store heist admitted to committing the home invasion as well.