Jewelry Store Heist Suspect Indicted After DNA Links Him to Crime Scene

Authorities released this composite of surveillance photos last spring after two Michigan jewelry stores were robbed.

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A Pennsylvania man is charged in heists at two Michigan jewelry stores last spring, including one in West Bloomfield, after investigators matched his DNA to blood evidence taken from a store when one of the owners opened fire.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit said Thursday that Nathaniel Pembrook, 42, was indicted Wednesday in the April 22 robberies at Tapper’s Diamonds and Fine Jewelry in West Bloomfield and Paul Medawar Fine Jewelry in Grand Rapids, the Detroit Free Press reports.

Two other suspects remain at large, but authorities are actively investigating the robberies, David Porter, a spokesman for the FBI Detroit field office, said. Anyone with information should call (313)965-2323.

Authorities allege that Pembrook and two accomplices “entered the stores during business hours with their faces covered or partially covered and brandished a firearm while ordering employees and customers to the floor.”

At the Grand Rapids store, one of the owners opened fire on the robbers, injuring Pembrook in the arm and leaving blood evidence that led to his arrest.

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said Pembrook is being prosecuted under federal statutes “to address serious incidents of violent crime, such as these armed robberies, because of the high risk of harm they pose to public safety.”
Charges against Pembrook include interference with commerce by robbery, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm, the release said.

If convicted, Pembrook faces up to life in federal prison.

Pembrook was arrested in Philadelphia and will be arraigned in Detroit on the charges.