Convicted Retail Fraudster Arrested for Watch Theft

A homeless woman with a history of retail fraud convictions is being accused of stealing a watch from a local retailer and attempting to hock it at a pawnshop, according to a court affidavit.

Briana M. Lewis, 22, a homeless woman now located in Concord, was arrested on Dec. 3, 2015, and charged with theft by unauthorized taking or transfer and receiving stolen property, both felonies.

Editor’s note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Concord Police Department and Concord District Court. It does not indicate a conviction. Click this link to find out how to get a name removed from a New Hampshire Patch police report.

On Dec. 1, 2015, an officer was sent to the Express Jewelry Center on North Main Street for a report of a watch theft earlier in the day.

According to the storeowner, a woman brought a bag of miscellaneous jewelry into the store that she was looking to sell. The storeowner eyed the pieces but didn’t find much value in them and offered her a few dollars. The woman stated she would talk to another retailer about the items.

A short time later, the storeowner realized that a gold and black Bulova watch that he was working on, valued at between $400 to $500, was missing from the store’s counter and was in the area where the woman was standing while he was examining her items. The woman was also the only one in the store that morning.

“(The storeowner) stated that he suspected that the young woman took the watch,” according to a detective’s report, “and (he) began calling other second-hand shops to see if she went to those locations.”

The storeowner spoke with an employee at Cash 4 Gold on Manchester Street who stated that around 11:10 a.m., a young woman came in and tried to sell the watch. The officer went to the store, obtained security footage of the woman, and a Concord Regional Crimeline alert was issued.

Building the case against Lewis

Crimeline, on Dec. 2, according to court documents, received eight tips alleging that Lewis was the woman in the security footage. One of the tipsters alleged that they saw a text message sent by Lewis to another person with a photo of the watch and asking how much it was worth, according to an affidavit. The officer reviewed previous of booking photos of Lewis and “confirmed that she appeared to be the woman in the Cash 4 Gold video.”

The officer called Lewis and she allegedly admitted that she was in the Crimeline photos and had been at Express Jewelry, but denied taking the watch.

“(The officer) advised Briana that he could see the watch in the video from Cash 4 Gold, and Briana replied that he was wrong,” according to the report.

Later that day, while working on the Operation Santa Claus gift card and tool theft case, in which detectives made a number of arrests and issued a search warrant to an apartment at the Concord Gardens complex, “multiple persons” reported that, “among other crimes,” Lewis had allegedly stolen the watch and was trying to sell it. One person alleged overhearing her talk about the watch and said they saw the post on Concord NH Patch about the theft and knew it to be her, according to the detective.

On Dec. 3, while continuing to work on the Operation Santa Claus case and other cases, police spoke with a resident at the complex who alleged that Lewis had stayed in one of the apartments and left a gold and black watch, similar to the description of the one in the Crimeline alert. This person turned the watch into Concord Police. The resident stated that it looked like the watch described in the Patch post, according to the report. The detective brought the watch to Express Jewelry and the owner confirmed it was the same watch he was working on.

At 11 a.m. on Dec. 3, 2015, Lewis was stopped on North Main Street and arrested on warrants not related to the watch theft case. After being processed, she was questioned by detectives and reportedly again denied taking the watch. She allegedly stated that she tried to sell a gold pocket watch at Cash 4 Gold. When one of the detectives showed her the watch, she allegedly stated that she had never seen it before. Lewis allegedly admitted to staying at the apartment where the watch was found on Tuesday night, the same day as the theft.

The detective also viewed the footage at Cash 4 Gold and determined that “there was no double that Lewis possess the stolen watch at that location.” She reportedly did not ever possess a pocket watch while in the store, according to the report.

The detective also reviewed Lewis’ criminal record and found that she had two prior convictions in Michigan in March and May 2014, for retail fraud, so the charges against her were elevated to felonies.

A warrant was issued against Lewis and she was charged and held.