Labrada-Guillen
A Florida man is in the Johnson County jail nearly 10 years after police say he robbed a Greenwood jewelry store.
Osniel Labrada-Guillen, 36, of Hialeah, Fla, is charged with burglary and theft, both Class C felonies, in connection with the 2012 robbery. If convicted, he could face up to 16 years in prison.
Labrada-Guillen recently completed a seven-year prison term resulting from a conviction in a 2010 Georgia robbery. A Georgia judge sentenced him to 20 years, with seven years in prison and 13 years on probation, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Deputies from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office drove to Georgia after Christmas to bring him back to Indiana, Sheriff Duane Burgess said.
On the morning of April 23, 2012, Greenwood police were called to the McGee and Company jewelry store in the 800 block of U.S. 31 North, south of the Greenwood Park Mall, on a burglary report. When they arrived, the store owner told them one of the door locks had been tampered with, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in 2015 in Johnson County Circuit Court.
After discovering the locks had been tampered with, the owner went inside to deactivate the store’s alarm, but it had no power. The owner looked around the store, discovered it had been burglarized and called police, court documents show.
Two Rolex wristwatches, a chain bracelet and a diamond band were reported missing from the store — an estimated $500,000 loss. The owner also reported $15,000 worth of damage to the store, according to court documents.
Police say the suspects damaged a steel security gate, and made three holes in the roof to enter the store through the ceiling. They cut alarm and telephone lines in the ceiling as well. Police also found a pair of bolt cutters outside the store’s back door, court documents show.
Police reviewed security footage which showed two suspects attempting to gain entry to the store at 11:58 p.m. April 21 and into April 22, 2012. Around 7:30 a.m. on April 22, 2012, the suspects were seen on video entering the store while wearing hooded sweatshirts and dark colored balaclava-style masks. The masks covered their face and mouth and left the upper part of the nose and eyes exposed, according to court documents.
The suspects were later seen prying open displays and filling a pair of large duffel bags with jewelry and watches. They then left the store through its back door, and were seen entering a truck which was driven by a third suspect, court documents show.
A few days later, two Greenwood residents who lived near the store found a black mask on the ground which matched the general description of the masks worn in the robbery. Police sent the mask to the Indiana State Police Lab for DNA testing, according to court documents.
A month later, police received information which showed the stolen items were pawned by Labrada-Guillen at a pawn shop in Hialeah, Fla. When Greenwood police spoke with Florida police, they identified and confirmed they were the items stolen in the Greenwood robbery. Florida police later confirmed using fingerprint analysis Labrada-Gullen pawned the items, court documents show.
Pawn shop records show Labrada-Guillen pawned the items the morning of April 23 — about a day after the three suspects were seen leaving the Greenwood jewelry store. Police say a one-way trip could reasonably be completed between 18 and 20 hours, according to court documents.
The Indiana State Police lab matched the DNA from the mask found in July 2012 in Greenwood. The DNA profile matched another sample which was taken in Cobb County, Ga. After state troopers spoke with detectives in Georgia, they discovered the sample came from a similar case as the one in Greenwood. The case involved a roof-top burglary in January 2010 of a jewelry store in Kennesaw, Ga., where more than $1 million in jewelry was stolen, court documents show.
The DNA profile was unknown until September 2014, when the samples were matched to Labrada-Guillen, according to court documents.
Labrada-Guillen’s whereabouts were unknown until December 2014, when he was arrested in Palm Beach, Fla. He was arrested after he committed a driving offense which was elevated to felony status under Florida law, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported in 2015. He was later extradited to Cobb County, Ga. to face charges in connection with the robbery there, court documents show.
In early 2015, the state police crime lab received an updated sample of Labrada-Guillen’s DNA from Georgia. The updated sample matched the DNA found on the mask in Greenwood, and a warrant was issued, according to court documents.
The status and whereabouts of the other two suspects are unknown.
Labrada-Guillen is being held at the Johnson County jail on $100,000 bond. An initial hearing had not been set Monday.
