Two men who robbed a Hinsdale jewelry store at gunpoint five years ago and assaulted two employees before fleeing with $400,000 in expensive watches and other jewelry have been sentenced to Federal prison, authorities said Friday.
Tobias Diggs, 28, of Chicago, and Joshua McClellan, 32, of Oak Lawn, were convicted by a jury in 2020 of robbing Razny Jewelers at 37 S Washington Street in Hinsdale, in March of 2017 and were also found guilty of firearms offenses in the crime, said authorities.
District Judge Gary S. Feinerman Thursday sentenced Diggs to 11 years in federal prison, and McClellan to 8 years.
Authorities said two other individuals allegedly participated in the robbery, and that one of them, Marvon Hamberlin, of Chicago, was indicted and is a fugitive. A warrant has been issued for Hamberlin’s arrest and the fourth individual has not been identified, said authorities.
According to evidence presented at trial, the robbers planned in advance to rob Razny Jewelers, and on the day of the heist, McClellan drove the getaway car, a Lexus sport utility vehicle, while Diggs and the other robbers entered the store and pointed a gun at a female employee.
After the unidentified robber tackled a store security guard, Diggs hit the female employee with the gun and dragged her by her hair to a backroom, while he and the others gained accessed to the store’s safe and stole jewelry, including watches by Frederique Constant, Patek Phillipe, and Tudor, authorities said. They said the defendants later sold, attempted to sell, or disposed of some of the stolen items in the Chicago area and Atlanta, Ga.
“Valuable assistance” in the investigation was provided by the Hinsdale police department, Oak Lawn police department, and the FBI Chicago Field Office’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team (CAST) and the Felony Investigation Assistance Team (FIAT), a multi-jurisdictional law enforcement task force in the western suburbs of Chicago, said authorities.
Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.