Jewelry Thieves Sentenced in Muskingum County

Muskingum County- Three men who plead guilty in connection to a multi-million dollar crime spree were sentenced in Common Pleas Court in Muskingum County.

The Muskingum County Prosecutor’s Office said 44-year-old Pedro Garcia and 51-year-old Reyes Higuera were both sentenced to serve up to 14-years in prison. 39-year-old Rafael Flores Hernandez was sentenced to 16 1/2 years in prison.

At earlier hearings, Hernandez, Higuera, and Garcia all pleaded guilty to felony engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and felony aggravated theft.

The thieves’ multimillion-dollar crime spree case began in May 2023 in Illinois when they broke into a jewelry store.

Garcia and the other thieves robbed more jewelry stores between May 2023 and August 2024 in Illinois, Maryland, Kentucky, North Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, and Georgia.

The were arrested in Muskingum County in August, caught in the act of breaking into a jewelry store. Law enforcement from the Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office and Zanesville Police Department captured the men after they smashed jewelry display cases and loaded more than $170,000 of jewelry into their totes.

In total, Garcia and the crew stole more than $3 million of jewels in the break-ins.