They thieves stalked their victim as he crossed counties
An Islington man was part of a gang of thieves who stole over £2million of jewellery, targeting Hatton Gardens, Kings Cross, and Portobello Road. On January 18 last year the victim was working in Brighton flogging high-end jewels worth around £2.25million.
He had been stalked by Edgar Ardila-Ruiz, Monica Diaz and Edward Florez-Ortiz (using the alias Victor Chavez-Gutierrez) and when his business was done they followed him back to Kent from Sussex. When the victim pulled over at a petrol garage in Wrotham, Florez-Ortiz punctured one of the tyres.
The victim unknowingly drove off but had to spin back, before heading to an air pressure machine. Diaz then appeared and tried to have a chat with him, with Arilda-Ruiz surreptitiously raiding the car’s boot, snatching a bag of jewellery while he was distracted.
As the victim was distracted, Ardila-Ruiz was able to access the vehicle’s boot and snatch a bag containing the jewellery. The trio then made off in a silver Toyota Corolla.
Ruiz and Diaz were arrested on February 11, after a botched attempt to steal from another travelling salesman near Bolton. He then called 999 after noticing a black BMW following him.
After police showed up and nabbed the pair, they found Diaz to have matched an image from the petrol garage CCTV. They were handed over to Kent police custody and later charged with conspiracy to steal, and theft from a motor vehicle.
Ardila-Ruiz, 38, and Diaz, 45, both of no fixed address, both pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court. Florez-Ortiz, 38, from Islington, London was identified as a third suspect and was separately convicted at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court, after pleading guilty to theft and criminal damage.
He also admitted unrelated offences linked to the theft of cash and jewellery from a woman in Colchester. All three were part of a larger gang responsible for similar offences across other parts of the country, in areas including Portobello Road, Hatton Garden and Kings Cross in London, and parts of Essex and Hertfordshire.
On September 18 and 19 this year seven offenders were sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court following investigations by multiple police forces.
Florez-Ortiz was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. He will also be subject to future extradition proceedings regarding offences in Belgium in February 2021, where he was sentenced in his absence to more than three years for another jewellery theft.
Ardila-Ruiz and Diaz were both jailed for three years and six months.
‘They waited for the perfect opportunity’
Detective Constable Leo Graham said: “Our investigation uncovered a wealth of evidence showing how all three offenders initially followed the victim on foot, before tailing his car. They waited patiently for the perfect opportunity to prey upon him and a later examination of his car led to the recovery of a metal item which had been inserted into the tyre by Florez-Ortiz.
“Ardila-Ruiz and Diaz were thankfully caught just weeks later, after following another salesman hundreds of miles away from Kent.’These sentences are welcome, as it is clear they were part of a bigger network of organised criminality targeting victims throughout the country.”
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