Their favorite target was gold necklaces.
Two men aged 41 and 37 were sentenced on Friday by the Fontainebleau Criminal Court to 18 months and two years in prison for theft with trickery.
With a 17-year-old accomplice who has not yet been judged, the trio committed a dozen thefts, exclusively in the Cléor group's jewelry stores, throughout France, and in particular in Nemours (Seine-et-Marne).
The damage is assessed at 60,000 euros.
The three individuals, all of Colombian nationality, were arrested on Friday May 21 at the Mantes-la-Jolie (Yvelines) toll booth on the A13 motorway.
While returning from a robbery, the police discovered jewelry inside their car for an estimated value of 12,000 euros.
This arrest is the result of long weeks of investigation carried out by the urban security of Fontainebleau, the departmental security as well as the BRI of Versailles, under the direction of the parquet floor of Fontainebleau.
The fake couple was distracting sellers
It was after their visit to Nemours, where 6,500 euros worth of necklaces were stolen on May 2, that the police set out on their trail.
The non-violent technique of the three thieves was well-oiled: while two of them pretend to be a couple interested in jewelry and occupy the sellers, the third takes the opportunity to steal necklaces, armed with a hook to open the windows.
But in Nemours, they are spotted on the store's CCTV cameras.
Read also Paris: a Chanel store robbed near Place Vendôme, damage of several million euros
Dijon (Côte d'Or), Chalon-sur-Saône (Saône-et-Loire), Auxerre (Yonne), Montargis (Loiret), Toulouse (Haute-Garonne)… Between the months of April and May, they went sometimes far to steal the jewelry.
Living in Paris (17th), Domont (Val-d'Oise) and Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis), they were, according to a source close to the investigation, "very well established and had several contacts to sell the goods to".
This is why almost all of the jewelry has not yet been found.
