Three people indicted in jewelry store heist

WINCHESTER — Three people were indicted Tuesday and warrants have been obtained for another on charges related to a local jewelry store heist in June.

According to police, the four individuals stole an estimated $3,000 from Cooper’s Jewelry at 2258 Valley Ave.

Jamil Abdur Rahman, 51, and Steven Alexander, 50, both of Dayton, Ohio, and Jennifer McDonald, 29, of Carlisle, Ohio, each are charged with grand larceny and conspiracy to commit grand larceny.

Warrants have been obtained for another unnamed man, but have yet to be served, according to authorities.

Winchester police issued search warrants in July for the cellphones of the four individuals in the case, all of whom were believed at the time to have been involved in a similar heist of a jewelry store in Henrico County — located in the Richmond-Petersburg area — the day after the Winchester one.

The city search warrant states that the store’s video surveillance shows a van used in the robbery.

Sgt. Frank Myrtle of the Winchester Police Department previously said the same vehicle was used in the Henrico County theft of an estimated $30,000 in jewelry.

All four individuals are believed to have been involved in eight similar types of cases up and down the East Coast, he added at the time.

Rahman and Alexander both were charged in June in Henrico County with conspiracy to commit grand larceny, second-degree grand larceny and possession of stolen property with the intention to sell it, according to online court documents. Alexander was also charged with misdemeanor assault.

It is unclear what became of the charges, as online documents were not available Tuesday for Henrico County Circuit Court.

McDonald was charged in Henrico County General District Court with conspiracy to commit grand larceny and accessory after the fact in a felony.

She pleaded guilty in the court to the accessory charge and received 12 months in jail and a $100 fine, according to online records. The conspiracy charge was not prosecuted.

— Contact Melissa Boughton at mboughton@winchesterstar.com