$600,000 armed heist of two Kay Jewelers nets guilty verdict for NC man, feds say
Two Kay Jewelers in North Carolina were robbed in 2018 by a group of men who made off with more than $600,000 in jewelry before police could track them down, according to federal prosecutors.
Now one of the suspects faces life in prison.
A federal jury on Monday found Charles Walker Jr. guilty on five counts related to the robberies, including brandishing a firearm and witness tampering, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina said in a news release. The 56-year-old, who also goes by the name “Supreme” and lives in High Point, has been in custody since his arrest in December 2018.
According to a criminal complaint filed in November 2018, the robberies occurred in July and October of that year at Kay Jewelers in Elizabeth City on the coast of North Carolina and in Garner, just outside Raleigh.
During the first robbery on July 28, 2018, prosecutors said two men entered the Elizabeth City store and spoke with two employees who later described their behavior as “odd.” The two men reportedly left after a short time, and a third person — later identified as Walker — entered.
Walker spoke to the employees about some jewelry before taking a phone call with a person the employees believed to be his significant other, according to the complaint. He reportedly repeated the phrase “looking at your ring right now” while on the phone.
The two men from earlier then returned to the store with handguns, sticking one in the back of an employee while they handcuffed her, the complaint states. They reportedly took more than $300,000 in jewelry during the robbery.
Surveillance footage showed Walker with his hands raised “as if a victim,” /prosecutors said.
But investigators said he didn’t call 911 and left the store “in an unreasonably calm manner for someone who had just witnessed a violent felony,” the complaint states. Prosecutors said his phone call taken inside the store seemed to be “central to the initiation of the armed robbery.”
Police later discovered the group’s minivan at a Wendy’s 26 miles way in Edenton, and an officer in Zebulon, North Carolina, even helped the men get fuel from a nearby gas station when they became stranded on the side of the highway “in the early morning hours” after the robbery, according to court filings.
A second armed robbery occurred at a Kay Jewelers in Garner three months after the first, on Oct. 11, 2018.
Just after 4 p.m., prosecutors said two men entered the store armed with guns and wearing “brightly-colored vests” similar to those used in construction. They left with $300,000 worth of jewelry stuffed in pillowcases, according to the complaint.
But an assistant store manager at a nearby Verizon noticed a vehicle possibly casing the store a few days earlier and took pictures, which were later sent to police. The car turned out to be registered to Walker, prosecutors said.
A combination of surveillance footage, vehicle registration records, cell phone records, pawn tickets and an ankle bracelet monitoring the movements of one of the men involved eventually led investigators to Walker and his alleged co-conspirators, according to the complaint.
All five were arrested in early December 2018, court filings show.
Christopher Brown, Malik Maynard and Byron Sparks pleaded guilty last year and are awaiting sentencing, prosecutors said. Joey Chambers, whose ankle monitoring bracelet provided leads to investigators, also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 years in prison in February. Walker’s is the only case that went to trial.
Walker — who previously served 17 years in prison on murder charges — faces a minimum of seven years in prison and a maximum life sentence, prosecutors said. He is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 26.
This story was originally published December 15, 2020 at 10:22 AM with the headline "$600,000 armed heist of two Kay Jewelers nets guilty verdict for NC man, feds say."
