At first glance it seemed like the smash-and-grab robbery at the Lux, Bond & Green jewelry store in Westport would be anything but an easy case to crack.
For one, the two suspects who robbed the store had taken an array of precautions to conceal their identities and getaway: they wore masks and gloves to break into the Jewelry store, and sped off in a blacked out BMW. Even worse, the getaway car they used was determined to be a stolen vehicle that was tied to another unsolved case. But then, as police lieutenant Eric Woods recalled, a breakthrough came from the private sector.
“We were contacted by the Jewelers Security Alliance,” Woods said to the Westport Journal. “They heard about our case…[and told us] there’ve been eight similar incidents in Connecticut since the beginning of the year… they were all the same.”
Within 24 hours, police had tracked down one of the suspects, Jason Thourbourne, through his alleged interaction with past crimes that were of a similar nature. In November, a second defendant, Joshua DeJesus, was transported to Westport to be charged and held on a $250,000 bond.
During the raid on Thourbourne’s residence, police seized five Rolex watches and a cellphone that was in the same area at the same time as the robbery occurred. Westport police also discovered communications between Thourbourne and DeJesus about possible buyers for the watches.
“I saw the surveillance footage…they were really professional,” Yash Banerjee ’24 said. “I thought they’d be more careful with their communications.”
The robbery itself, especially the occurrence of it in broad daylight with staff and customers present, previously had gathered concern from residents.
“The jewelry store and car thefts were the two most prominent robberies this year,” Mikael Nagy ’24 said. “I’m really glad that they caught the perpetrators fairly quickly; it’s a deterrent against future crimes like this.”
