Man Who Kidnaps And Tortures Jewelry Store Worker Gets 15-Year Prison Sentence

Jewelry thieves are hot on their feet these days. One of the three men, who kidnapped and tortured a woman who was working in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at Hobbs Act jewelry store, has been convicted of kidnapping and torture and has been sentenced to 15 years in a federal prison. The man, 24-year-old Basil Buie, or otherwise known as “Basil Tucker” pleaded guilty in October for conspiracy, kidnapping, and attempting to rob the jewelry store, Hobbs Act. He had two other men who helped him, Khayree Gay and Salahudin Shaheed who also pleaded guilty to the same convictions.

According to ABC, Shaheed was the one who talked the other two into robbing another jewelry store, the National Watch and Diamond Exchange which is located on the 100 block of S. 8^th street in Philadelphia. They were originally after luxury watches, money, and, of course, jewelry.

ABC says, the three men kidnapped the female jewelry store worker and dumped her in a cemetery torturing her in an attempt to get her to tell them the security codes for the shop. Because of what these three men did to this woman, she has suffered partial vision loss, traumatic brain injury, and memory loss. The three men kidnapped her; hit her with a Taser, while wearing masks, sunglasses, and gloves during the incident. The judge who sentenced these men said he could not remember a more heinous and horrific crime during his almost a quarter of a century of being a judge.

As mentioned above, jewelry thieves are hot on their feet these days because Hobbs Act jewelry store wasn’t the only one to be robbed recently. As NBC reports, a jewelry thief in Las Vegas robbed a small mom and pop jewelry store that has been serving Las Vegas for years now. According to the owner of the store, a man walked into the small store and easily swiped $20,000 worth of jewels from under the jewel case. Video surveillance captured the crime on tape. It took him only 20 seconds to steal what he wanted and to get out. This happened on Tuesday night and although video surveillance captured the whole thing, the store owner asked to be kept off camera as well as to keep the store name out of the report out of concern for his business and family.

Surveillance video shows the man walking into the store and starting out by making small talk with the store workers. He then walks over to the glass case, looks in front of him and behind him, making sure no one is watching him, and slipping the jewels inside out of the glass case and into his bags. He then walks out of the store. This all took him 20 seconds to do.

And these two robberies weren’t the only ones that happened either. AJC says, crime stoppers are searching for a man who stole $16,000 worth of jewelry in Atlanta, Georgia. This robbery happened during the Scott Antique Market Show at the Atlanta Expo Center in Atlanta. This theft happened in the morning of January 9. An off-duty police officer was working an extra shift at the Atlanta Expo Center when he was called about the robbery. This one happened at the Diamonds and Such jewelry store. Store owner, Bobby Steverson and his staff working at the Atlanta Expo Center notified the off-duty police officer when they noticed there were four necklaces missing from their case.

This was also when video surveillance footage came in handy for the store owner and police because video caught a black man walking over to the case these necklaces were in, bending over as if to examine the necklaces, and then slipping them out of their case and inside his coat, then leaving.

According to AJC, all five of the employees working the jewelry booth at the Expo Center were busy with customers during the time of the robbery. One necklace was an 18-carat gold piece that is worth $8,860.25, while the three other pieces that were also taken were worth $3,200 and $2000 each.

The police think this isn’t the first time this thief stole anything from these antique shows and he may have even taken things from the Lakewood Antique Show. Crime Stoppers are offering an award of $2,000 to anyone who has any information about this robbery, which can lead to an arrest and conviction of this thief.

[Photo credit: Rob Stothard/Getty Images]