HUMBLE, Texas A Houston man was arrested Thursday after he was accused of stealing an engagement ring set from a Zales Jewelers on Aug. 13, court records state.
Anthony Dewayne Ross, 40, is charged with robbery and remains in custody with bail set at $20,000, court records state.
Investigators with the Harris County Sheriff s Office said in an affidavit that they met with the store manager at the Zales Jewelers, located at the 6700 block of E. FM 1960 Road, who said that Ross had taken an engagement ring set that she was showing him.
The store manager said that Ross asked to see a white gold diamond engagement ring set, the affidavit states. She placed the rings on her fingers to show them to Ross.
Ross said that he wanted to compare them with another set from the display case, the affidavit states. The store manager removed the second ring set from the display case and put them on as well.
She said Ross looked over the rings for several minutes and then grabbed her hands and tried to remove them from her fingers, the affidavit states. He was able to pull off one of the ring set sets and fled the store.
The set allegedly stolen is valued at $6,250, the affidavit states.
On Sept. 19, investigators with the Pearland Police Department contacted sheriff s investigators explaining that their suspect in a robbery from Kay Jewelers on Sept. 17 matched Ross description.
They said that their suspect used the same method of operation at the suspect in the Zales robbery.
Police sent over a report with the license plate number of the suspect s vehicle.
The report also named Ross as the suspect based on information from the vehicle s registration.
Authorities tried to set up a meeting with Ross, but he referred them to his attorney, the affidavit states.
Sheriff s investigators then conducted a search on LeadsOnline.com and found a transaction involving Ross on Aug. 13 just 47 minutes after the Zales robbery, the affidavit states.
After checking with the EZ Pawn where the transaction took place, they were able match the rings stolen with the ones that were pawned.
Investigators confiscated the rings and also obtained the store surveillance video of the transaction.
They matched Ross with the subject in the pawn shop surveillance video and the jewelry store surveillance video, the affidavit states.
Then employees at the EZ Pawn and the Zales Jewelers positively identified Ross from a photo array provided to them by sheriff s investigators.
