Leader of grab-and-run ring sentenced

Portland, Ore.--A 36-year-old man received 10 years in prison for being one of the leaders of a grab-and-run crime ring that stole millions in diamonds and jewelry from 23 stores in seven states, even using a Chihuahua to distract workers in one store. 

According to court documents, Ernest Remor went before U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez in Portland on Nov. 17 for his sentencing on federal charges including conspiracy to commit the crime of interstate transportation of stolen property and interstate transportation of stolen property.

A minor involved in the case, Kamile Brown, was sentenced to three years of probation.

Remor originally was arrested in July 2011 in West Salem, Ore. at the same time as two more suspects involved in the case--Michael Young, 42, another leader of the group, and Jack Cannon, 28.

All three pleaded guilty this past July to charges of conspiracy to commit the crime of interstate transportation of stolen property and three counts of interstate transportation of stolen property.

According to court documents, between late 2009 and the middle of 2011, the gang reportedly stole around $3 million in diamonds and jewelry from 23 stores in Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee, Nevada, California and Oregon.

The case involved eight thieves in total, and they planned every minute of the robberies days in advance, according to a document released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2011. A few would case the jewelry store and figure out the setup and which employees they should target, and then a few different robbers, who wouldn’t be recognized, would then go in and engage and distract the employees with various methods before grabbing what they wanted and fleeing.

One of their tactics included a getaway on a Jet Ski, according to the The Oregonian, as well as using a Chihuahua to distract an employee by asking them to hold the little dog while they looked at two diamond rings and then ran of the store with them.

They would then transport the diamonds back to Pennsylvania, where they would sell them through a Philadelphia