4 Arrested in San Jose Jewelry Heist

San Jose police say four men have been arrested in a January smash-and-grab at Macy’s inside Westfield Valley Fair. (sjpd.org) (ktvu.com) Police identified the suspects as Devin Hairston, 31, of Oakland; Charlie Jones, 23, of Oakland; Emilio Sanchez, 24, of Hayward; and Roman Camarena, 18, of Stockton. The robbery happened just before 1 p.m. on Jan. 11 at the mall on Stevens Creek Boulevard. (ktvu.com) (cbsnews.com) Investigators said the group used sledgehammers to break secured display cases and stole thousands of dollars in high-end watches before fleeing. Police said they tracked two suspect vehicles with San Jose’s automated license plate reader camera network and found the cars abandoned in San Jose and Fremont. (cbsnews.com) (ktvu.com) The arrests also tied the mall case to an earlier robbery in East San Jose. Police said Hairston and Camarena were involved in a Dec. 31, 2025 robbery at a jewelry store on McKee Road near North Capitol Avenue. (cbsnews.com) (ktvu.com) In that earlier case, police said suspects again used a sledgehammer, this time to smash a secured jewelry case and take several hundred thousand dollars in jewelry. Search warrants served at the suspects’ homes turned up possible evidence tied to the Valley Fair robbery, according to investigators. (cbsnews.com) The arrests stretched over more than three months. Police said Hairston was arrested Jan. 13 near Bakersfield by federal agents on an unrelated case, Sanchez was arrested March 18 in Hayward, and Jones was arrested April 14 in Oakland. (cbsnews.com) Camarena was arrested by San Leandro police in Dublin on unrelated crimes and was awaiting extradition to Santa Clara County as of April 23, police said. All four suspects were booked on armed robbery allegations, and the case was sent to prosecutors for review. (cbsnews.com) (hoodline.com) The Valley Fair robbery had drawn attention in January after witnesses said masked men smashed watch cases in the middle of a busy shopping day. NBC Bay Area reported the target appeared to be Rolex watches, and ABC7 reported that a shopper grabbed a suspect’s backpack as the group ran. (nbcbayarea.com) (abc7news.com) San Jose police said the investigation remains active and asked anyone with information about these cases or similar robberies to contact the department’s robbery unit. The arrests close one part of a case that now spans a mall theft, an East San Jose jewelry heist and multiple agencies. (cbsnews.com) (sjpd.org)