Defendant in Smash-and-Grab Rolex Robberies Gets 33 Years

WEST BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, MI – A Philadelphia man who was a member of what authorities described as a six-person crew involved in the theft of about $1.3 million in Rolex watches in a violent robbery at a high-end West Bloomfield jewelry store two years ago was sentenced to 33 years in prison Tuesday.

Nathaniel Pembrook, 43, was sentenced in federal court for his role in the robbery at Tapper’s Diamonds and Fine Jewelry in West Bloomfield and the attempted robbery of Medawar Jewelers on the same day in April 2014, U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said.

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Pembrook and co conspirators David Briley, Shaheed Calhoun and Orlando Johnson were convicted of a variety of charges in a four-week trial that ended in December, including conspiracy to interfere with interstate commerce by force, interference with interstate commerce by force, use and carry of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, and being felons in possession of firearms.

Briley, Calhoun, and Johnson, all from Philadelphia, are all scheduled to be sentenced May 13 in the federal courthouse in Detroit.

Two other accomplices are still at large.

Evidence presented at trial showed that all four men lived in Philadelphia and traveled to Michigan on April 21-22, 2014 to commit armed robberies of jewelry stores, particularly targeting the Rolex distributors, as part of a six-person robbery crew.

Their first target was Medawar Jewelers in Grand Rapids just after noon on April 22, 2014. One of the robbers used a hammer to smash the Rolex watch display while three other robbers, one armed with a gun, rushed the back area of the store looking for other valuables, McQuade said.

About five hours later, three men, dressed in identical clothes as the robbers in Grand Rapids earlier that day, entered Tapper’s Diamonds and Fine Jewelry, located at 6337 Orchard Lake Road in West Bloomfield, and held employees and customers at gunpoint as they stole approximately $1.3 million worth of Rolex watches, prosecutors said.

The men then fled the store without being apprehended.

Pembrook, whose blood was discovered at the scene of the Grand Rapids robbery attempt, checked himself into a Pennsylvania hospital with a gunshot wound on April 23. The bullet removed from his arm matched the one fired from the Medawar owner’s gun, authorities said.

Additionally. investigators tracked down video and cell phone information that helped to place all of these men from Philadelphia in Michigan and more specifically the robbery locations during the times of the robbery, McQuade said.

"Armed robberies create a level of fear and risk to life that are unacceptable," McQuade said in a statement. "We are grateful for the collaboration of law enforcement agencies across state lines to build this investigation and bring these offenders to justice."

David P. Gelios, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit Division, said Pembrook’s long sentence and the convictions of his co-conspirators “should serve as a reminder to anyone who would travel to Michigan with the intent to commit a crime, particularly violent crimes, that the FBI, along with its federal, state and local partners, will locate them and bring them to justice.”

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Daniel Lemisch and Christopher Graveline.