San Jose: Five additional suspects arrested on suspicion of involvement in jewelry store smash-and-grab

SAN JOSE — Five additional suspects have been arrested on suspicion of being involved in a high-profile jewelry store smash-and-grab robbery that made international headlines after the store’s elderly owner suffered a heart attack and stroke due to the stress of the incident, authorities said.

The five new suspects join eight other people who were arrested in October for allegedly robbing Kim Hung Jewelry on Aborn Road in East San Jose on Sept. 5, according to a news release from the San Jose Police Department. The five suspects, who were taken into local custody between Oct. 28 and Nov. 6, were all booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail on suspicion of robbery.

The newly-arrested suspects are Dennis Campos-Torres, a 22-year-old resident of Richmond, Fati Johnson, a 32-year-old resident of Oakland, Keimaree Dews, an 18-year-old resident of San Francisco, Jonathan Caruso, a 25-year-old resident of San Francisco, and Giovann Caliz, a 32-year-old resident of Livermore, authorities said.

Police previously said that they believe that more than a dozen people took part in robbing the store — an attack captured on surveillance video — after a vehicle was driven into the front entrance. The robbers stormed the store before making off with thousands of dollars worth of items, authorities said.

One of the suspects allegedly held a gun to the head of an adult male victim, authorities said. The store’s elderly owner was violently shoved to the ground. Just a moment after the first group of robbers fled, a second group entered the store and immediately left upon seeing that the display cases were empty.

The store’s owner, who has been identified only by his family name Bui, suffered a stroke following the attack and later a heart attack in the hospital while recovering, both of which doctors attributed to the stress of the robbery. He is now recovering at home.

The robbery was one of several smash-and-grabs across the Bay Area that made headlines in recent weeks. Twenty people stormed a San Ramon jewelry store in late September, and investigators linked an East Oakland gang to dozens of robberies.

Caliz was in custody for a separate incident and was extradited to San Jose on Oct. 28, authorities said. Caruso was arrested Nov. 5 in San Francisco with the assistance of the San Jose Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

On Nov. 6, Campos-Torres was arrested in Oakland with the assistance of SJPD’s Covert Response Unit, authorities said. On the same day, suspects Johnson was arrested in Oakland and Dews was arrested in San Francisco, both with the assistance of the San Jose Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Anyone with further information on this case is asked to contact Detective Hernandez #4392 or Detective Leonard #4913 at 4392@sanjoseca.gov, 4913@sanjoseca.gov or 408-277-4166.

The robbery also prompted the creation of a county-wide program that provides funding to small businesses to connect security cameras to SJPD’s real-time intelligence center or install concrete planters in front of stores to prevent cars from driving through.