Two East Bay men guilty in $1.1 million Heller Jewelers robbery, but prosecution is just beginning
MARTINEZ — It was a million-dollar heist pulled off with blazing speed, where dozens of men burst into a San Ramon jewelry store in broad daylight, swinging hammers, filling their bags, and firing shots before fleeing to getaway cars in a meticulously planned operation.
But five months after Heller Jewelers was hit, prosecutors in Contra Costa seem to be catching up. On Wednesday, a jury convicted two men of 14 felonies for their roles in the plot, and authorities recently secured indictments against 15 other suspects.
The defendants, Ira Austin, 19, and Jimmy Ray, 27, were convicted of conspiracy and 13 counts of robbery. Ray’s brother, Michael Ray, already pleaded no contest to being the getaway driver in exchange for a three-year prison term, and a juvenile, who prosecutors say was armed with a gun at the time, is being prosecuted separately, authorities say.
That brings the total suspects who have been charged or convicted to 19. But police say approximately 30 people were involved in the Sept. 22, 2025 robbery that saw the bandits make off with an estimated $1.1 million in stolen goods, according to court records.
The robbers ran into the store, located on 6000 Bollinger Canyon Road, a little before 2 p.m. When the owner closed a security gate behind them, they shot their way out.
To observers, it may have looked like chaos, but prosecutors say it was carefully planned with sophisticated means designed to impede the police. Some of the suspects were bagmen, while others wielded hammers to smash display cases or guns to wield at employees or customers. Two sets of getaway teams were recruited, to whisk the robbers away in vehicles without license plates to pre-determined locations, where “clean” cars — vehicles that couldn’t be tied to the robbery scene — were waiting for them.
“The plan was to go in armed … and in a massive show of force,” Deputy District Attorney Adam Wilks told jurors during his closing argument on Monday. “Anybody can go in and do a smash-and-grab. But if you want 30 people to do it successfully, it has to look like this.”
Austin, the teen boy, and the Ray brothers were arrested quickly because Michael Ray was unable to find the meeting location in Danville, and panicked. He told the others to meet him on International Boulevard, where a police helicopter was able to track them down, prosecutors say.
Another of the suspect vehicles crashed on Interstate 580 in Dublin and three men were seen running from it. They were identified as Jacques Samuel, Jahkeal Mchlothin, and Dandre Demisse, according to court records. Police were able to track them down that day as well.
Others were identified through cellphone records, government surveillance, and location tracking, according to police.