A Forsyth County man accused in a series of snatch-and-grab jewelry store robberies was arrested Wednesday after police say he stole a ring at a Lawrenceville mall and then pepper-sprayed a bystander who tried to stop him.
Jonathan Louis Weston, 32, of Cumming, was pulled over and taken into custody by Forsyth sheriff’s deputies after fleeing the Sugarloaf Mills mall, Gwinnett County police said in a news release. Witnesses who saw the man running from the Zales store at the mall took down his license plate number as he left.
Forsyth deputies then located Weston with the help of the Gwinnett police’s special investigation section. Weston was taken to the Gwinnett County Jail and booked on four counts of robbery and one count of battery, police said.
Weston’s alleged robbery spree began on Christmas Eve when he visited a Helzberg Diamonds at the Mall of Georgia, according to Gwinnett police. At the store, Weston asked to look at a pair of earrings, then ran once they were handed to him, authorities said. The earrings were worth $4,500.
The second theft took place a few days later, also at the Mall of Georgia. Police said Weston visited the Diamond Ring Company on Dec. 27 and asked to check the prices on two different earrings. As the store employee looked at the price tags, Weston is accused of snatching them and running from the store. One earring was valued at $14,800 and the other was worth $11,000.
Two days later, police said Weston committed another robbery at Sugarloaf Mills. He visited the Jewelry Box Outlet and asked to see a diamond ring, which he once again grabbed before running from the store, police said. The ring was valued at $8,900.
One week later, Weston is accused of visiting the Zales at Sugarloaf Mills and committing the robbery that led to his arrest, police said. In Wednesday’s incident, a bystander heard the Zales employee yell when Weston allegedly grabbed the diamond ring and ran away. The bystander tried to stop Weston, but police said the good Samaritan was pepper-sprayed.
Weston remains in the Gwinnett jail without bond, police said.
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