The Connecticut Post Mall in Milford, Conn. Harold Ramirez Cagua was sentenced in connection with a nationwide jewelry robbery ring stole more than $4.4 million, including in Milford.

BRIDGEPORT — A citizen of Colombia was sentenced July 29 in Bridgeport in connection to a coordinated, nationwide string of jewelry robberies that included the Nutmeg State. 

Harold Ramirez Cagua, also known as “Gordo,” 42, is a citizen of Colombia who last lived in Miami, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Connecticut. U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport sentenced Cagua to 57 months in prison for his role in the robbery ring as its “logistics operative.” 

Cagua had been detained since July 18, 2024, and pleaded guilty to interstate transportation of stolen property on March 5, 2025.

One of the jewelry establishments Cagua and his co-conspirators burglarized was a store at the Connecticut Post Mall in Milford on Oct. 5, 2023.  

The group also burglarized jewelry establishments in New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, New York, Illinois and Virginia, from May 17, 2023, to April 18, 2024. The total losses from the burglaries exceeded $4.4 million, according to the news release. The group also hit stores in Iowa, Wisconsin and Delaware. 

Cagua secured flights, rental cars and lodging so co-conspirators could travel to perform the burglaries. 

According to court documents and statements made in court, the co-conspirators would surveil the targeted stores and kiosks to “formulate game plans.” As a part of this reconnaissance, they would also pose as customers to case the locations, noting preferred items to steal and assessing security measures. 

Then, the group would strike their targets.

“During the burglaries, he and his associates forced his way into closed businesses, sometimes by cutting a hole through a wall, and then pried open and smashed locked display cases,” the release read. “They then carted off the stolen merchandise.”

None of the stolen jewelry had been recovered as of July 29, according to the release. According to the investigation, much of the stolen jewelry was sold to the owner of a jewelry store in Queens, New York, who then sold it to others. Some of the stolen wares were melted down into gold, officials said.

Cagua is just one of several individuals to be sentenced in connection with the scheme.

In September 2025, another Colombian national, 41-year-old Yesenia Melendez-Rincon, who last resided in Florida, was sentenced to two years in prison for her involvement. Melendez-Rincon was involved in the sale of the stolen jewelry and also often served as a "'a lookout' during the burglaries," according to officials.  

Edixon Rincon Puentes, a 45-year-old Colombian national most recently living in Los Angeles, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison in March. Rincon Puentes served as a lookout and driver, officials said.

Then, most recently, the jeweler who purchased the stolen goods was sentenced in June. The 55-year-old Brooklyn native, Salim Sakal, was the co-owner of Ramoun Jewelry, located in Corona, New York, which sold fine jewelry to retail customers. He was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to buying and selling jewelry stolen from across the country.

July 30, 2026