In nine months, one woman robbed six jewelery stores in five states, twice walking away with nearly $1 million in stolen goods, according to federal authorities.
Abigail Lee Kemp, 24, has been charged with conspiracy to interfere with commerce by threats or violence in connection with the robberies.
She was taken into custody in Smyrna, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, without incident, the FBI’s Jacksonville, Florida, office announced on Saturday.
All the robberies happened about the same time of day and employed similar methods, according to authorities.
An affidavit from the Federal Bureau of Investigation states that in each case, a white female used a gun to threaten store employees, herded them to the back of the store where she had them lie face down and then tied their hands behind their backs.
The robber then proceeded to remove “hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry from the jewelry display cases,” according to a press release from the FBI.
Five of the six robberies have happened since August, the latest in Mebane, North Carolina, on December 30.
A potential accomplice
When authorities arrested Kemp, they found Lewis Jones with her.
He was also arrested and was initially charged by Delkalb County Police in connection with two armed robberies, one at a Navy Federal Credit Union and another at a Regions Bank.
Authorities said they were looking for a potential accomplice in the robberies: a large man in his late 30s or early 40s, who has been seen in surveillance video in four of the robberies.
Jones was named as a second suspect in the cases and was charged in connection with the jewelry robberies on Monday.
If convicted, both Jones and Kemp face a maximum of 20 years in prison.
