Second Suspect Charged in Jewelry Heist: U.S. Attorney

A gunman in a brazen daylight robbery of a jewelry outlet in Manhattan's Diamond District was charged with armed robbery Thursday after being apprehended a day earlier in Maryland, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.

Leon Fenner, 58, is accused of brandishing a semiautomatic gun during a Nov. 11 heist at a jeweler's office in a building on 47th Street, Bharara said. He allegedly pistol-whipped a relative of the jeweler during the robbery, which occurred while the city's Veteran's Day parade passed a few blocks away.

More than $600,000 in jewelry was taken during the robbery, investigators said.

Fenner is the second suspect arrested in the case. Nearly a week after the heist, police arrested Rondu Frisby, 37, who was said to be a business associate of the jeweler. He has been charged with conspiracy to commit robbery and aiding and abetting an armed robbery, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Fenner was identified in surveillance video and through fingerprints on envelopes he left in the jeweler's office, investigators said.

Fenner is charged with armed robbery, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of brandishing a firearm during a robbery, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum of seven years in prison.

It wasn't immediately clear whether either suspect had an attorney.

A search warrant executed at Frisby's home uncovered more than $100.,000 in cash, prosecutors said.

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