How a $348,000 diamond ring stolen in 2018 from a Fort Worth home was returned
.jpg "Raymond Espinoza of Fort Worth has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for a 2018 jewelry heist that netted him a ring worth $348,000.")
Two weeks ago, a 9 carat diamond worth $348,000 was still nowhere to be found after being stolen in a home burglary in west Fort Worth more than a year ago, and the Fort Worth man accused of stealing it was set to go to trial.
Today, that platinum diamond is back with its owner and Raymond Espinoza, one of the most prolific jewelry thieves in North Texas, is headed back to prison, this time for 30 years.
In a plea agreement with prosecutors last week, the 63-year-old Fort Worth man who has preyed on homes in west Fort Worth since 1981 pleaded guilty to theft of property over $300,000. He has been in the Tarrant County Jail since his arrest in January 2018.
Other drug and burglary charges were dismissed as part of the agreement.
Prosecutors said Espinoza had an expensive heroin habit.
He also had to forfeit $1,011 in cash and his 2005 BMW, which prosecutors say was used in home burglaries to fit into wealthy North Texas neighborhoods.
“This sentence is the reflection of the work of numerous detectives and officers with the Fort Worth Police Department west side CID,” said Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Lori Varnell in an email Tuesday. “They tirelessly sought to return victim’s property and to stop this man that was terrorizing the west side of Fort Worth.”
Varnell had offered 60 years to Espinoza without the diamond before the trial was scheduled to begin on Jan. 25. But Espinoza took the 30-year deal when the huge diamond was returned to prosecutors.
“Mr. Espinoza had an extensive criminal history and if he had gone to trial and been convicted, he faced 99 to life,” said Walt A. Cleveland of Bedford, Espinoza’s attorney, in a Tuesday telephone interview. “It was prudent to accept the plea bargain.”
Espinoza must serve at least seven to eight years before he is eligible for parole, Cleveland said.
Cleveland declined on Tuesday to comment on how the diamond was returned.
Espinoza took the huge diamond ring during a home burglary on Jan. 5, 2018, much like he had done in burglaries in Tarrant and Dallas counties for more than three decades. He threw a rock through a window, rushed inside and took only jewelry that he found in a bedroom, according to Fort Worth police reports.
One of the pieces of jewelry was the $348,000 ring. Through an intense investigation and a video from a home surveillance camera, Espinoza was arrested several days later, but the ring wasn’t found.
The ring had been estimated to be worth $348,000 in 2016, prosecutors said.
“The diamond was mysteriously returned once the prosecution was ready to go to trial,” Varnell said.
Espinoza has a lengthy criminal history in Tarrant County, according to Tarrant County criminal court records and Fort Worth police reports.
Since 1981, he committed burglaries two or three times a week, focusing on the Tanglewood and Westover Hills neighborhoods of Fort Worth, prosecutors said. He would often wait for homeowners to leave, throw a rock through a window, enter the residence and steal jewelry, according to court records.
In some cases, Espinoza was armed with a weapon.
Many times, the gold jewelry was melted the same day it was stolen and sold, prosecutors said.
Prisoner Robert Mendoza, who was scheduled to testify in Espinoza’s trial, had told prosecutors he accompanied Espinoza on numerous home burglaries, according to criminal court records. In one case, Espinoza stole a big safe and was able to open it, Mendoza told prosecutors.
Mendoza is in state prison serving 30 years for burglary of a habitation in Tarrant County. He was sentenced in July 2012.
Espinoza switched targets to North Texas jewelry stores and armored vehicles in the late 1980s and early 1990, according to federal court documents.
From May 1989 until January 1990, Espinoza and his heavily armed accomplices stole more than $440,000 in jewelry and cash from Village Jewelry in Dallas, Crowell Jewelry in Pantego, Haltom Jewelers in Fort Worth, a Loomis Armored car in Fort Worth and Payroll Services of America.
Espinoza was eventually arrested on federal charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1991. He was released in 2010.
He had gone back to home burglaries by 2014 and continued until January 2018, according to court documents.
On Jan. 9, 2018, Espinoza was taken into custody after his truck crashed into another vehicle in Fort Worth and he fled.
During a search, police found heroin on Espinoza, authorities said.
At that time, Espinoza had been the focus of an investigation by Fort Worth detectives into home burglaries in west Fort Worth. He was later charged in the burglary where the huge diamond was taken.
This story was originally published February 5, 2019 at 3:13 PM with the headline "How a $348,000 diamond ring stolen in 2018 from a Fort Worth home was returned."
