Alleged robber busted in violent $500K NYC jewelry heist that injured elderly woman
A second suspect was busted this week in connection to a violent half-million-dollar Queens jewelry heist that left a 79-year-old woman injured nearly a year ago, cops said.
Abel Andrade Vargas, 21, of Syracuse, was arrested Wednesday and charged with two counts of robbery in connection to the Feb. 22, 2023 stick-up at Diamond Collect near Prince Street and 39th Avenue in Downtown Flushing, police said.
Vargas – joined by 33-year-old accomplice Andry Marcano – rushed into the store, where the violent duo punched, kicked and pistol-whipped 79-year-old Yuchi Lin around 2:30 p.m., cops said.
Store owner Eva Chen previously told The Post her mother, Yuchi, had just flown in from Taiwan for a visit hours earlier when the daughter went to get lunch and left her mom in charge of the store.
“They pointed a gun at her head and said, ‘Open the safe! Open the safe!’” Chen, 43, said of the broad-daylight horror. “But my mom didn’t know. She was totally terrified.”
One of the suspects posed as an Amazon worker and even tried to throw the senior off by placing a package at the door to the shop, Chen said at the time.
Footage obtained by The Post shows Lin peeking out the door as she goes to get the package a few minutes later, then quickly trying to close it as the man in the Amazon garb runs up.
The suspect catches the door and pushes his way past the defenseless senior into the store, just as his accomplice, wearing all black — who was still hiding on the staircase — forces his way inside, too.
Another video released by the NYPD shows one of the men pushing past the woman as she flails at his feet.
His masked partner — with a reusable shopping bag in one hand — whips a gun out from his waistband as the elderly store worker raises her hand over her head in self-defense.
In another clip, the woman can be seen cowering on the floor as glass from a broken jewelry enclosure falls around her.
The two shoplifters removed about $500,000 worth of merchandise before fleeing on foot toward Prince Street.
The septuagenarian was hospitalized in stable condition.
Marcano, of New Jersey, was arrested back in May and also charged with two counts of robbery, police said.
“This could happen to anyone, right?” Chen said last year. “Wearing a costume, knock on the door — your parents, your kids — open the door, and they have a gun!
“They can kill anyone. That’s really crazy. They are wearing a costume. They could wear a police costume, they could wear a Con Edison costume.”
A voicemail left on the business’ phone was not immediately returned Thursday.
