TAMPA, Fla. — Two people have been sentenced to federal prison for their roles in the robbery of an estimated $1.3 million worth of jewelry in Tampa, according to federal prosecutors.
Gina Parra-Martinez, 39, was sentenced to seven years and three months in federal prison.
Diego Ramirez-Aldana, 29, was sentenced to five years and one month in federal prison.
Both had previously pleaded guilty, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
According to court records and testimony at sentencing, the robbery happened in March 2024 after a jewelry vendor visited Tampa to sell jewelry at an exhibition at a hotel near the University of South Florida campus.
Prosecutors said the victim and her sister took a rideshare from the exhibition back to their hotel.
Surveillance video showed that when they arrived, a vehicle pulled up and five masked people got out, rushed the victims, pushed them and stole their bags, according to prosecutors.
The stolen jewelry was valued at an estimated $1.3 million. Prosecutors said the robbers also took $9,000 in cash.
Investigators later tied four vehicles and multiple cellphones to the area of the robbery.
Prosecutors said Ramirez-Aldana’s cellphone was traced near the jewelry exhibition hours before the robbery. Investigators also found loose gems on the floorboard of one of the vehicles used in the robbery, and the victim later identified the gems as hers.
A fingerprint on a false registration in the vehicle belonged to Ramirez-Aldana, according to prosecutors.
Parra-Martinez’s cellphone was traced near the jewelry exhibition the day before the robbery, prosecutors said.
Surveillance footage from the exhibition showed a woman matching Parra-Martinez’s appearance walking through the event wearing a baseball cap, according to prosecutors.
Investigators also said Parra-Martinez’s fingerprint was recovered from a bag that contained bleach, wigs and a ski mask in another vehicle tied to the robbery.
After the Tampa robbery, prosecutors said Parra-Martinez traveled back to New York.
When agents executed a search warrant at an address where she was staying in April 2024, prosecutors said she had left hours earlier and boarded a plane to California.
Prosecutors said Parra-Martinez changed clothes mid-flight, left her luggage at baggage claim in California and evaded capture for several months before she was arrested.
The case was investigated by the FBI and Tampa Police Department.
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