3 men arrested for April robbery at San Marcos jewelry store: police

License plate reader program in San Marcos

License plate readers were recently scaled back due to privacy concerns express during a city council meeting at the beginning of the month.

SAN MARCOS, Texas - Three men have been arrested for a robbery at a San Marcos jewelry store in April.

What we know:

On April 25, two masked men armed with hammers entered Royal Jewelers in San Marcos, ordering the clerk to the ground, smashing display cases, and stealing over 100 pieces of jewelry. 

The men fled in a stolen Ford Fusion with a fake temp tag, later switching vehicles to a white Dodge Durango.

San Marcos police say that the arrests were thanks to surveillance cameras, license plate reader technology and detectives.

The arrests

28-year-old Marcus Javae Williams, 27-year-old Montah Jabriel Franklin, and 31-year-old Telvine Jabber Daw, all of San Antonio, were arrested last Friday in coordinated operations in San Antonio and Austin.

The three were charged with first-degree aggravated robbery and first-degree felony engaging in organized criminal activity for the April robbery.

Franklin is also facing charges of: 

• First-degree felony engaging in organized criminal activity (for a June 13 offense)
• First-degree felony manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance (penalty group 1 between 4 and 200 grams)
• First-degree felony manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance (penalty group 2 between 4 and 400 grams)
• State-jail felony possession of marijuana between 4 oz and 5lbs
• Third-degree felony unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon

Daw is also facing 

• First-degree felony engaging in organized criminal activity (for a June 13 offense)
• Second-degree felony manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance (penalty group 1 between 1 and 4 grams)

Williams is in the Hays County Jail on a collective $500,000 bond for his two charges.

Franklin is in the Hays County Jail on a collective $1,280,000 bond for his seven charges.

Daw is in the Hays County Jail on a collective $900,000 bond for his four charges.

What they're saying:

"We believe license plate reader technology is a valuable investigative tool. It is not the only tool. A lot of investigation went into this recent aggravated robbery," Police Chief Stan Standridge said. "We recognize they're of incredible value which is why we want to try to retain the 14 [LPRs]."

License plate readers were recently scaled back due to privacy concerns expressed during a city council meeting at the beginning of the month.

"We huddled for about two weeks and asked how do we address all of these privacy concerns while simultaneously recognizing the value of license plate readers," Standridge said.

Read more about the changes here.

"We have gone above and beyond to be transparent, we've shown exactly where the cameras are. They are on the major ingress and egress routes into San Marcos," Standridge said.