Eric Gaillard/Reuters
Two central figures in a Los Angeles commercial burglary ring that hit luxury watch stores throughout the region in a series of high-speed raids have been given time. Jameson Laforest, 26, and Robert Johnson, 29, both from Inglewood, have each received a minimum sentence of 22 years in federal prison. There, they’ll join the crew’s ostensible leader, Keith Walton, who was sentenced last month to 55 years in the pen. The group stole an estimated $6 million worth of luxury timepieces, often in a frenzy of shattered glass, stolen SUVs, and at least one gunshot; several of those heists were planned in a high-school parking lot. One of their smash-and-grabs took the crew a mere 61 minutes, from planning to execution—a crime precisely timed by ATF agents, who had the group under tightening surveillance. “These robberies were dangerous and violent—the precise reason they were successful,” prosecutors later explained. Despite the millions of dollars’ worth of watches, the Watchmen themselves will now have even more time to think about the value of their escapades.
—Geoff Manaugh