06/18/08 Today's Top Story: Man Trades Wigs For Prison Uniform

In the Massachusetts and South Windsor robberies, Kertesz entered the stores wearing a wig and women's clothing, before pulling out an Uzi-type firearm on an unsuspecting clerk. He escaped with $388,000 in jewelry from the Natick store and $259,000 from the South Windsor store. His take from the Glastonbury store was $200,000.

The unexpected appearance of a Greenwich police officer apparently rattled Kertesz, who dropped the backpack while making his escape from Betteridge Jewelers

Jewelry Store Robber Gets 21 Years In Prison
Hartford Courant
Two other conspirators, Eric Ortiz and Ernesto Ortiz, pleaded guilty to charges related to their roles in the Greenwich robbery. ...

Jewelry robber sentenced to 21 years in prison Boston Globe

Jewelry store robber gets 20 years Connecticut Post

Boston Channel.com

Also:

Betteridge bandit gets 21 years

By Martin B. Cassidy
Greenwich Time / Staff Writer

A former Bridgeport man has been sentenced to 21 1/2 years in prison after admitting to being the gun-toting motorcyclist in a chaotic holdup at Betteridge Jewelers on Sept. 1, 2006, during which he stole nearly $5 million in jewels.

Charles Kertesz, 38, was sentenced to 20 years on four counts of Hobbs Act Robbery in connection with the unsuccessful Betteridge heist and three other jewelry store hold-ups in Connecticut and Massachuetts between July 2005 and September 2006, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Connecticut.

The Hobbs Act is a federal law prohibiting violence that could affect interstate commerce.

According to court affidavits, Kertesz planned the Betteridge robbery and held up the store using a semiautomatic weapon, before walking out with a backpack stuffed with more than 60 pieces of jewelry worth $4.7 million....

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