2 suspects charged after men in clown costumes commit jewel heist in western Mexico

Clown-costume suspects charged in Mexico heist

MEXICO CITY — They aren’t laughing now.

Prosecutors in western Mexico say they have filed robbery charges against two alleged members of a gang of thieves blamed for a “clown jewels” caper.

The gang — some of whose members dressed up in clown costumes — burst into a jewelry store in the western city of Guadalajara on July 26 and made off with at least 1.2 million pesos ($900,000) worth of booty. The clown costumes were later found abandoned in a car.

In an announcement issued Thursday, the prosecutor’s office in the state of Jalisco says two of six suspects have been caught and charged while a third has been detained pending investigation.

It says one of the suspects confessed to being the one of the men behind the masks, seeking the “clown jewels.”