On Monday we told you the story of Jason Clay Kennedy and the Brothers O'Brien, who, on February 5, disabled a Houston jewelry store's alarm and video surveillance system and sawed through six inches of steel and concrete and made off with $6 million in 22-carat gold, Rolex watches and precious stones. The next day, John O'Brien walked into Millennium Precious Metals off of Arbuckle Court in Northwest Dallas hauling buckets filled with 99 pounds of melted-down gold; they walked out with $1.7 million.
Four days later he returned, this time with 85 pounds of gold in plastic Home Depot buckets and left with another $1.3 million. Houses, Land Rovers and Mercedes were purchased, as the trio embarked on a profligate spending spree like every dumb criminal in history. But investigators traced them by the saw blades they left behind and footage caught by an outdoor security camera of men dragging something heavy into a Ford pickup -- one belonging to Kennedy.
Bryan Wallis, president of Millennium, swears he didn't know the goods were ill-gotten. That's not good enough, says the Patel family, who own the robbed Houston jewelry store, Karat 22.
They filed suit in Harris County District Court two days ago, naming not just the O'Brien brothers, but Dallas-based Millennium too, accusing them of taking part in a "civil conspiracy," and seeking a restraining order to prevent the auction of equipment and cars associated with a crane company and a car lot, all financed with the stolen gold. The auction is set to take place next week
Karat 22 is, of course, asking for $6 million in damages.
