MARTINEZ — A Contra Costa County jury has convicted an Oakland man in a series of high-value watch thefts, authorities said.
The jury convicted Shane Downs, 27, of four counts of armed robbery of high-value watches, as well as one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to a statement from Contra Costa County District Attorney spokesman Ted Asregadoo.
The flights took place in 2021.
Asregadoo said each count of the robbery charge alleged that Downs followed his victims from a public place to their homes and robbed them at gunpoint while wearing a mask over his face and head.
The value of the stolen watches ranged from $3,500 to $15,000.
Asregadoo said the jury acquitted Downs of a July 2020 charge stemming from a robbery in Orinda.
According to Asregadoo, the jury agreed that Downs robbed two of his victims on April 18, 2021, by following a Walnut Creek woman to a home in Oakley and another from Walnut Creek to Concord. The jury found that during the first robbery, Downs brandished a gun and pointed it at the woman and that during the second, he pointed the gun and hit the victim in the head with it, Asregadoo said.
Downs stole a Rolex in the first robbery that day and a Panerai Luminor watch in the second, Asregadoo said.
The other robberies occurred on May 24, 2021, and May 30, 2021, respectively. Asregadoo said the jury found that Downs followed a person from Walnut Creek to Danville in the first case and from a Walnut Creek store to a Walnut Creek home in the second.
Downs is scheduled to be sentenced for his crimes on November 15.
