Gunderson’s attempted robbery suspects were part of notorious jewelry theft ring

FARGO (KFGO) – The two men arrested in Michigan last week for an attempted armed robbery at Gunderson’s Jewelers in Fargo had only recently been released from prison for their roles in a smash-and-grab robbery gang that operated across the country.

Dajuan Marcellus and Kordaryl Cross were members of a group of more than a dozen people from the Detroit area who were charged in 2014 for robberies in nine states which involved the use of sledgehammers to steal Rolexes from jewelry stores.

Parole violation documents filed against Marcellus and Cross last week provide a detailed account of the attempted robbery at Gunderson’s. The reports say the car the suspects used to get to and from the store was stolen from a Fargo residence earlier in the day. Surveillance video at the store showed five people were in the car when it arrived and the three people in the back seat approached the store in camouflage and masks. They got into the vestibule area of the store before the security guard locked the interior doors. The security guard reported seeing one of the suspects pull a handgun before they turned and fled.

The report says detectives investigating the case and reviewing traffic camera footage noticed a white Jeep appeared to be traveling in tandem with the stolen car as it made its way around Fargo including the two vehicles pulling into the same apartment complex prior to the Gunderson’s robbery attempt. The Jeep appeared to wait at the complex during the robbery attempt, and the stolen vehicle was later recovered there. Marcellus and Cross were pulled over in the Jeep, which was rented by Marcellus, by state troopers in Paw Paw, Michigan. Bags with camouflage clothing and sledgehammers were found in the car. There were also receipts from a Taco Bell and surplus store in Minot in the vehicle.

Both men were indicted in 2015 on conspiracy to interfere with interstate commerce by robbery related to a theft at Little’s Jewelry in Mississippi. Marcellus was also involved in robberies in North Carolina and in Nebraska – again at a Gunderson’s store in Omaha. He was given a seven-year sentence for those crimes in 2018. Cross was sentenced in 2015 to eight years for his role in robberies in New York and Maryland. Both men have been out on supervised release since the spring of 2022.