LAS VEGAS, NV—Three local men have been charged with robbing a jewelry store in Las Vegas last week of approximately $700,000 worth of merchandise , announced U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden for the District of Nevada.

Theren Phillip Frazier, 27, Phillip Allerson Vaughn, 25, and Eric Jamar Goodall, 29, of North Las Vegas, are charged in a criminal complaint with one count of interference with commerce by robbery. They made an initial court appearance yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cam Ferenbach. Frazier and Vaughn were detained pending a preliminary hearing, and Goodall was temporarily detained pending a hearing on Monday. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

“Our U.S. Attorney’s Office has made the prosecution of violent retail robbery and theft cases a priority,” said U.S. Attorney Bogden. “We have been working with our local police departments and federal partners to identify these violent crime cases with interstate nexus for federal prosecutions. The persons committing these crimes are typically repeat offenders who are unlawfully carrying and using firearms in furtherance of their crimes and are violating federal laws.”

The complaint alleges that at about 2:00 p.m. on Nov. 10, Goodall, who was brandishing a semiautomatic pistol, and Vaughn entered a jewelry store located just off the Las Vegas Strip, and told victims to get down on the floor while they demanded jewelry and robbed the display cases of several hundred items of jewelry. Vaughn and Goodall loaded the jewelry into a backpack and left the store with about $700,000 worth of merchandise. They were observed fleeing in a small white sedan driven by Frazier. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) officers followed the white car to a warehouse about a mile north, where Goodall and Vaughn jumped from the vehicle while it was still moving, and were apprehended. Officers found the white vehicle badly damaged in a nearby casino valet area, and recovered from it a semiautomatic pistol registered to Frazier and all of the jewelry from the robbery. Frazier was arrested three days later by an FBI-led Criminal Apprehension Team task force.

The case is being investigated by the FBI and LVMPD, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathryn C. Newman and Daniel Cowhig.

The public is reminded that a criminal complaint contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.