Days after arresting an employee of the Monroe company that makes Swiss Army knives and watches, police have made another arrest.
Mark Bancroft, 51, of Stratford, turned himself in to police on Monday.
On Thursday, police arrested Gilberto Nieves, 38, of Edgewood St, in Stratford. Nieves, the product repair manager for Victorinox Swiss Army, is accused of stealing more than $1 million worth of watches.
Police said Bancroft was the main purchaser of the watches.
The two men would meet up a couple times a month and Bancroft would buy stolen watches in bulk to resell them, police said.
Bancroft owns Village Billiards in Stratford, according to police. Whether he was believed to be selling the watches from the business is not known.
Bancroft was arraigned and released on a promise to appear in court on Oct. 11.
The two arrests come after a yearlong investigation.
Local
Officials from Victorinox, Swiss Army in Monroe contacted police in October 2011 when they were conducting inventory of the products at the warehouse located at 7 Victoria Drive and discovered that hundreds of wristwatches were missing.
In January 2011, no discrepancies were found, but random pieces disappeared over the next couple months, according to police.
In September, another full inventory was done, revealing a “large scale” loss of wristwatches.
At this point, the value of the missing watches had ballooned to a market value of $1,076,000.
As police investigated, they determined that an employee had taken the watches from the Victorinox property and sent them to multiple locations in and out of state.
The trail led Monroe police to San Marcos, Texas, where they served a search warrant and recovered thousands of dollars worth of stolen watches.
Information gained in Texas led to more search warrants and recoveries here in Connecticut, police said, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation was brought into the investigation until officials determined that this would stay in Connecticut courts.
Nieves was the product repair manager for Victorinox Swiss Army and had access to new watches and the second hand watches, according to police.
Police said he devised a way to remove a small number of watches from the property without being noticed by company security.
Over time, the smaller thefts added up to more than $1 million, according to police.
Nieves was charged with larceny in the first degree and conspiracy to commit larceny in the first degree.
He is being held on $150,000 bond and is next due in court on Oct. 12.
