A brazen hotel-side ambush after a jewelry exhibition near the University of South Florida has landed two Tampa residents in federal prison. Today, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle sentenced 39-year-old Gina Parra‑Martinez to seven years and three months, and 29-year-old Diego Ramirez‑Aldana to five years and one month for a March 2024 robbery that stripped a visiting jewelry vendor of about $1.3 million in merchandise and $9,000 in cash. Prosecutors said five masked people rushed the women outside a hotel after the show and yanked away bags loaded with gems and money.
According to prosecutors, investigators pieced the case together through a mix of surveillance footage, cellphone records and vehicle searches. Loose gems were recovered from the floorboard of a getaway car, and a fingerprint on a fake vehicle registration tied the document to Ramirez‑Aldana. Another vehicle turned up a bag with wigs, bleach and a ski mask, along with a fingerprint that linked Parra‑Martinez to the stash. Those investigative details and the sentencing outcome were detailed in local coverage by the Tampa Free Press.
How investigators built the case
Federal and local agents tracked four different vehicles and multiple cellphones to the area around the exhibition, then used phone data to place Ramirez‑Aldana near the event hours before the theft. The loose gems found in one vehicle were later identified by the victim as hers, and surveillance video captured the moment the masked crew rushed in and grabbed the bags outside the hotel.
The FBI Tampa Field Office assisted the Tampa Police Department in the investigation and, according to FBI Tampa, routinely partners with local agencies on complex jewelry and gem theft cases.
Flight and months on the run
After the robbery, Parra‑Martinez did not stick around. Prosecutors said she fled first to New York, then in April 2024 boarded a flight to California just hours before agents arrived to execute a search at her location. During that flight she changed clothes and later abandoned her luggage at a California baggage claim, allowing her to slip away and remain at large for several months before she was arrested. Those moves were laid out in an announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida.
Prosecution and sentence
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Samantha Newman, and the outcome was announced by U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe’s office. Both defendants had already pleaded guilty to charges tied to the robbery before Judge Mizelle handed down the prison terms in federal court. Federal prosecutors said the sentences reflect how seriously they view coordinated robberies targeting traveling vendors and trade exhibitions, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida.
Why it matters locally
Law enforcement officials say criminal crews have increasingly targeted jewelry sellers at shows, hotels and other venues where vendors are exposed and carrying high-value goods. The Justice Department has brought similar cases against organized theft rings in recent years, underscoring the risk to salespeople who crisscross the country with small fortunes in their carry-ons, as noted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
In this Tampa case, the victim had traveled in to sell at an exhibition and left with heavy financial and emotional losses. Authorities said some items were recovered but most of the value of the merchandise was gone. Investigators credited interagency cooperation for the arrests and convictions and noted that probes into similar takeover-style jewelry robberies remain active.
