Philadelphia

Jewelers' Row Abduction, Torture Suspect Gets 14 Years in Prison

One of the men involved in the kidnapping and torture of a Philadelphia jewelry store employee will now face 14 years in jail. Khayree Gay was sentenced Monday.

One of three men who pleaded guilty to the abduction and torture of a worker along Philadelphia's Jeweler's Row learned his fate Monday.

Khayree Gay was sentenced to 14 years in prison Monday afternoon in federal court in Philadelphia.

Gay's sentencing day came after ringleader Salahudin Shaheed, 35, received more than 30 years in prison and co-conspirator Basil Buie, 23, got 15 years for their roles in the National Watch and Diamond Exchange attempted heist.

Shaheed recruited Gay and Basil Buie to rob the National Watch and Diamond Exchange at 101 S 8th Street in Philadelphia last April, according to a federal indictment. The three men allegedly conducted surveillance of the store and its employees from a parking lot on the 700 block of Chestnut Street. 

On April 3, Shaheed identified a 54-year-old jewelry store clerk as their target but postponed the robbery when he spotted the woman entering a parking garage at 8th and Chestnut streets with other people, according to officials. The next day, the men returned to the parking garage, grabbed the woman, threw her into a van, placed a hood over her head and zip-tied her hands, investigators said. 

The trio took $800 in cash and her ring and demanded the woman's debit card pin number and codes to the alarm and safe at National Watch & Diamond Exchange, according to investigators.

But the victim didn't know the alarm and safe information, and when she couldn't supply the information, the suspects turned even more violent, agents said.

For the next few hours, they drove the victim around as she was beaten and repeatedly stunned with a Taser, officials said. They told her, agents said, "This is the day you're going to die."

She was eventually thrown from the van at Mount Lawn Cemetery in Darby, Pennsylvania. A concussion and broken ribs were the physical scars she suffered, as well as mental distress. 

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