More than $50K worth of jewelry stolen from store

Police are investigating the burglary of a Fairfield jewelry store where more than $50,000 worth of jewelry was stolen late last month.

Officers responded to a glass break alarm at Lenox Jewelers at 2500 Black Rock Turnpike just before midnight on Nov. 29 and learned that someone had broken into the store through a smashed-out front window and stolen about $56,000 in jewelry, the Fairfield Police Department said.

The officer who responded to the scene saw a vehicle speeding out of the jewelry store’s parking lot as he arrived. Local investigators worked with the Bridgeport Auto Theft Task Force to locate the vehicle scene leaving the store, police said.

While conducting surveillance of the vehicle, investigators watched the driver pull up to the same jewelry store again, around midnight on Dec. 7, police said.

Officers surrounded the vehicle and took the driver into custody “before he was able to commit another burglary into Lenox,” police said in a statement released Wednesday.

The driver, Juan J. Aviles, 30, was charged with attempted first-degree burglary, interfering with an officer and misuse of plates. He was held in lieu of a $250,000 bond, police said.

Aviles is unhoused, police said, but previously lived in Bridgeport.

The department said investigators are working to obtain an arrest warrant charging Aviles with the November burglary. He is scheduled to appear in court next on Dec. 22, records show.

Anyone with information is asked to submit tips to Fairfield police by texting the keyword FPDCT and the tip to 847411 or online at fpdct.com/tips.