SAN ANTONIO – A suspected serial jewel thief who made news in November after being arrested in the nude is back in police custody.
The San Antonio Police Department announced Tuesday that they arrested Michael Allen Loving, 38, in connection with a series of other robberies at jewelry stores and pawn shops throughout the city.
Camelia Juarez, a public information officer with SAPD, said Loving was behind “dozens” of robberies. She said he has 10 felony warrants, and investigators are looking into the possibility of even more charges.
Juarez described Loving as a “career criminal” who has been arrested 37 times in the past.
“He’ll go to a pawn shop or a mall jewelry store, he’ll walk into a store, ask to try on an item,” she said, describing Loving’s way of operating.
Once he has the jewelry in his hand, Loving will usually just walk out with it, Juarez said.
In one case that KSAT 12 News reported last month, Loving was accused of stealing jewelry from a counter inside an H-E-B on the South Side.
SAPD said at the time that Loving hit a man with his car as he made his escape, then abandoned the vehicle.
When officers tracked him down later, they said he stripped off all his clothes. Juarez said soon after that arrest, Loving shed something else.
“He bonds out. He has an ankle monitor, and the same day he cuts off his ankle monitor, he is back at it,” she said.
At that time, Juarez said, Loving then went to an EZ Pawn store and robbed employees of jewelry at gunpoint, beginning a whole series of new crimes.
Juarez was not able to offer an exact count of the robberies Loving is suspected of committing or list the exact locations of all of them. She did mention, however, that Loving has been linked to jewelry store robberies at the Shops at La Cantera and South Park Mall.
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